Horizontal Band Saw

[pepecon]

I have an inexpensive horizontal band saw from Enco. I started to get problems with the blade binding and stalling . I was trying to saw a piece of round aluminum stock about 1 1/2 inch OD. Also tried sawing steel stock. I was using a 4 tpi blade for the alumi;num and 14 tpi for the steel . I did not know if I was having blade or alignment problems. I took all the blade guides off and want to realign them from the beginning. My thinking is to install the blade , run the band saw to track the blade. then install the blade guides at this position. I did this and still and the blade still binds and stalls in the work. The guides were set to just touch the blade. Am I approaching this correctly ?? I have not yet tried a new blade. The blade is 64.5 inches long and one half inch wide. The blade guides are all ball bearing.

[Bill Pace]

The motors on these little saws are notoriously weak --- and since your description of blade align/adjust/blade choice sounds like it was done properly the next likely candidate is the motor. There have been a few scattered instances of the little gear box binding up, but much less likely than the motor. Is it new? Enco is great with customer support...

A note of caution: if you have to replace it, be aware of the counter-clockwise rotation (dont ask why I say this)

[wierdscience]

Just asking the obvious,is the belt tight?

I would also check the lube in the gearbox,I have seen those shipped dry and the gears ground to dust before anyone noticed.

[Ernest Kerr]

I had the same problem until I installed a hydraulic piston restraint like below:

You will appreciate the experience of other owners if you join the Yahoo Group: 4x6bandsaw
They have several good mods to improve the saw.

[Ernest Kerr]

The black piston is what I am referring to. The white bucket is for a coolant to cool the work and wash away the metal debris. The piston is adjustable to control the weight bearing down on the blade.

[Doc Nickel]

Where does one get a piston like that? I have an old Carolina horizontal saw (hey, it was free) and the original damper is worn out, and was probably severely undersized to begin with.

I haven't been able to find any sources for just a damper like that.

Doc.

[ecortech]

Doc
I have seen the cylinders on ebay. The 7x12 saws use them several ebay venders sell them as spare parts.

Ed

[ecortech]

Heres one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ABHC-712-HYDRAUL...2em118Q2el1247