Replies

1. 
   DanCC | Jul 06, 2010 08:09am | #1

   Okay, you asked for it...

   I have been having tracking problems for a while and thought it was the tracking adjustment.  However when I put a straight edge to the wheels, I cannot get them in the same plane with the tracking adjustment.  I have cleaned the wheels.  When I checked the tension it improved with a slightly lower tension than the manual called for, but did not go away entirely.   I have been messing with the guides and I am sure I have them in the correct position -- If I start out with everything set up by the book, after a couple of turns the blade will move back and forth on the tire about 1/16 of an inch and by the third or fourth turn of the wheels the wiggle gets larger and the blade wants to jump.  I spent a good 4 hours working on it yesterday alone and lord knows how much time over the last few months.  It is much worse with a thin blade than a normal 1/2 resaw blade.  I have a project I need to cut some tight half circles on to duplicate some old drawer joints and not being able to get a scroll blade to even remotely track is driving me nuts.

1. 
   Jfrostjr | Jul 06, 2010 09:34am | #2

   Tracking

   Dan,

   I don't know your brand of your saw, so I don't know if the help I received from Laguna will benefit you. After a year of successful sawing with different blades, I came upon a tracking problem. The Laguna tech rep I was connected to, spent about 40 minutes on the phone with me as I changed blades and made adjustments.

   The end result was - "the blade tracks better on the front 1/3 of the wheel". I had been trying to center the blade on the wheel.

   I don't know if this holds true for your machine but I am a happy camper now.

   Frosty

1. 
   DanCC | Jul 06, 2010 09:48am | #3

   I will try anything...

   It is a Grizzley.  I would be happy if it just tracked in the same place and did not wiggle from side to side, middle, front 1/3 what ever. I can not get it to stay in a single line right now.

1. 
   brownman | Jul 06, 2010 10:42am | #4

   Have you tried calling the Grizzly tech people yet ? That would be my first step!

1. 
   DanCC | Jul 06, 2010 11:27am | #5

   Yes... but

   I tried to call yesterday but they were not working.  I will likley try again.  The documents with the saw were pretty clear and  I have been working through the trouble shooting section and out of parallel conclusion comes from the support documents and doing the checks are directed.   I know, I am reading the instructions (don't tell my wife).

2. 
   Hilton | Jul 19, 2010 01:39am | #9

   "the blade tracks better on the front 1/3 of the wheel"

   This is interesting. I always thought you needed to get the blade dead center on the tyre. Surely if it's on the front 1/3 the blade will track to the left?

1. 
   DanCC | Jul 19, 2010 09:28pm | #10

   Still learning...

   I agree with you, it seems that on the front edge of the wheel it should track to the left.  But what do I know?  I have also read that you should not tension the blade to tight, but others suggest that you need to tension fairly high to keep it tracking even.  I frankly have no idea what advise to follow.  It is trial and error time (and a lot of errors).

2. 
   old saw | Jul 17, 2010 07:51am | #6

   Band Saw Issues

   You can make shims that thin easily enough by cutting them out of aluminum soda cans with a pair of scissors or snips.  You can make thicker ones from "tin" cans that food comes in.

   However, I have a hunch coplanarity isn't the problem.  It sounds more like a tire problem of some kind.  Are the tires crowned evenly all the way around the wheels?  Are they clean?  Any sawdust or pitch buildup will very quickly affect blade tracking.  It is also possible that the crown is too prominent. 

   Also keep in mind that as a blade heats up in use it will stretch a bit, which means its tracking will change.  Lastly it could very well be  the blade itself.  Many years ago when I hadn't had much experience with band saws, I had a new blade that would not track properly.  It would bounce back and forth in the guides against the thrust bearings and would weave back and forth across the tires.  I tried everything.  I thought maybe the wheels were wobbling, but no, they were fine.  Then I thought perhaps it was the tires, so I trued them.  When that didn't help I got new tires - still no help.  I never was able to get that blade to work correctly.   Some years later, at a place where we made up our own blades, I had the same problem occur.  I knew there was nothing wrong with our machine, so I checked out the blade.  Sure enough!  Whoever had made  it had not properly aligned the back edge in a straight line when putting the ends together to weld them on the butt welder.  Try using several different blades before spending alot of time re-doing the saw - it might just be the blade. 

1. 
   old saw | Jul 17, 2010 07:56am | #7

   Something else that occurs to me:  If your tires are the kind that fit on the wheels without glue, they may be moving on the rims due to having lost some of their elasticity over time.

2. 
   DanCC | Jul 17, 2010 07:58am | #8

   week later...

   I have thought about the blade being an issue.  There is nothing I can see with a visual inspection.  I have cleaned the tires and inspected them and the seem to be okay.  With a straight edge you can see the co-planer issue pretty clearly and I order shims and have installled them.   I am  getting better performance and with the tension adjuested the tracking is acceptable right now, but still not perfect.  Oh well, the learning curve on a bandsaw is a bit longer than I thought.  I will get there.

3. 
   DanCC | Aug 04, 2010 12:59pm | #11

   Blade an issue ...

   It is a brand new blade.  It is the first time I have put a very fine 1/8 inch blade on the saw however.  I finally got it to work.  I think the fine blade just made the issue more visable than the 1/2 blade I had on before.   Once I got it co-planer, centered on the tires, the tires cleaned and got the tension right it is track okay -- not perfect, but close enough it will do what I need to do.  All in all it has been a real learning experience.