More bandsaw upgrades...

[Puckdropper]

I never intended to turn the bandsaw into a project in itself, but that's what it's turning out to be. This time, I upgraded to a link belt and added a dust collection vacuum port.

The link belt was from HF. It's cheaper than most others, but looks just like the more expensive one I bought from Woodcraft. Vibration at startup has been reduced, but I haven't tried cutting anything to see how well it's working.

The dust collection vacuum port was a little harder upgrade, as I had to take the lower door off and cut a hole. I placed the angled fitting in the center of the door, near the bottom. A test cut showed reduced dust output vs the pathetic dust "shoot" on the side.

I'll have to try some real cuts to see how well they work, but I think the dust collection upgrade will be most worthwhile.

Puckdropper

[Larry Jaques]

Two honorable tasks, sir.

Ditto here. I put it on my Griz 18-incher the week I got it, and it took the vibration down to a very low purr. It's the green stuff made by AccuLink vs the red PowerTwist made by Fenner.

I put mine in the solid side, at the bottom of the metal cover. That meant I'd never have to play with it while changing blades, etc. It's in the back, out of the way.

It really does help. I think I need a brush on the tires/blade, too, though.

-- We are always the same age inside. -- Gertrude Stein

[tiredofspam]

I tried one at the bottom (like you) and it wasn't as effective as the modified one that I have under the table.

I'll post a picture of my under table one. I used rare earth magnets to hold it... works well.

But not perfect. If I had a DC I would have both at once working.

[tiredofspam]

Take a look at the binaries or

imgur is having some trouble right now... I think they are upgrading their software and have a few bugs.

Makes blade changes quick and easy, and better than the original dust port.. more juice..

[G. Ross]

Where did you get the port for the hose?

[Puckdropper]

tiredofspam wrote in news:u5Wdne2JKaxFhLnNnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

My JET saw has a smaller port in that location. It does draw some of the dust away, but it doesn't get very much of it. (Enough to keep hooking the vacuum up.) Perhaps if I upsized it to fit a vacuum hose it would do much better.

The top port would seem to be wanting to pull dust off the blade (before gravity can get to it), while the bottom port would catch the dust falling away from the blade. Connecting both together might give the best of both worlds.

Puckdropper

[tiredofspam]

Woodcraft. they have one that points off at about 22.5 (router fence type) and one that is straight. Because I have a delta circle cutter for the bandsaw, I had to switch to the straight, I originally had the 22.5 but it intefered with the clamps screw for the circle cutter. The magnets hold pretty good and are less of a pain than the original setup, and it sucks more than the original that came with the saw.. a 1.25 port I think.

[Bob La Londe]

Its an Accu-Link belt. The price is pretty good though. If the local store has them in stock I may pick up a couple so I have them for belt replacements when needed. Thanks for mention HF has them. I would have never even thought to look there.

[Martin Eastburn]

I have links on both my wood and metal lathes.

The link belts are great. The belt must be attended to for the first while. They have to have one or two links taken from them as they conform to the V grove in the pulleys. Without removing, the belt will wobble and make noise and vibrations. They are to long. Take a link out.

Mart> I never intended to turn the bandsaw into a project in itself, but that's

[Puckdropper]

Martin Eastburn wrote in news:MqkVr.583879$ [e-mail]:

The instructions said to remove 1 additional link for every foot, and that the belt would need to be adjusted after the first 1-3 hours of operation.

I can probably loosen the motor mounts on the bandsaw and just retension things rather than taking the belt off. It looks like there's plenty of room to allow for that, and I'll wind up doing it anyway.

Puckdropper

[Leon]

The saw looks pretty clean, have you even cut with it yet?

Are yo fixing what may not be broke?

[tiredofspam]

You must be talking about my saw, not puckdropper's.

Yes I cut with it. It stays clean because of the port. I hated the whistling noise that the original port had and hated the poor job it did. I replaced it years ago. I recently tried adding a bottom port (Like Puckdropper) , but found that it did not work well with a vac, it would probably work well with a DC, but I don't have a dc.

The ribs in the casting do fill up with saw dust, but 90% goes to the vac. That saw dust in the ribs was what I hoped would be caught by the lower port.

I blow my machines off maybe once a week. Do you leave your festools really caked in wood dust?

[Leon]

LOL, Yes I apparently am commenting about how clean your unit is. :~)

Seems to work very well.

I would say that my Laguna disposes with at least 90% of the dust but I open it up and suck out the rest.

I don't like blowing out the excess. Dust goes every where.

Do you leave your festools

Actually with the Festool vac, dust does not collect so to speak. If I do a lot of sanding I get tale tell signs of dust and a bit on the track saw. I confess I will blow the saw off. The Domino stays almost spotless.

Stationary tools just get dusty.