new bandsaw blade problem

[Byron]

I have recently bought the GO513 bandsaw {17 "}from grizzly. My problem lies with the gap between the support bearing and the blade. When tensioned it runs smoothly between the guide bearings but rather has a gap that changes between the support bearing when running. I set the support bearing with the recommended 0.016 gap but when I turn the wheel by hand or under power it has a 1/8 " gap from one part of the blade to the other. I have tried 4 differnt blades, all cheap ones from Grizzly, and the bigger the blade the worse it gets. The 1/4" blade is okay but the 3/4 and 1" blade are terrible.When I turn on the machine I can watch the gap grow and become small agian with every revelution. My question is then is it the cheap blades or is something out of whack, or maybe the way I am doing sometheng wrong in the setup. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

[Bay Area Dave]

start by putting the worst blade down on a flat surface and see if it lies flat in the area of the weld. I had a cheap 3/4" blade that jumped all over the place...

BTW, isn't EVERYTHING from Grizzly cheap?

dave

Byr> I have recently bought the GO513 bandsaw {17 "}from grizzly. My

[Bay Area Dave]

I PRESUME you inferred that you should place the blade on it's edge...

dave

Bay Area Dave wrote:

[Lawrence R Horgan]

Byron, It sounds to me like the blade is out of line. This is common at the weld. Even the best blades will sometimes have some out-of-trueness where the blade is welded.... the cheaper the blade, the worse it will be. It won;t affect your cuts much unless you're resawing, and even then, only it you're resawing thin critical veneers.

Of course, it could be your upper wheel or, more likely, the tires. But my money is on the blade.

Larry

[ddinc]

Put a mic on your whels, and turn them by hand. See if the are out of round. Some tires are pretty bad.

[Bay Area Dave]

that would cause a vibration; that's not what the OP was complaining about.

dave

dd> Put a mic on your whels, and turn them by hand.

[George]

Tracking my bet.

Of course, we know it's useless to worry about such things, but start by aligning a la Duginskie and see if you can't keep the blade from moving with tension/tracking.

Good luck, and hope yours won't have a slanted upper blade support like our POS Grizz at school.

[Stephen M]

It would seem to me that it it were the tires/wheels causing the problem the period of the in/out motion of the blade relative the the thust baring would be a function of the wheel rotation (e.g. one in/out cycle per wheel rotation). It the problem is a non-linear weld, the period would be a function of the blade rotation(e.g. one in/out cycle per blade rotation).

Using this approach it should be possible to narrow the problem to "the blade" or "something else".

-Steve

[Philski]

think about it. an out-of-round wheel will cause the blade to loosen and tighten for each revolution of the wheel. this can cause the blade to move laterally as well at the blocks and thrust bearing - causing a gap. the poster did not mention if he had tuned up his saw, insuring the wheels are co-planar. again, this can cause blade wobble.

i think a good saw tune-up is first and foremost. then a check of the wheel concentricity (with and without tires) using a dial indicator may find a problem. cheap blades do tend to have cheap welds, but then again maybe the welder got it right. laying the blade on a large flat surface will show if the back of the blade is in total alignment weld-wise.

runout on the wheel bearing can be a culprit too but being a new saw, i would tend to discount this a problem.

try a good tune up and see what your results are.

Best Regards, Philski