Metal bandsaw tracking

mkoblic · 2012-02-20T01:30:36+00:00

I have a cheap 4x6 band saw which I bought on sale from Busy Bee andwhich came with a Harbor-Freight manual. I have also downloaded aGrizzly manual for their equivalent saw.I am having a persistent problem with tracking of the blade on thelower (driven) wheel: the blade runs about 2/3rds on the wheel. I havere-done the tracking procedure on the top wheel where it issatisfactory. I have tried different tensions. If I move the blademanually *backwards* by rotating the pulleys the blade slots in fine,right next to the shoulder. If I move it forward, manually or by themotor, it goes back to its previous position.The saw cuts OK and there has been no tendency for the blade to slipoff the wheels. I am inclined to accept it but I was wondering ifanyone else encountered this and what, if anything, they did about it.The other issue is the quality of the chips: The Grizzly manual has aninteresting chart explaining what needs to be done depending on theshape of the chips. Nothing I do seems to make a difference - they arealways powdery!Michael Koblic,Campbell River, BC

Feb 20, 2012 25 Replies

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mkoblic 14 years ago

All of them (about 5).

Interesting. None of the tables I pulled up showed 1.5 mm in M8.

I pulled out another set screw, this one on the handle of the vise. It is also 5/16-18. The hole takes UNC screw without difficulty.

Ah, would that I could. I tried a cut today. The driven wheel started walking - obviously I did not have the set screw right. However, as the Liquid Wrench clearly did some good over the two days I thought I would remove the wheel and have a look. That is when I discovered that the wheel will not come off due to the hinge bar which stops the last

1/8" movement or so. I looked at it this way and that and for a moment I thought about disassembling the whole saw which would have been a bit of a problem single-handed. To cut a long story short I repositioned the wheel, tightened the set screw better, re-mounted the blade, guard etc., re-did the tracking and tension and cut. I must have done some good as the cut was the best I have had from this thing ever: Right angles all around on a 1.25" cut. The saw blade sits where it is supposed to on the wheels.

Good enough for me.

Now I am going to replace that stupid little wheel that functions as a vise lever with something more sensible.

No, but a bit of pain builds character. Or so they tell me.

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

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Baron 14 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com Inscribed thus:

The die in that photo shows M12x1 RH a standard size.

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mkoblic 14 years ago

Looking through Fastenal and McMaster Carr web sites I found a single cap screw M8 x 1.5 mm (Fastenal - $5) and one other fastener M8 x 2.5 (sic).

Neither company carried any set screws other then M8 x 1 or M8 x 1.25.

Neither company carries taps M8 x 1.5.

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

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DoN. Nichols 14 years ago

Of course. A lot of these places use one photo for all of a generic type of product. (And M12x1 is actually not that standard -- except as the spindle thread on an old Unimat DB-200 or SL-1000. :-)

And note that as a result of the boilerplate that they used, it also says "THREADS PER INCH" instead of "Thread Pitch (mm)" as it should. :-)

Try this URL -- for a M6x1 die (a quite standard size):

Or this one (M4x0.5)

Note also that M12x1 is *not* a usually 1" diameter die. Not enough meat in that diameter.

Here is their M12x1, and it is 1-1/2" diameter.

So -- don't believe the pictures. :-) The ad people who build the web site don't know what they are talking about. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

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