This is my first time to this forum, and I hope someone might be able to give me some advice.
I purchased a Craftsman 18″ light industrial band saw about a year ago. I have had very little success with the blade properly tracking, and placing sufficient tension on the blade for it to stabilize. I have been in touch with Sears, and this model has been disontinued in spite of the fact that is less than 10 years old (I hate that), and parts are nonexistent. I was able to find out that the machine was manufactured by a company out of Germany by the name of Elektra Beckum. I have emailed them over their website, but have not received any response, and don’ t expect to (I’ve done this twice in the last 6 months and they just don’t respond).
I have checked the alignment of the upper and lower wheels, adjusted the upper and lower guides (both of which utilize 1/4″ square guides, with a thrust bearing perpendicular to the face of the guides) for their stability.
My problem is this… As I apply tension to the blade will track forward, the more tension I place on the blade, the further it will move. Eventually, it will walk out of the guides, and off the wheels that drive the blade. I suspect that as the tenison is applied, the alignment of the wheel are changing in relationship to each other and forcing the blade forward. Has anyone else discovered this type of problem with their saw, regardless of the make? Please give me any input that you can, it would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Pat Mallett
Replies
Hello Pat,
There should be a blade tracking knob on the back of your saw above (or below) the tension spring gauge. There should be a wing nut on the threaded post of the knob between it and the machine housing. If it's not there, or if it's not screwed tightly against the machine after the blade is aligned, tighten it or replace it. This mechanism tilts the upper wheel on its X (horizontal) axis which allows the blade to track properly. (The blade should be on the middle third of the tire.)
Obviously your bandsaw shouldn't be doing this. The culprit is most likely a missing or not tightened down piece of hardware. The upper wheel has to only move the smallest fractions of an inch to move the blade one way or another. The best thing to do is use the manual that came with the saw and run through the parts list for the upper wheel assembly and upper tracking adjustment assembly. (There should be an exploded-view parts list in the back of the manual.) If everything is there and is properly set, check the tires on the wheels. Are they running true and symmetrical? After each day of use, you should release some of the tension on the blade. By not doing this, the constant tension will dramatically reduce the tension spring's life and effectiveness. It will also distort the shape of the rubber wheel, which in turn will not allow the blade to track correctly.
Where do you have the back of the blade thrust bearing set to? It should not be touching the blade unless a cut is being made. It should run 1/32" behind the blade when at rest.
Check the saw over using the above advice. If you are still unable to get the blade to track, let me know, I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.
Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
I purchased Mark Duginski's excellent Bandsaw Handbook a few years back, and it has lots of valuable information that addresses situations like the one you describe. You may want to pick up a copy.
Pat,
After a year of having the same problem with my sears bandsaw I have totally given up. I bought a little three wheeler (11 inch I think) and have never been able to operate it without the band comming off several times. I tried to tighten the blade...then got huge drift...bought the bandsaw book.....not very relevant to this toy.
Your machine is totally different, strange the problems would be the same.
I'm with Jackie on this one. I believe that your blade tracking knob is missing or not very obvious. It should be near the top wheel. I too am fighting with my new-old band saw but I believe it is all part of the learning curve.
good luck
Mitt
The Electra Beckum range of bandsaws are very highly engineered, and are one of the top sellers in the UK. They operate through engineering distributers over here and have excellent aftersales service, for parts, tech support etc. The net work is so good that they are still servicing 15 year old machines made by Elektra...
I agree you have something missing on your machine(the tracking adjustment) and would not give up
I sugest you write....NOT E MAIL.....giving machine details, the problem, where purchased and where the machine can be fixed in the USA,....to
THE managing director Elekctra Beckum,
Metabowerke GmbH, Postfach 1229, D- 72602 Nurtingen, Germany.
Tel. 49 7022 72.
You can also check you have the correct e mail.
www. elektra-beckum.com
hope this helps
Mike
Pat,
I recently posted the basically the same message about my 14" Delta. The problem I have is when I use thin blades sa. 1/4" it drifted forward and cut the dust panel and ruined a brand new blade.
Everyone responded in the same way, the wheels are not aligned,the tires are crowned, the adjusting nut is loose blah,blah blah.
I have rechecked all these things and all are square, tight, and aligned. After giving this much consideration the cunclusion I have come to and have not yet been able to test my theory as of yet is;
A) the tension is not correct. I had purchased an Olson blade from the Woodworking Show and was told that this is a low tension blade and does not require the same tension as others. So when I went home to try out my blade I was not getting the performance that I had just witnessed just hours before so I tried to tighten the blade just as you had and to my horror I heard the unmistakable sound of metal sheering by the time I was able to react and shut off the saw my new sharp blade had bacome a new dull blade.
B)the wheels may need over compensating. I believe that with a little fineggeling one might be able to make adjustments that are not normally used to stop the drift sa.tilting the upper wheel back a little to compensate for the drift.
As a side note it is only the thin blade that I have problems with my 1/2" Olson tracks fine and I use it for resawing logs into usable lumber and slicing veneer. It's only when I try to scroll with a thin blade.
I hope this helps.
Keep The Wood Flying!
Sounds like your alignment is changing as you apply more tension. Can you check alignment ( you can do all this w/o the saw running) at several times as yo're increasing tension? If my guess is correct, you'll see the wheels geting out of alignment as tension goes up. . I'm hoping you checked condition of tires & they are OK.
Dan
EMail: [email protected]
Hi Pat,
Electra Beckum are good quality machines usually, and are made by the same company that makes Metabo power tools. Sounds as though you have a dud, but. Amazed that they don't sell directly into the US market
Anyway, they have on-line operating manuals available for their machines. Here is the link
As well, you will need to find out which of their model numbers matches your machine. Here is their on-line catalogue.
Here's an address which I lifted off their website, I would either go to the top, as indicated in the earlier post or to their service unit at this address:
Metabowerke GmbH
Business Unit Elektra Beckum
Postfach 13 52
D-49703 Meppen
Phone:
(+49) 5931-8020
I don't know how successful this may be as Sears have the responsibility for after-sales service, not the manufacturer - but, it's worth a shot.
Good luck, eddie
edit: minor grammar and spelling
Edited 12/28/2002 9:27:45 PM ET by eddie (aust)
You might check the wheel alignment at several times as you are increasing the tension. Sure sounds like the wheels are going out of alignment as you're increasing the tension.
Good luck, Dan
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