Mounting New Bandsaw Blade (???)

[lynnl]

Does anyone (i.e. people with less than 3 hands) have any clever trick for installing a blade on those 4 X 6" H/V bandsaws. Put it in the guides, it spro-o-i-n-gs off the wheels. Put it back on the wheels. Spro-o-i-ngs out of the roller guides. Over'n over!
Or is this as good as it gets?

[bdarin]

Yes, that's as good as it gets. I usually get the blade in the guides, then tighten the tensioner just enough to slip the blade over the wheels without it falling off. Then, holding it all carefullu and not breathing on it, tighten the knob. Pluck the blade....C an octave above middle-c works for me. It improves with practice.

[Alistair Hosie]

Try a couple of small spring clamps to hold it onto wheel remove them when tension starts to take up. Alistair

[JCHannum]

It is really quite simple once you have mastered the method of tightening the tensioner with your chin.

[Tibertus]

I wonder if you could use those big black clips they use in an office to hold a bunch of paper together with? You know what I mean they are made of spring steel and can hold a lot of paper.

Happy Holidays.

[yf]

Move the upper and lower guide bearing slides to the centermost position, put the blade in the guides. Wrap some tape around the blade and rim of the wheel or use some sort of clamp or clip to hold it on. If you have solid wheels you obviously can't do that.
Make sure the cord is unplugged!
Take the tape or clamp off before starting the saw.

On my saw the bearings are tight and hold the blade in place for me, as I place it on the wheels.
Moving the guides to the center causes a smaller segment to be twisted,making it less likely to spring off the wheels while you tighten the tension knob.

Or clean the tension knob and tighten it with your mouth

That should do it

[Thrud]

lynnl:
Sounds like someone needs to adjust his guide bearings better!

We had guys in the shop that did not give a rat's patootie about anything but partying and even they could do it - after being shown ten times or so.

You're a smart guy. After you adjust the bearings properly you wont have any problem.

FYI - rat's can't fart.

[lynnl]

Yeah my problems yesterday were no doubt worse than normal because I'd bought a "Rigid" (brandname) blade from Home Depot that is only .020 thk, vs .025 for regular blades I'v been using. So the roller guides weren't gripping it as tight as normal. Once I got it on tho it seems to cut just fine. This was an emergency replacement because my other fine tooth band had broken.
What's the main cause of breakage? ... too much tension? Or should I just expect breakage eventually, due to fatique?

But I'll try to remember to use some of those spring clips. That sounds like a good, simple idea.

Thrud, I'm curious about that digestive deficiency of rats. Is that due strictly to diet? Or just more rigid social conformity within their group?


[This message has been edited by lynnl (edited 12-09-2002).]

[Ragarsed Raglan]

Lynnl,

I have thought for some time that the cause of most saw failures on these machines has been due to poor guide roller setting. One of the first jobs I did when getting my machine was to make a spanner (wrench!) to hold the eccentric roller guide mounts whilst tightening the clamping nuts. These eccentrics have, IMMSMC, a 3/4" AF nut which is only about 0.080" thick, not accessible to any normal spanner (even a tappet wrench!).

Other than that, the 'tracking' of the band on the two main wheels, which can be effected (affected??) by the 'tilt' mechanism on the jockey wheel, is pretty crucial to band life. I had a lot of trouble with the band cutting quite happily for the first 1" or so of stock, then it would keep jumping off the wheels. This resulted in the blade getting kyboshed by the guides and trapped in the job, which would invariably put a kink in the blade. If you get a kinked blade - a broken blade follows pretty soon after! After loading a blade I always check that it tracks accurately by viewing it in the vertical position with the blade access door open - WARNING take care when doing this, if the blade jumps track it can spring a long way, 'jogged starts' are required here to check the blade is not about to decapitate oneself!

Since paying a lot of attention to the tracking of the blade, the setting of the roller guides, I've got a lot more life out of my blades, and more importantly the saw cuts real accurate right angle cuts with no wandering off at an angle!!

P.S When loading the blade have you tried standing on one leg, and holding the blade on the motor wheel with the left foot?? works for me every time!

RR

[This message has been edited by Ragarsed Raglan (edited 12-09-2002).]

[Tibertus]

Thrud

Rats also can't vomit, don't have the plumbing for it. Lucky us!!!

Happy Holidays

[Thrud]

Tibertus, Lynn

You know, if I ate what rats eat I would not want a "gag" relex either. I do know that Coke and Pepsi are one way to kill the little buggers - they like the sweet stuff, but their system cannot pass the gas - or burb apparently.

Still more fun to blow their little brains out with a .22 and feed 'em to the crows & magpies (more targets). Alberta's only rat population consists of brainless Liberal Politicians. Please invade us - soon.

[Thrud]

RR

Poor alignment contributes to early demise of blades. As you say wheel alignment is important, but the entire geometry of the saw can be flawed putting excessive sideways pressure on a blade as the kerf tries to go straight and the blade is pulled off course from a true vertical path by defective machining of the saw.

Lousy welds and poor blade material is a common culprit. The bulk blades sold in most stores (and machinery distributors) can be of questionable quality. I have NEVER snapped a quality blade in production use that was not directly attributed to material flaws. Excessive downward pressure can snap a blade and can also strip the set off the blade rendering it useless.

[lynnl]

The tool catalogs show a (Starrett) bandsaw blade alignment gauge (about $12). It's unclear to me just what is to aligned with that. Is it used to assure the roller guides are in alignment with each other and with the line tangent to the wheels? 'er what'?

[lynnl]

The tool catalogs show a (Starrett) bandsaw blade alignment gauge (about $12). It's unclear to me just what is to aligned with that. Is it used to assure the roller guides are in alignment with each other and with the line tangent to the wheels? 'er what'?

[lynnl]

'nuther double post! What the @$#%#(!