I have the same bandsaw you have and I gave your system a try but found it too hard to get it perfectly level. I found a nice upgrade by getting a fisheye bubble level that I put on the center of the wherl to get it dead level. I also put the ball bearing on my drill press. Turn the drill press on and the vibration from the press worked perfect. Fine tuned mine pretty nicely. Now just to get the vibration out of the drive belt and the stand it sits on.
I have the same saw that was picked up at a tool auction and didn't realize it was a 'reconditioned' unit... and boy was that term a joke. Both wheels were way off and I did pretty much the exact same thing you did, except I drilled my 'ticks' on the back side of them just so it would look a bit better when changing the blades. One process I did differently, was to use an inexpensive (around $5)- plastic lawn mower blade balancer instead of your steel ball and hammer trick. After picking up the unit, I was reading that many had issue with the 'feet' of the stand not being very stable, so I picked up 8 fender washers to increase the stability of the bent sheet metal leg bottoms where the adjustable bolts went through. I also read that many had issue with the top of the stand not being strong enough, so I picked up some 3/4" plywood to make a center shelf as well as for the top of the stand to give it a lot more strength. I also had to pick up some longer bolts for mounting the saw to the stand, and used fender washers on the bottom side to help distribute the weight better. I also picked up a motor mount slide bed, so adjusting the belt tension would be as easy as a single bolt head needing to be turned. The last thing I did for 'vibration issues' was to replace the standard belt with one of those Linked Belts... They are a bit pricey, but boy do they work like a dream... Once tensioned for about a week, check them again as they will need a bit more tension put to them... The belt has been on for a good 5 years now and never needed to be re-tensioned so far. The last modifications I've done to the saw - so far - is to replace the blade tension handle with one of those that are much longer (go above the top of the saw upper case, due to the arthritis I have in my hands. I was reading up on line and many had an issue with the long handle type adjusters bending on them, so I added a 'pillow block' with a spacer behind it,, about 2/3 the way up the back side of the upper wheel housing, to eliminate that issue. My 'handle' is now an off-set crank and is very easy to use. I also painted one half of the handle bright orange to match the saw, and I've made it a habit that when the orange shows, that tells me the tension is OFF of the blade, and I just have to turn it 7 1/2 turns to re-tension the blade. This takes the tension off the blade when not in use, extending the life of your tires and the blades themselves. When I'm done for the day, I take another 7 1/2 turns of the crank, leaving the orange side of the crank handle showing and know that the tension is off the blade and I'm all set for the night. When drilling the 'ticks' on the lower wheel, I was fast running out of places to take metal off as the wheel was SO out of balance... Hard to believe they let that one pass inspection..... Thanks for the video clip, I'm sue you educated many on the 'trick' of drilling ticks to help balance out a wheel like that... Good job!!
Thanks, I completely agree with the value of the link belts. Makes a huge difference. they shouldn't even be allowed to sell those plastic v-belts that come on these machines.
This is great thanks. I used an old light bulb sprayed with silicone lubricant instead of the ball bearing and it worked, not as good as a proper ball bearing but still what ever works eh! My cheap bandsaw used to shake like a shitting dog but after following your tips it now runs much smoother. I glued small nuts on the light side rather than drilling out as it let me test positioning before committing.
I use to own a business that sold, serviced and repaired industrial equipment like lathes, injection molding, milling machines, welders, etc. My business also repaired table saws, bandsaws, wood lathes. I did this for nearly 40 years. So, have a lot of experience repairing tools like the bandsaw shown in this video. This video demonstrates something I highly advise NOT to do. You don't want to go drilling holes in the pulleys of the bandsaw. Once you remove the metal, it can't be replaced easily. DON"T DO IT!!!! The better way to balance the pulley is like how automobile tires are balanced. You place a weight opposite the heavy side of the pulley. A weight can be easily added and removed where necessary. Many folks think balancing the pulley will solve vibration problems. That is partly true. But, you must look at the V-belt from the motor to the lower drive pulley. V-belts have a real bad habbit of going out of round and develop a bad spot around the smaller motor pulley if the saw has sat idle for awhile. This is the main culprit for the vibration in the saw. Instead of buying another v-belt, go to the auto parts store, Harbor freight or Amazon and buy a segmented belt or link belt for about $35. It will save you all sorts of aggravation dealing with unwanted saw vibration. Work smarter, not harder.
William Branham In this type of application, no you don’t need to do both. It’s two different ways to accomplish the same thing. The big saws might need to be dynamically balanced (like car tires are), but for anything under 5 hp, static balancing like is shown here is fine. The reason for balancing the bottom wheel on the bench and not on the saw is because with the bottom wheel (which is the drive wheel) there is too much drag from the bearings for the wheel to spin freely while mounted on the saw’s driveshaft.
I have the same bandsaw you have and I gave your system a try but found it too hard to get it perfectly level. I found a nice upgrade by getting a fisheye bubble level that I put on the center of the wherl to get it dead level. I also put the ball bearing on my drill press. Turn the drill press on and the vibration from the press worked perfect. Fine tuned mine pretty nicely. Now just to get the vibration out of the drive belt and the stand it sits on.
