Jumping Grizzly Bandsaw

[Gary Breckenridge]

I am trying to balance the top wheel of a Grizzly GO 555 Bandsaw. It has the factory riser block. It kind of shakes from left to right while running. The top wheel seems to be unbalanced. Any ideas ?

[david brum]

Gary, a few question which would help with an good answer:

1) Is the saw new?
2) Did you just install the riser?
3) If you've had it for a while, did it just start doing this?

That will help narrow down some of the possibilities.

[Joe Angrisani]

Check the balance first, Gary, it's easy.

Take the blade off and give the upper wheel a good spin. Let it come to a stop on it's own and mark the exact top on the lip of the wheel rim. Spin the wheel again and mark the stopping point at the top again. Repeat 10 or 15 times.

Are the marks all over the wheel, or are they basically in one area?

While you were spinning it, did the outer surface of the tire seem to spin smooth and true when you looked at it against a background?

[Gary Breckenridge]

Its an older saw. We did the spin thing and taped some washers on the light part of the wheel and this seemed to help Seems kind of an odd way to balance the thing.

[PAUL FOWLER]

Did it start to shake when or if you changed blades?

[Curt Harms]

Its an older saw. We did the spin thing and taped some washers on the light part of the wheel and this seemed to help Seems kind of an odd way to balance the thing.

My Rikon 10-325 has cast iron wheels. I had the top wheel off and you should see the back face. All kinds of very shallow holes drilled to balance the wheel. It runs smooth like it's supposed to though and I'm sure the holes are shallow enough -- just beveled divots really -- to not affect the wheel's integrity.

[Joe Angrisani]

You missed the second question.....

While you were spinning it, did the outer surface of the tire seem to spin smooth and true when you looked at it against a background?

[Bill White]

I used solid core solder wrapped around the offending area on my BS wheel (on the spoke). Ya gotta check the tires too.
Bill

[Gary Breckenridge]

We have pinned it down to the top wheel being out of balance. Its now a matter of getting the right placement of washers to totally balance the wheel and put it all back together.

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi gary,Google this[ One method to balance bandsaw wheels.] hope this helps. Andrew