Bandsaw basket case?

[StoneyD]

The new to me SS Mk-V has been fairly easy thus far to get into a useable condition. Due to easily noticeable issues, I left the bandsaw for the final SPT to tackle, and it has not gone well. At time of purchase the blade was hanging loose, the saw guard had a slice almost all the way through, the rubber tires had many dry rot cracks and dings in them, the table insert was missing. Ordered new urethane tires, blade guard, table insert, ½” and 3/16” blades from SS. Installed urethane tires while still mounted and powered on at slowest speed, without a blade installed and within blink of an eye the lower wheel tire came off and wrapped around the inner portion of the wheel, which has ruined that tire. Pulled the lower wheel off for closer inspection and found a nick on the inner rim of the wheel. I have ordered a new lower wheel and another set of orange urethane tires and am hoping that will be all that is needed because the cost of the parts for the bandsaw rehab is nearly as much as the price I paid for the whole unit. Any advice on what else to examine closely before I proceed further on the bandsaw would be much appreciated.

[JPG]

Blade guard? What does that nick look like? How did the new tire slip UP over the raised rim?



You DID remove the rubber tires?

[RFGuy]

I would NOT use the SS urethane bandsaw tires. Myself and several others on this forum have reported issues with them whereas the bluemax urethane tires off of eBay work great. Below is what I wrote on this forum before about them and some links with more info on the issue. Honestly SS should stop selling their bandsaw urethane tires IMHO. Supposedly if you overstretch uretheane bandsaw tires on installation it can cause this failure. Honestly, unless you are a gorilla, I don't understand how this is even possible. It was everything I could do with my hand strength just to get the SS urethane bandsaw tires to stretch just enough to go on, but the bluemax urethane bandsaw tires went on fairly easily with minimal effort and haven't once slipped off on me like the SS red (orange) urethane bandsaw tires did. So, I don't think I over-stretched the SS urethane bandsaw tires. IF I did, then I am NOT the only ons as several forum members over the years have had similar experiences to mine with them. In fact the old website had bad customer reviews on the website for the SS urethane tires. I don't know if the new website kept up these customer testimonials or not.

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Other than the stains, those original rubber tires actually look pretty good for 30+ years. Mine were very dry rotted after 20+ years, but then I live in a hot, dry climate here which may explain it. Like others, I made the mistake of replacing them with the urethane tires that look red in the web picture but are orange in reality. Those have bad reviews on Shopsmith's website because they are garbage (tire separated from wheel for me). If you choose to replace them with urethane, I would only buy bluemax tires from eBay (just search for Shopsmith and bluemax) and have worked well for me so far. If the original rubber tires can clean up nicely, then keep them as long as possible.

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[StoneyD]

Picture shows the crack in the blade guard and the lower wheel as I had to remove the wheel to get the tire that was wrapped all around the backside when it came off. The upper wheel was easy to clean as the adhesive came off almost entirely in one piece. On the lower wheel I used bit of acetone and small brass brush took probably an hour to get it cleaned. To install the orange tires, I used 4 zip ties to hold the tire on as I worked my around. for the last 6" or so I used a wooden dowel and bit of laundry detergent to stretch the tire on. Then cut the zip ties off, took couple of tries and 20 minutes or so for each wheel. I have ordered a used lower wheel from eBay seller and two more orange tires from a 3rd party. If those orange tires fail, then I will probably try the blue ones as suggested. The original blade had two pretty good crimps in it, so guessing that the blade came off and cut thru the blade guard. All of the bearings seem fine. Also, I am wondering how much effort it should take to move the tension arm up and down when there is no blade installed?

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[RFGuy]

Honestly kinda shocked by your response, but hey its your equipment. When these orange urethane bandsaw tires comes off, it is often destructive. That is what happened to me and what it sounds like happened to you. Also its been discussed a good bit in the past on this forum with consensus among forum members here to either go with replacement rubber bandsaw tires or only the bluemax urethane tires. Shopsmith dumped all of the negative reviews for their orange urethane bandsaw tires when they updated to the new website and there were several negative reviews before, but there is already one negative comment on the new website that says the same thing about these orange urethane tires not staying on the wheel. For me, personally, I wouldn't want to have a repeat of my bandsaw incident when one of the two orange urethane tires decided to come off. I wish you would reconsider on trying another set of these defective orange urethane bandsaw tires from the mothership. I just hope that your fingers are far from the blade when that 2nd set of orange urethane tires decide to act up. Be safe...

[StoneyD]

RF guy, prior to posting about this problem, I unfortunately believed that I have a defective lower wheel assembly and ordered a new used one. Also ordered a less expensive orange tire set from a third-party seller on Amazon. When they arrive, I will see if I can return those and exchange for a set of blue ones.

