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Forum topic by abehil | posted 12-05-2015 08:09 AM | 3525 views | 0 times favorited | 29 replies | ![]() |
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12-05-2015 08:09 AM |
I’ve got an old 14 BS I got recently on CL. I’m going over it to get it tuned up. I have a big drift problem. There are several different symptoms that I don’t know how to interpret and not sure which should be adjusted and which can be ignored and/or which to adjust first, second … Blade is centered on top wheel but rides forward on the bottom wheel. In order to get rid of blade tilt (forward/backward) so the blade would be 90 degrees against the table I adjusted the tilt of the top wheel. Performed a test cut and the drift is so bad I had to adjust the Kreg fence as far as it would go. The wheels are obviously not coplaner but also I don’t think the shafts are vertically aligned. I think they are off by about 1/4” off making the blade tilt sideways. Again, it’s an old saw and I have no idea whether bandsaw wheels must/should be aligned or not so I would appreciate guidance. I mean, there is a 1” bolt that attaches the top wheel assembly to the lower part of the BS and I suppose I could loosen that and move the entire upper wheel assembly forward or the right or whatever. But I don’t want to do that unless someone thinks that is the right thing to do to fix really bad drift. Also I’m using a 1/2” blade that came with the saw and I’m not sure it’s tensioned correctly. I set the tension to the 1/2” mark but without the cool blocks literally almost touching each side of the blade it twists a lot when cutting. I don’t want to accidentally break the blade but it seems to me like it needs more tension. How can I be sure how much is correct. The former owner had to replace the tension bracket about 6 months ago if that makes any difference. |