Bandsaw Coplanar

[-MIKE-]

I'm tearing this bandsaw apart and cleaning it all up, inspecting and lubing. She will definitely need new tires very soon.

I've been reading about the wheels needing to be coplanar to one another.

Current status: the blade is tracking fine and seems to be staying close enough to the center of the wheels. Right now, I'm at 1/16" or less from coplanar. In order to get the wheels in perfect coplanar, I would need to move the bottom wheel out. This looks to be much more involved than moving the top wheel, which slips on and off very easily.

Two questions... First, how vital is this? The consensus opinion out there seems to be, it's not absolutely necessary because of the ability to adjust the tracking of the top wheel, but with perfect coplanar you will need less tracking adjustment when changing blades, plus you will notice less drift when cutting.

Secondly, how far out of coplanar is enough to worry about? Is 1/16" bad or closer than average?

(There is a similar phenomenon is music, wherein all pop/rock bands sound the same, called "Coldplanar.") :-)

[Swingman]

"-MIKE-" wrote

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I would argue that ain't necessarily so ... drift is most often a characteristic of the particular blade, IME.

See first above ... and how thick is your washer?

Sounds more like RAP than Rock ...

[Phisherman]

Well that depends on how badly you want to fine-tune your bandsaw.

One step of the bandsaw tuneup involves getting both wheels coplanar. Your manual may state something like shimming the lower wheel to make it so. A metal straightedge should not "rock" against the wheels. Even 1/64" out of plane is way too much for me, I'll try to make it zero--but hey, it's your saw and only you can decide how precise to be.

[-MIKE-]

There are no existing washers.

[Leon]

IIRC it has been mentioned in the past that Jet calls for the wheel to not be coplaner.

When are you measuring the difference, with no blade, blade partly tensioned. or blade properly tendsioed.

Typically the more flex your band saw has the more you have to adjust the top wheel to off set that "give" in the frame after tensioning the blade. The wheels could actually be coplaner and not, with any given blade mounted and properly tensioned. Keep that in mind when trying to shim the borrom wheel to be coplaner.

That is really all you are looking for.

Right now, I'm at 1/16" or less from

Again, it is the results that you are looking for, you may fix it so well that it does not work well at all. ;~)

Again, the tensioning of the blade tends to cause the wheels to become non coplaner because of the flex in the BS frame. My Laguna very very seldom needs it's top wheel adjusted at all unless I am going from the extreme of the 1/4" blade to the 1-1/4" blade. Typically any blade in between never needs any tracking asjustments at all, the wide 1-1/4' wide blade does require quite a bit more tension than the smaller blades.

[-MIKE-]

That's the thing. I'm coming from a POS 9" ProTech that I got for $40, years ago. So I'm sure using this Jet will be like going from a Honda Civic to a Lamborghini.

I'm going to be so overwhelmed by the improved performance that it'll take a while to see any benefit from perfect coplanar. That's why I'm asking for opinions. Because if it is *that* important, I'll take the extra effort now, while the saw is in parts.

Which leads back to your first statement. :-)

[Pat Barber]

If the blade is tracking properly, leave it alone.

Stop reading so much.

Do what you think is reasonable maintenance and leave the "fine tuning to death" to the other folks.

If it cuts reasonably straight, don't do anything else to the machine.

Spend your money on good blades.

-MIKE- wrote:

[-MIKE-]

No kidding? Maybe because of the flex you mentioned later.

All three.

Thanks for the input.

I hear you. Back in the day, I was guilty on occasion, of repairing something beyond repair. :-)

[-MIKE-]

That's generally my opinion when it comes to instructions. :-)

Good advice. Thanks.

[MikeWhy]

Maybe. And you don't know how much negative tilt you can get from the tracking adjustment. My Delta is also close, and I didn't bother to shim for no-load coplanar. Frankly, I don't see any real benefit, and a reasonable possibility I won't have enough tracking adjustment if it flexes beyond coplanar under tension.

