I recently inherited an older Craftsman 12” bandsaw, maybe 15 years old, and started tuning it last night. Wheels are good and round and coplanar, tires not flattened anywhere, guides and bearings and tension are set according to specs. When I turned it on, though, there was some noticeable wobble in the lower wheel when viewed from the side (in the plane of rotation). When turned off, the wheel feels quite sturdy and I can’t reproduce any wobble manually. Upper wheel has no wobble.
I made some test cuts on pine and they turned out acceptable, but I’m one of those guys who likes his equipment tuned as well as possible, and something about this says there is room for improvement. Any ideas where to start or where to go to find and answer?
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If there isn't any looseness, then I would look for either a bent wheel or a bent axle, if the axle rotates with the wheel. Clamp some type of pointer near the rim of the wheel and then rotate the wheel by hand, if the wheel or axle are off, it should be easy to spot.
Another possibility is that the width of the wheel varies a bit, this would cause an apparent wobble but wouldn't actually cause any blade vibration because the face of the wheel wouldn't actually be moving back and forth.
John W.
Thanks John. I'll check the wheel width to see if it varies, but there is some blade vibration, so I'm pretty sure the wheel isn't turning as it should. A guy in another forum suggested that maybe the belt driving the wheel needs replacing. I feel certain it hasn't ever been replaced and am going to check that as well.Hope it's not the axle.
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