I have the same saw that was picked up at a tool auction and didn't realize it was a 'reconditioned' unit... and boy was that term a joke. Both wheels were way off and I did pretty much the exact same thing you did, except I drilled my 'ticks' on the back side of them just so it would look a bit better when changing the blades. One process I did differently, was to use an inexpensive (around $5)- plastic lawn mower blade balancer instead of your steel ball and hammer trick.
After picking up the unit, I was reading that many had issue with the 'feet' of the stand not being very stable, so I picked up 8 fender washers to increase the stability of the bent sheet metal leg bottoms where the adjustable bolts went through. I also read that many had issue with the top of the stand not being strong enough, so I picked up some 3/4" plywood to make a center shelf as well as for the top of the stand to give it a lot more strength. I also had to pick up some longer bolts for mounting the saw to the stand, and used fender washers on the bottom side to help distribute the weight better.
I also picked up a motor mount slide bed, so adjusting the belt tension would be as easy as a single bolt head needing to be turned. The last thing I did for 'vibration issues' was to replace the standard belt with one of those Linked Belts... They are a bit pricey, but boy do they work like a dream... Once tensioned for about a week, check them again as they will need a bit more tension put to them... The belt has been on for a good 5 years now and never needed to be re-tensioned so far.
The last modifications I've done to the saw - so far - is to replace the blade tension handle with one of those that are much longer (go above the top of the saw upper case, due to the arthritis I have in my hands. I was reading up on line and many had an issue with the long handle type adjusters bending on them, so I added a 'pillow block' with a spacer behind it,, about 2/3 the way up the back side of the upper wheel housing, to eliminate that issue. My 'handle' is now an off-set crank and is very easy to use. I also painted one half of the handle bright orange to match the saw, and I've made it a habit that when the orange shows, that tells me the tension is OFF of the blade, and I just have to turn it 7 1/2 turns to re-tension the blade. This takes the tension off the blade when not in use, extending the life of your tires and the blades themselves. When I'm done for the day, I take another 7 1/2 turns of the crank, leaving the orange side of the crank handle showing and know that the tension is off the blade and I'm all set for the night.
When drilling the 'ticks' on the lower wheel, I was fast running out of places to take metal off as the wheel was SO out of balance... Hard to believe they let that one pass inspection.....
Thanks for the video clip, I'm sue you educated many on the 'trick' of drilling ticks to help balance out a wheel like that... Good job!!
Thanks, I completely agree with the value of the link belts. Makes a huge difference. they shouldn't even be allowed to sell those plastic v-belts that come on these machines.
This is great thanks. I used an old light bulb sprayed with silicone lubricant instead of the ball bearing and it worked, not as good as a proper ball bearing but still what ever works eh! My cheap bandsaw used to shake like a shitting dog but after following your tips it now runs much smoother. I glued small nuts on the light side rather than drilling out as it let me test positioning before committing.
ruaridh watson A lightbulb, great idea! I’m happy to hear that this video helped.
Balance with the tire on. Its like balancing a car rim an tire. Same difference
I use to own a business that sold, serviced and repaired industrial equipment like lathes, injection molding, milling machines, welders, etc. My business also repaired table saws, bandsaws, wood lathes. I did this for nearly 40 years. So, have a lot of experience repairing tools like the bandsaw shown in this video.
This video demonstrates something I highly advise NOT to do. You don't want to go drilling holes in the pulleys of the bandsaw. Once you remove the metal, it can't be replaced easily. DON"T DO IT!!!! The better way to balance the pulley is like how automobile tires are balanced. You place a weight opposite the heavy side of the pulley. A weight can be easily added and removed where necessary.
Many folks think balancing the pulley will solve vibration problems. That is partly true. But, you must look at the V-belt from the motor to the lower drive pulley. V-belts have a real bad habbit of going out of round and develop a bad spot around the smaller motor pulley if the saw has sat idle for awhile. This is the main culprit for the vibration in the saw. Instead of buying another v-belt, go to the auto parts store, Harbor freight or Amazon and buy a segmented belt or link belt for about $35. It will save you all sorts of aggravation dealing with unwanted saw vibration. Work smarter, not harder.
You could use a lawn mower blade balancer on the lower pulley. They run about $5.
That’s a great idea. If I have to do this again one day, I’ll give that a try.
Or just make a balancing wheel jig like the kind they use to balance radio control airplane propellers.
Use a lawnmower blade balance Jig. A metal cone on a point. Hardware Store has them.
or take it to a motorbike shop and get them to balance it on their computerised wheel balance
shedasaurus computerized ....
Is it necessary to balance the wheel in horizontal plane as well as vertical plane? I can't wrap my head around it.
William Branham In this type of application, no you don’t need to do both. It’s two different ways to accomplish the same thing. The big saws might need to be dynamically balanced (like car tires are), but for anything under 5 hp, static balancing like is shown here is fine. The reason for balancing the bottom wheel on the bench and not on the saw is because with the bottom wheel (which is the drive wheel) there is too much drag from the bearings for the wheel to spin freely while mounted on the saw’s driveshaft.
@@AWoodworkersLife Good info. Thanks
background cello is mesmerizing
I'd call the background music annoying! Why would you have a noisy background when you're shooting a video?
Is the bolt holding the upper wheel also left hand thread? My delta machine has a clip inward of the bolt head.
I think it was, but it's been too long to remember for sure.
Thank you
It doesn't make sense balancing a wheel without it's tire. Once the tire is refitted the wheel could be put out of balance!
True for rubber, not so for urethane.
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