Good morning everyone,Happy Thanksgiving. I am new to the forum and have a few questions. I own a 14″ Delta bandsaw and at the last Woodworkers Show I was drawn into the booth that was demo-ing the Olson bandsaw blades and purchased an 1/8″ blade. I have a problem, the blade is tracking to the front of the wheels causing the blade to drag across the front dust cover of the saw. I believe it is a tension problem but I don’t know if I’m to tight or to loose.The guy that I bought the blade from says it is a low tension blade. I have already checked the tires for crowning and there doesn’t appear to be much if any.I’vealready lost one blade I don’t want to lose any more. ps.my other 1/2″blade traks fine.
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Replies
Welcome to the forum! I've also found the 1/8" blades to be a bit fussy, but I don't thing it's tensioning. Are you sure your wheels are properly aligned - parallel and co-planar? I'll bet that's the problem.
Jeff
I agree with Jeff RE: the wheel alignment problem. I had the opposite problem with a 3/4" blade rubbing on the back against the blade guard on the return side of the frame.
Open both doors (with the say unplugged, of course). Take a 4' level or anything long enough and known to be straight and lay across the face of both wheels. You should have four points of contact simultaneously: the outside of the rims on both wheels.
You can remove the nut on the top wheel (don't fuss with the bottom wheel!) and add shim washers as required to achieve proper alignment. Once I got this alignment problem taken care of, the saw cut much better and blades of all sizes track perfectly.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
KS
Ditto Jeff and Dennis. Open the doors and apply your normal tension. Turn the wheels by hand and increase tension. If it still isn't tracking, go the opposite way with lower tension. This should pin-point if it's a tension problem quickly.
Once your convinced the tension was not the problem, follow Dennis's instructions and get the wheels co-planular. If that doesn't work, I'll give you $100 for the Delta an additional for shipping. he..he..
Good Luck..
sarge..jt
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