New saw, new user — lots of questions
JoeG1 | Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I just completed, I think, the installation of a new Grizzly G0555 with riser. Important note: this is my first band saw. Thus I’m working with no prior experience of this tool. I installed the riser asymbly early in the installation and followed the remaining installation steps. A series of problems occured:
- After the riser was installed, I was unable to install the new 105″ blade, as the wheels would not open far enough for the balde to fit. I found an instruction step stating that the tension scale would need to be recalabrate after a different size bade is installed. I followed the steps and then went back through the blade tension instructions. Being a new user I found it difficult to identify when the blade would “wobble”. I “think‘ the adjustment is correct, as I was able to install the new blade. I’m just not certain the tension is accurate.
- I completed the other steps adjusting the tracking and blade guides.
- After all the steps were complete, I turned on the saw. I was quite amazed at how quiet it ran.
- I made my first test cut on a 3/4″ scrap of plywood. While cutting, it made a rather loud wine sound. Being a new band saw user, I had no reference to tell if the sound was good or bad. It also produced a slight “burn” smell, but not noticable on the cut.
- I next tried resawing a 8/4 scrap piece of red oak. This produced smoke after about a 1/4″ cut! Thinking the speed which was set at 3200 RPM was to high, I lowered it to 1500 RPM. I tried the cut again with no change — it still burned the wood.
- A new problem surfaced after changing the balde speed. The motor, which was quiet, is now making a ticking noise. If on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no noise. Prior to changing the speed, the saw ran at a “2” while not cutting. It now makes a “ticking” noise of around a “5” while not cutting. I removed the belt and there is no change. For some reason, the motor is now making a noise that, I don’t believe is good.
I plan to call Grizzly support Monday morning. If anyone has any suggestions or tips on if/what I have done wrong, it would be greatly appreciated.
As always, thanks for your support!
Joe
Replies
Hi Joe.
" things come to mind.
1 Have you got the blade installed with the teeth upside down.
2 The ticking may be a thick weld on the blade.
Hope this helps
Woodsy
JoeG1,
When I first got my bandsaw I fiddled arond with the Timberwolf tension thing too. Finally I ended up bending the blade/band and destroying a tire on the bottom wheel.
After replacing the tire I bought a cheap blade (Olsen) and cranked up the tension...made sure it was centered on the wheel...made sure everything was square..and all the resawing from then has been great. Recently I went back to the Timberwolf..but I don't worry much about the wobble thing
Joe,
Some things come to mind:
If you damaged the set of the teeth when installing and adjusting the blade, that will account for excessive drift, cupping on resawing and burning.
If the roller guides are not spaced equally on each side of the blade and are too close to the blade. the whine you hear could be the roller guides spinning. Under normal load they should not do this all of the time, only when the blade is deflected to one side or the other as when cuttting more radical curves. Also, a sticky bearing guide could also produce a whine such as you describe.
I agree with the other responses that the ticking is probably the blade joint weld and you can carefully hone this down or accept that it is normal or at least it will not cause any problems.
The tension adjustment when you install the riser is PITA and you can't rely on the tension guide which is pretty much a joke anyway. Grizzly technical services has instructions on how to reset the tension guide and I'm not sure it is now incorporated into the manual. Give them a call.
If I remember correctly, the Grizzly instructions recommend setting tension using the flutter method. It is also my understanding that this is only applicable on low tension blades such as timberwolf. I have found that the easiest way to install and tension Timberwolf blades is to remove the table and loosen the guides and thrust bearings so they are not in close contact with the blade and then adjust the tension until the flutter appears, tighten until the flutter stops and finally tighten with an additional half turn. Then set the upper and lower guides and thrust bearings. If you are using standard blades this approach will not produce sufficient tension, particularly if you are resawing.
Lastly, replace the metal throat plate with one of wood or plastic. It doesn't't take much to damage the set of the blade teeth.
The pulley speed should have nothing to do with these problems unless you were sawing thick and very dense wood.
The burning can also be produced by feeding the wood too fast. It just dawned on me you were cutting plywood and the adhessives in plywood can causing that burned odor, particularly if you have any of the other problesm mention above.
Hope this helps. I might add that all of these lessons were learned the hard way since the G0555 was my first band saw. There are some excellent books on band saws and I would recommend you add one to your library.
Doug
Edited 7/15/2005 10:15 am ET by Doug
Edited 7/15/2005 10:18 am ET by Doug
Doug and BG, thank you for your detailed, and helpful, suggestions! I'll try to make a long story short. The end result was two problems. The "ticking" noise ended up being a bad, we believe, bearing in the motor. Grizzly is sending a new one that should be here tomorrow. The burning of wood and wine while cutting turned out to be a bad blade. Not sure if the blade was defective or if I ruined it by not haveing the bearings moved out of the way when adjusting the tension, or as Doug pointed out, hitting the metal throat plate. Replacing the blade, and carefully going through the tension and then bearing adjustment corrected the problems.
I talked with Grizzly, several times. Great service! These folks not only answer the phone they are very helpful. The instructions to recalabrate the tension were not in the manual. They emailed me the instructions -- one page, fairly straight forward. The tech rep at Grizzly agreed with your comment Doug that the tension scale is basicaly there for looks. They recommended using the wobble technique for the Timberwolf blades.
I've used the saw several times and what a great machine! I can't believe I've gone this long without a bandsaw. I've got plenty to learn, and getting a book will most likely be a wise investment. Although, bouncing questions off of experienced folks like you is invaluable and appreciated.
Thanks again for your help!
Joe
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