Timberwolf Blades. Is any one else having problems with them?

Leon · 2006-02-10T01:07:51+00:00

Last week I received my Rikon 18" band saw equipped with a 5/8" blade. Who knows what brand. Any way I got the saw up and running and was not disappointed in the performance of the blade contrary to what some here have witnessed with their blades. Not great but it had no drift and cut relatively cleanly.Yesterday I put my new 1" wide Timber wolf blade on the saw and it cut OK, certainly not any smoother than the OEM blade but tracked straight also. But there is this clicking noise as the back of the blade whacks the rear bearing. Click, click, click... So I go around to the side and notice that the blade moves forward and backward a good 1/16 inch with each revolution of the blade. I know it is with each revolution because I see the weld spot with each click. I used a white pencil to mark the high spot while the saw was running.I called Timberwolf and talked to Tom and he indicated that he has heard of 2 other instances of this happening with a Rikon band saw. In particular the new model. Not to slam Rikon he asked me to take the Timberwolf blade and cut it open at the weld and check to see if the back of the band is straight. He indicated that a tape measure should be straight enough to help indicate a bow in the back of the blade. My son noticed that the blade bowed about 2' down from the weld. a 2' steel rule confirmed the bow to be about 1/16", 2' up from the weld. I relayed this to Tom. I noticed that the weld, before cutting the lower part of the band was off set about 1/16".So I put the 3/4" Timberwolf blade on. Same problem. Wobble from front to back. I installed the 1/2" blade. Same problem but not as bad. Installed the 1/4" blade, same problem about as bad as the 1/2" blade. I reinstalled the OEM blade and it tracks nice and straight by comparison.I called Tom back and he is skeptical that there could be 4 bad blades in 4 different sizes and I totally agreed. He is going to do some checking in the morning and send me out a new 1"...

Feb 10, 2006 40 Replies

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Leon 20 years ago

Yes I can back off on the thrust bearing however the bearing becomes ineffective then. Basically the blade simply flexes and does not touch the bearing. The clicking is coming from the blade back not being flat. It clicks as it hits the bearing with each revolution. 2 other "Cheap" brand blades do not have this problem.

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