Bandsaw Blade Perfection?

[Andrew Joiner]

I just got a 21" Grizzly bandsaw. The factory 1" blade test cut's are great and the blade lines up to the thrust bearing fine. There's a consistent 1/64" gap to the thrust bearing on a full revolution.

I put in a 1/2" Timber wolf in and the back edge touches the thrust bearing and moves slowly forward (away from the bearing) about 1/32" maximum in one revolution. This happens gradually in several spots on the blades path. The weld area is flat and true for that 2 feet or so. The weld seems fine. The TW blade cuts about as smooth as the stock 1" blade but with less feed pressure.

The question is what tolerance is acceptable? If you order several blades are they all likely to have some front to back "wobble"? Is 1/32" or less "wobble" common?

Grizzly said they will take the blade back and pay for shipping, but I may just keep it for rougher cuts.

[glenn bradley]

I would ask for a replacement or refund if it is the blade. There is little reason for a blade, properly welded and handled to not run true.

[Chris Padilla]

If you're happy with the cut, why bother? The end product is what matters.

[Dan Forman]

I wonder if the wobble is due to wheels not being coplaner with the 1/2" blade installed. The saw was most likely set up to use the larger blade it came with. When you use a narrower blade with less tension, the wheels are most likely no longer coplaner. I don't know whether that would cause your problem, it's merely a guess, but someone else might.

Dan

[joe milana]

I ordered several "timberwolf" blades from Grizzly and they all do what you describe. Some worse than others. Funny thing is, if you watch the MM16 demo video on the MiniMax website, you will notice the blade does the same thing. I just figured all blades behave that way to some degree.

[Andrew Joiner]

I checked the saw. The wheels aren't coplanar. I will tension my widest blade and check them .Thanks Dan.

thanks j milana,
I would guess my blade might be within the tolerances Timberwolf can provide.

Hard to believe all brands of bands behave this way or we'd have tons of threads about this on here.

[Frank Drew]

I never found that bandsaw blades were precision instruments, exactly, and the weld can introduce an area of deviation. Maybe there are better ones than any I bought, though.

I was never particularly dissatisfied with the cut quality, though.