[RFGuy]

RF guy, prior to posting about this problem, I unfortunately believed that I have a defective lower wheel assembly and ordered a new used one. Also ordered a less expensive orange tire set from a third-party seller on Amazon. When they arrive, I will see if I can return those and exchange for a set of blue ones.

Sorry, if you want to try the 2nd set of orange ones, go ahead. I don't know why they have a problem, but I suspect that they are slightly too small compared to the bluemax ones. Whether this really does cause them to become overstretched during installation, as some have suggested on this forum, or whether it is a different issue, I don't know. Or it might be a yield problem with these tires...meaning that some percentage of them install and operate just fine, but some fail. After mine failed I starting searching old forum posts and discovered that I wasn't alone with this issue. Since you have another set of them, if you do install them and use them, please let us know here on the forum how they perform to give us insight. I believe some owners of the orange tires have had no issues, but others have had problems with them. It could also be that some orange tires fail sooner and others take some time before they decide to have a problem. My point was this is a known issue with at least some of the orange urethane tires from SS. Presumably other orange, Shopsmith bandsaw size tires from other sellers are the same product. I just didn't want you to be surprised/startled by another orange tire failure and definitely don't want you getting hurt. It is frustrating to me that SS still sells them despite several of us complaining about them. They could easily source this from a different vendor like the bluemax ones that seem to have unanimous positive reviews from those of us that own them.

P.S. Of course, if it is an Amazon purchase and you can return it for free and get the bluemax ones that may be an attractive option, albeit it will cost you time.

[chapmanruss]

StoneyD,

Bandsaw basket case? It may look that way but everything "wrong" with it can be fixed. I own or have owned 11 Shopsmith/Magna Bandsaws ranging from 1056 to 2006. I have even had one with the rubber tires cracked as you described for yours. What a pain to remove and getting the wheels cleaned for new tires.

I didn't see if you identified when it was made and does it have the original Cast Iron Table or the later Aluminum Table? Knowing its age would change my recommendations for what to do to it. Having the silver (unpainted) Blade Guard makes it before the early 1990's unless it was replaced at some point.

As already been said the Orange Shopsmith Urethane Tires apparently have problems. I have a set that I never ended up installing on any of my Bandsaw restorations because of the problems others have reported here on the Forum. I did use a set of the BlueMax Tires on a restoration without any reported problems. That was on a restored Bandsaw I then sold. For all others tire replacements I have used the OEM rubber replacement Tires. Enough said about tires.

You said,

Pulled the lower wheel off for closer inspection and found a nick on the inner rim of the wheel.

I didn't see the nick in the picture you posted. I wondered if it is really bad enough to make that Lower Wheel unusable.

For the damaged Blade Guard, you can get a new replacement from Shopsmith. It is part number (SKU) 522223 for $22.95 painted red like the current ones or you could wait for one to come up for sale on the used market possibly getting a silver one like the original. I don't recall seeing this part for sale used very often.

Since you are already doing a major overhaul on this Bandsaw there are some other things you may want to consider if they haven't been upgraded already.

The first recommendation I would have is to upgrade the Backup Bearings in the Auto Track and the Upper & Lower Guides. Below is a picture of the older type of roller guide on the Auto Track Bracket that mounts next to the Blade Tensioner. The older type is easy to spot with the beveled sides. The original rollers were made of plastic. These are where the most annoying common noise is produced being a roller on a shaft as opposed to actual bearings like the ones included on the upgrade. They can work fine but need regular cleaning and proper lubrication.

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Below is a picture of the Backup Bearing Upgrade. Two of the Bearings are used side by side for the Auto Tracking and one each for the Upper and Lower Guides.

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Something else that is nice to have is dust collection. You can add it with a flange connector to the Cover or if the cover has any problems, you could replace the Cover with a new one that includes the Dust Collection Port. The new Covers also have a slot in the edge of the cover to use your Allen Wrench to adjust the Blade Tension and a window to see the gauge, so you don't have to remove the Cover to do that. A real nice feature. The Cover comes up for sale from time to time.

If your Bandsaw has the Cast Iron Table at some point, if you use it a lot, you may want to consider upgrading to the Aluminum Table. It has some features you may find useful. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with the original Cast Iron Table just some additional features the Aluminum Table has.

Hopefully you have an Owner's Manual for your Bandsaw so you can get to know how to use it more effectively. If not, you can download a PDF copy from here on the Shopsmith website under Learn then Manuals & Information.

In the Owner's Manual you will find maintenance information including greasing the Upper Wheel Bearings.