One week old bandsaw and I can’t for the life of me stop the upper vibration. Set up as instructions stated, no help. Watched countless YouTubes, no help. Even Alex Snodgrass demo everyone suggested. I did see where it was recommended to replace the factory blade but not sure this is the source of vibration but I will do that next short of contacting Jet Monday.
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Run it without a blade, that will isolate the problem to the blade or upper wheel if the vibration goes away.
After doing as Gulfstar recommends, swapping the blade would have been my next act if trying to isolate vibration. Hopefully the vibration is absent when the blade is off. If not, report back and we will have a different discussion.
Blades can have bad welds, bends or other damage. The vibration from this is usually slight but, certainly enough to foul a quality cut.
Ok, so no vibration w/o blade. Video, if it plays on here shows how much it shakes. This is, with adjustment, the best I can get it. The other picture shows a bolt with a large washer on the side of the tensioning spring. There is one on each side of the spring. The one shown (on left) has the washer about 3/8 off the white surface and the one on the right is touching the surface leading me to believe it is not fully seated.
Sorry, uploaded wrong video
That is impressive. The good news is that it does not misbehave with the blade off so motor, drive train and lower wheel are all good, yes?
Either the blade or the upper wheel seem to be the contributing factors. Factory blades are more for looks than use in most cases. I keep several quality blades on hand for each saw with varying widths and tooth patterns.
I get the feeling you do not have another blade handy or you would have done that test already. You could contact the retailer and ask for another blade or an exchange of blades to prove things out.
If it behaves the same with a new blade I would give Jet a chance to resolve the problem via tech support over the phone. If that fails or starts to get really drawn out I would opt for an exchange or refund at the retailer.
A lot of people run Jet bandsaws with good success so I wouldn't hesitate to buy another blade (bandsaw blades are wear parts like car brakes and sandpaper until you get past plain steel blades). I don't expect a return to be in your future if the problem can be resolved.
I am leaning more toward a bad blade than a defective saw from Jet's QA. It can happen though, even to the big names so if the resolution is not forthcoming and convenient, don't hesitate to return the saw. It is our solemn duty to supply feedback to our suppliers via our wallets.
P.s. Since there are multiple schools of thought on blade tension I will state that I use the flutter method which is pretty low tension. My saw runs so smooth I have to be careful not to walk away and leave it running. That is; blade tension has little to do with a saw vibrating unless the tension happens to be in the resonance-point where the blade vibrates like a guitar string ;-)
Replace the blade with a woodslicer blade and also check the blade tension it appears to be to tight but it may be just me ,that should do it cheers.
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