[Tom Veatch]

It's not at all vital unless your wheels have flat surfaces. If the wheels are crowned, and the blade tracks properly, it's a good as you're going to get it. If the wheels have flat surfaces, parallel is necessary, but coplanar is necessary only if the blade has to track at a specific location on the wheel. My metal cutting bandsaw has flat, hard surfaced wheels so the blade tracks with the teeth just proud of the wheel edge to avoid disturbing the blade's set. Parallel is needed for the blade to stay on the wheels, co-planar is needed so the blade tracks at the proper location. That's not the case with a crowned, soft-surface wheel.

Has no effect on drift. That is totally dependent on the blade condition; tension, set, sharpness, guide locations, etc.

If it's so far out of plane that the blade won't ride on both wheels at the same time, then it's too far out of plane. If the blade tracks properly, you're fine.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[-MIKE-]

Thanks a bunch, Tom.

[Swingman]

The Point: washers are what you would use to shim the wheel were you to do so, so the question is relevant. IOW, do you have a washer that will correct

1/16"?

The best advice hasn't changed, if it ain't broke don't mess with it.

... or do yourself, and your 14", the biggest favor of all and call Iturra Designs (866-883-8064) and order their catalog. Last I heard that was the latest number.

You're welcome ...

[Larry Blanchard]

OK, this is a distant memory, so it may well be wrong. But I seem to remember some years back that Jet had a model that, according to their customer service department, was designed to NOT be coplanar. I forget the rationale given. Seems we never decided if that was just a load of BS from customer service or if there really was a valid reason.

[Larry Blanchard]

Hmmm. I should have read your reply before I posted :-).

[-MIKE-]

I have plenty and can get more. I don't know if you caught this in my first post, but it's the bottom wheel that would need to come out and that sombich would be a bear to get off (bearing puller).

Yeah, I'm in that boat with you. BTW, I just ran it and it's good. I'm leavin it.

I want to thank you for the number. I've seen them mention eight zillion times in the internet and you're the first guy to give a phone number.

Second thing I'll do after ordering their catalog is to gently attempt to persuade them to get with the 90's (one decade at a time) and get a freakin website. :-)

[-MIKE-]

I know for a fact that they wouldn't be the first manufacturer to fabricate a technical description supporting a reason for the existence of a design flaw. :-)

[MikeWhy]

Let us know if you reach them. Maybe I caught them on vacation or something. Couldn't reach them by phone, and got no replies to email.

[Swingman]

Iturra sells "shims" (washers) specifically made for the purpose ranging from .001 to .125 for both Jet and Delta 14", for both upper and lower wheels.

I hope the number is indeed good. I tried and got a recording before I posted it, but it was at after 5PM. The old "toll free" number is apparently no longer in service. Louis has answered the phone himself in the past when I've called.

You might try this one also:

Office: 904-371-3998 Office & Fax: [phone] E-mail: KALLL@ comcast.net

And, if push comes to shove:

Iturra Design

4636 Fulton Road Jacksonville, FL 32225-1332

And, if push really comes to shove, holler and we can make arrangements for you to borrow mine, although it is the 2006 catalog, I have ordered out of it as late as 12/2007, a little over a year ago.

It's not just a "catalog" as such, as it has some info essential to keeping Jet and Delta 14" band saws in good working order ... really a must have for owners of the these two machines. Well worth the trouble of getting your hands on one in the 21st century.

[Swingman]

"Swingman" wrote

Forgot to mention ... one of the _first_ things you will want to do with an old 14" Jet or Delta band saw is to replace the factory tension spring . This one "upgrade" will do wonders and make your quality blade purchases perform even better.

I have one of Iturra's blade tension gauges, replaced the spring and recalibrated the factory spring tension marks a few years ago, and it immediately made the band saw into a "very good" re-saw machine when used with a 1/2" 3 tpi blade.

I say "very good" because until you seen a machine like Leon has in action, you realize that "very good" is about all you can tweak out of a 14" model, but it has certainly served my purposes thus far.