A few bandsaw blade tuning/tire questions

[Andre Cormier]

Gooday,

The saw LT18-3000

I've noticed that my blades have a twisting action at a certain point along it's path around the wheels. The front tooth section moves left to right and the back follows in the opposite direction. haven't had time to trouble shoot yet. I have only tested with 2 blades so far with similar results I suspect the tires but not sure.

- Is this normal for blades to have a natural twist in them? Or is it more likely to be uneven tires?

When I set the guides properly the twisting is minimized but I'm sure it would probably work better without the twist.

Speaking of Tire, i don't think mine were mounted as well as they could have been. I was thinking of making a jig and try to re-crown them to make them nice and even. I noticed some people speak highly of urethane tires but this is usually associated with smaller saws.

- Is there a reason not to put Urethane tires on a 18" wheel (seems easier than a re-crown)

- When you replace the rubber on a wheel, does it need a little touch up with re-crown jig to make it nice and even?

I have also came upon a post where someone balanced their bandsaw wheels with little sticky led weights. I am going to give this a try to stop some of my vibrations. the author suggested doing this after a tire re-crown to have the smoothest saw possible.

- Do you balance your wheels using this method?

Thanks

[Josiah Bartlett]

Most non-14" bandsaws have flat topped wheels, so you have to crown them yourself. For this reason I think rubber are better for larger bandsaws. It also trues them up. You can try recrowning the ones you have first, though, as long as they aren't cracked or gouged.

[Bobby Knourek]

1st off, I dont think the twist is from the tires...unless you can see a defect upon inspection.
It sounds more like a ''kink'' in the blade.

The OWWM site has great advise on how to crown and true you wheels.

www.woodworkerstoolworks.com offers free use of a sanding disc that you can use on your 10'' table saw to crown your wheels. When you purchase tires and the cement is free.
They dont list them all but they supply all types of material for the wheels, and the guides.

[Andre Cormier]

Ok, thanks for the replies. I will try and true/crown my tires and see what results I get.