What happened to our Grizzly G0514X2 bandsaw?

[Stephen Bannasch]

I'm trying to figure out what happened to our Grizzly G0514X2 bandsaw and how to fix it.


After severely over-tightening the blade tension the top wheel now has a great deal of play when rotating it in the vertical axis -- if I grab the wheel on the left and right sides I can easily rotate it back and forth about 1/2" in the vertical axis. I'm pretty sure this play wasn't present before -- but am not certain.


---- details ----


We have a Grizzly G0514X2 bandsaw in a shared shop. Someone who wasn't familiar enough with the bandaw noticed the blade was loose and tightened it by using the tension adjusting wheel instead of the tension lever. Later I came in to use it and used the tension lever to tighten the blade. Later I found out this increased the tension to 8!


First thing I noticed was the tracking was off -- to the controls side of the top wheel -- and I couldn't adjust it to the center. Then I noticed the tension was set at 8 so I started the blade tension setup procedure and lowered the tension to 4.5 using the adjusting wheel. I started the saw and continued lowering the tension until seeing the blade start to flutter. Then I starting increasing tension using the adjusting wheel. Thats when I noticed that when I increased the tension with the adjusting wheel the whole bandsaw blade rotated far enough in the vertical axis to touch one of the guide bearings (which I had adjusted to be as far from the blade as possible).


At this point I released all the tension, removed the blade, and looked more closely at the top wheel.


While I never checked the vertical axis play in the top wheel before it doesn't seem correct. The wheel does need play in the horizontal axis to be able to set the tracking -- but I can't imagine any reason for play in the vertical axis.

I made a short youtube video showing the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCdrBGN3GVk

If you have a similar Grizzly bandsaw can you check and let me know if there is a bunch of top-wheel play in the vertical axis on your saw.

Assuming this is a problem anybody know how to fix it? I haven't taken off the top wheel yet -- but this appears to be a sensible next step to look more closely at what's possibly bent in the alighment mechanism. I tried unscrewing the hex cap screw holding on the wheel, it moved about 1/8 of a turn and stopped (with a medium hard torque using a small allen wrench) -- at that point I tightened the cap screw and decided to do some research.

Thanks for any tips.

[Matt Day]

I suggest you take the wheel off and you'll probably see pretty clearly that something broke/cracked.

[Bill Orbine]

I suggest you take the wheel off and you'll probably see pretty clearly that something broke/cracked.

Yes.... And while you're at that, you can review the parts list with exploded view of your bandsaw to help you navigate towards your problem and determine what parts you may need: http://cdn0.grizzly.com/partslists/g0514x2_pl.pdf

[Bill Space]

I suggest you take the wheel off and you'll probably see pretty clearly that something broke/cracked.

Same here.

By by the way I think the movement is in the Horizontal plane, not the vertical one (as shown in your video). But suspect it may also be in the vertical plane...have to look at the video again to see if the blade is off.

Edit: I see the blade was off... Follow Matt's advice and you should find the reason.

[Guy Belleman]

The wheel needs to be taken off to see what is not proper. With the tension off and the wheel block plate loose, that much slop is likely. There is a picture on page 62 of the manual that might help. http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0514x2_m.pdf

[Stephen Bannasch]

Thanks for all the replies and encouragement to take off the top wheel. I found a longer 6mm hex key to unscrew the bearing cap screw and took apart the sliding bracket mechanism yesterday.

When I was trying to adjust the tracking the other day (when the saw was over-tensioned) at one point I heard a loud twang/snap sound. I inspected all the spot welds carefully in the sliding mechanism but didn't find any cracked.

We then noticed that the channel on the frame was bent out at the top of the aluminum extrusion that holds the wheel axle. It was bent out more on the rear side of the bandsaw.



Here's another view:



I measured the height of both sides of the channel where it wasn't bent. The rear side averaged 34.4 mm the front side averaged 34.2 mm -- so I cut a piece of IPE 34.0mm tall on the end grain and used it as a block under both sides of the channel and carefully hammered this top part of the channel straight again.



While doing all this I cleaned and lubricated the sliding bracket mechanism. After putting it all back together and setting the tracking and tension the saw seems to work OK.

I notice that now the tension indicator reads 4.0 when the blade is correctly tensioned, previously the value was 4.75.

We'll do more re-sawing tests today.

[Myk Rian]

What was your reason for over tensioning?

[Stephen Bannasch]

The bandsaw is in a shared shop. Someone used it who knew the blade needed more tension -- but didn't know about the quick tension adjust lever ... so they tightened the blade by using the tension adjustment wheel.

Later I came in and used the quick tension adjust lever to tension the blade and noticed the tracking was all off. Even at the limit of the tracking adjustment (all the way screwed in) I couldn't get blade to track to the center -- it was shifted towards the far side of the saw. I opened the saw and saw the the tension indicator was at 8!

Bandsaw usage/training policies are changing a bit ;-)

[glenn bradley]

Good diagnosis, good fix, nice save.

[Bruce Page]

Great save! I'm glad you were able to repair it and make more sawdust.

[Mark Bolton]

Might be time for some signage or perhaps an orientation with the tools for anyone who uses the shop.

Anyone who reefs on a tool that hard and just keeps cranking on something without ever wondering "hmm, I can't imagine I should be having to do this to use a tool" should be shot, or at the very least watched closely.

Could have been an expensive or dangerous lesson. Wonder if the offending party would have replaced the saw had their actions ruined it.

[John Lanciani]

. Wonder if the offending party would have replaced the saw had their actions ruined it.

Actually if you read the details the OP is the offending party, though not deliberately. The other user isn't the one who actually over-tensioned the saw, the OP did when he used the quick release lever on a fully tensioned blade.

[Mark Henshaw]

I have had this same issue happen to my G0514x2 saw, only I did not over tighten. I was resawing 10 in walnut using a 1" blade and noticed quit a bit if vibration after 45 minutes of cutting. I am not very impressed with the strength that the channel provides the wheel bearing housing.

[Mark Bolton]

Actually if you read the details the OP is the offending party, though not deliberately. The other user isn't the one who actually over-tensioned the saw, the OP did when he used the quick release lever on a fully tensioned blade.

I guess in the judge Judy world you'd have your case but the simple fact of the matter is no one who was accustomed to a saw with a tension lever would ever think to check the tension before using the saw. The last user (the guy who reefed the saw beyond belief to get his tension) should have de-tensioned the saw and left it the way they found it for the next user. Hence my comment about signage or even more perhaps policy.

[Stephen Bannasch]

Mark,

I agree the channel should be a stronger more rigid element.

Are you saying you also had a bent channel in the same location? Mine was bent out more on the rear side of the channel and less on the front side. Was yours bent similarly?

When I took the wheel off and looked closely the bent channel was apparent -- but I don't actually know for sure what caused the bends in the channel.

This could have happened when the unknown user tightened the blade using the wheel. Let's say the whole mechanism wasn't very clean, as the wheel is tightened more and more there is more and more friction in the system, which transmits more and more torque to the channel. This could be a reason for the larger channel bend on the rear side -- but doesn't explain the smaller bend on the front side of the channel.

While it was over-tightened (and while I didn't know) I noticed the tracking was off (towards the far side of the saw). I thought this was strange because since I set the tracking several weeks ago when I put on a new blade it hadn't changed at all. I tightened the tracking screw as much as I could and couldn't get the blade to center. I'd need to take a closer look at how the forces are resolved when this happens but perhaps this contributed.