Replies

1. 
   roc | Nov 03, 2008 09:47am | #1

   Two questions:

   1. For sure the 14 is too tight? Have you tried one? Probably will just give/stretch enough to fit.

   2. The jig for smoothing your old tires. Did this involve a high speed die grinder with barrel shapped grinding wheel? If not this is worth a try. Turn the bandsaw wheel while the grinder is running, advance the grinder in small increments to slowly take down the high spot.

   Obviously maintaining the original crown of the tire is important.

   You could even dress the grinding wheel to the negative of the crown shape.

1. 
   piker | Nov 11, 2008 04:35am | #2

   Hi, thanks for the reply,

   The original tires were glued-on rubber segments. After removal & cleaning of the wheels it was obvious that the bed of the recess where the tire sits had a slight crown, meaning the installed tire would then be crowned. Before installation you could see the tires were slightly thicker in spots. I have absolutely no problem with blade tracking, only the slight vibration from the tires. Would rather just replace the tires with the urethane ones than go through the drudgery of grinding them down with a die grinder. I have Robert Vaughn's excellent article on this & would be great for someone with a few to do. Replaced tires on my 14" Delta with import tires for a Taiwanese saw & they worked great, after stretching the crap out of them, then running a screwdriver shank around the wheel to equalize the tension. Another contact directed me to Timberwolf (Suffolk Machinery) for custom tires. Waiting to hear back with a price.

2. 
   gb93433 | Nov 11, 2008 07:05am | #3

   Did you contact General at http://www.general.ca/pagetitre/ang/contactus.html

1. 
   piker | Nov 11, 2008 01:56pm | #4

   That is where my replacement rubber tires came from,via Fundy Grinding in Truro, NS. At the time dealer said they did not supply urethane tires. Will contact them directly to check again. Thanks.

1. 
   gb93433 | Nov 11, 2008 11:15pm | #5

   Another thing that you can do is to contact your local newspaper printer and find out who does their rollers. Tose kind of places have done bandsaw wheels for friends of mine. My bandsaw was done that way as well. I am very happy with the results. The rubber is vulcanized onto the metal wheels. It is more expensive than buying standard replacement rubber but it is a great job. You will not have to worry about it coming loose.