Bandsaw upper wheel clicking???

[godavid2]

I have a 2003 bandsaw that I bought the other day and when I went to tune it up. I replaced the blade guide bearings and lubing the upper wheel needle bearing. I fired it up and the upper wheel was making some screaming noises so I pulled the upper wheel and the inner needle bearing looked flat. Then I replaced the outer and inner needle bearing and now I have a clicking sound coming from the upper wheel at the hub. Funny thing is that I noticed that with the fiber washer and retaining ring installed there was a lot of drag in the upper wheel. After installing the needle bearing same thing. I have another SS bandsaw so I removed the upper wheel and installed it on the newer bandsaw and the latter moved freely with fiber washer and retainer ring installed. The next thing I did was to measure the depth of both upper wheel hubs. The old one was 1.26" and the new one was 1.27". I'm kind of baffled here because I know that the wheel has to move freely. I don't know if this drag is causing the clicking but it certainly does not help the movement of the wheel. Also the 1/4" I have installed rides on the very edge of the tire which I thought did not seem right. Thanks for any help in advance. I also did some research and came up with nothing.

[JPG]

We love pictures, but in this case we NEED them.

Regardless of the blade size, they should all ride about 1/8" from the back edge of the tire.

FWIW SS does not recommend replacing the upper wheel bearings. However it has been done successfully.

If the upper wheel 'cant' is not correct(insufficient) the blade will ride too far back.

I do not understand inner/outer needle bearing.

Are the fiber washers the same thickness?

Have you tried the 'new' wheel on the 'old' bs?

[godavid2]

Yes I tried the new wheel on the old bs with the same results. There two bearings in the upper wheel. Maybe I was wrong in calling them inner and outer. The fiber washer are the same thickness. What I notice wrong is the hub width seems to be wrong which might change the cant of the wheel along with not letting it freely move. Yes the tire need to be an 1/8" from the edge of the tire which means the cant is off???

[wa2crk]

Did you press the needle bearings in too far. It sounds as if the washer is restricting the wheel movement in some way. Does the click occur if you remove the blade and then rotate the wheel by hand?
You may want to try loosen the blade and rotate the wheel by hand as you tighten the blade tension as you go to find to try where the wheel starts to click. Look for any bright spots that would indicate a contact point.
Also look for any cracks in the wheel hub that open when the wheel is put under pressure.
Bill V
PS did you use the same blade when you switched the wheel to the old bandsaw? Sometimes the blade can cause a click if it is bent or the weld rubs on one of the blade guides.

[godavid2]

I'm really not so concerned about the clicking as I am about the wheel binding up when the fiber washer and retainer ring are installed. The wheel should move freely when the washer and retainer ring are installed. As I stated before I noticed that the wheel was binding before I installed the bearings. That something is probably what caused the bearing to wear out before. This is a fairly new saw that was not used much.

[JPG]

The rear guide bearing positions the rear of the blade relative to the base.

The upper wheal mount(shaft and arm) position the wheel relative to the base.

The cant angle of the shaft controls the cant angle.

Changing the cant angle changes the position of the top/bottom of the wheel relative to the base.


I think a close examination of the shaft is in order. dinged/out of round . . .

The BLADE should ride about 1/8" from the rear edge of the TIRE. Since changing cant angle moves the top of the wheel in/out, the cant angle affects that position.

[godavid2]

Here is an update on the changes I've made to try to solve this problem. Also, I wanted to state that I believe there are two problems here. One there is not enough clearance on the shaft for the wheel the fiber washer and the retainer ring. When I installed the old wheel on the new bs the wheel moved freely. When I installed the new wheel on the old bs with the fiber washer and retainer ring the wheel could not move freely. So I hope you get the picture. The new wheel binds up no matter what shaft it is installed on. Now the second problem the blade rides to close to the wheel edge. By the way I changed blade and the clicking stopped. No matter what wheel I used on the new saw the blade did the same thing rode too close to the edge. Both blade 1/4", one was lighter in weight the the original one. The shaft on the new does not look wore or pitted.

thanks

[JPG]

The cant needs to be increased. The better way is to insert a pipe over the shaft and rotate the pipe/shaft upward(slowly/gently/a small amount at a time).

The effect can be determined by measuring the distance from the top back edge of the wheel and the base. A decrease of 1/8" is I believe the goal.

You are imparting a slight twist to the arm.

A less desirable way is to pull out on the bottom of the wheel while pushing in one the top. That runs the risk of warping the wheel.

I believe the shaft is causing the stiffness somehow.

[godavid2]

Problem solved, shaft was not out far enough. Thanks JPG for your help on the cant and your were right about the shaft.