11" Bandsaw wheels are out of alignment

[tigerhunt]

I now have discovered that the wheels are out of alignment by 1/4" for my 11" Shopsmith bandsaw which I bought new 20 years ago. I measured by running a steel straightedge vertically against the wheels and there is a 1/4" gap at the top of the upper wheel. They are not co-planar. When one sights along the plane of wheels it is very obvious. I have adjusted the saw according to the Shopsmith manual, but have always had drift problems. I read a bandsaw tuning article in ShopNotes July/August 2004 that recommends checking wheel alignment. I cannot see a obvious way to adjust the alignment on the Shopsmith bandsaw and the manual does not mention it. Any ideas?

[rcartmetal]

I just attended a session of the traveling tool show/class, and the instructor addressed this. over time, if you don't relieve the blade tension, the upper arm gets a bit of a tilt to it, causing the upper wheel to tilt back, allowing the blade to slip off. The solution given was to grasp the wheel at the top and bottom and give it a good jerk, out at the top, in at the bottom.
Hope this helps!

[james.miller]

This is from The July/August 2004 Issue of Hands-On the Shopsmith Magazine where Smitty answers a question about Bandsaw wheel tilt.

http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/archive ... smitty.htm

Jim in Tucson

PS the attached PDF file has the wrong measurement in it so use the one in the above link when the upper arm no longer sits at the proper angle. The correct measurement is 1/8" between the straight edge and the top of the lower wheel.