Old iron, best iron? (24" bandsaw)

[Phil Thien]

Side to side would indicate one or more of your wheels is slightly out of round. Could be the wear of the wires, too. Could also be a king in the band you're using for testing, if that is where you're noticing it. I've used enormous cast iron bandsaws and there was no side to side movement in the blade, so I don't really agree with your friend that it is normal.

But your saw apparently has rubber tires. So if the error is smaller than the thickness of the tires, I'd think it would be corrected if the tires were replaced and the wheels trued.

[Dennis Aspö]

No side to side movement in the blade is not normal, he meant side to side movement of the wheels themselves, as long as it doesn't affect tracking of the blade or cause vibrations it's not a big deal and according to him quite normal.

To clarify I can detect a wobble side to side in the wheels themselves, it's visible when it goes slowly, I cannot say for certain how much or if it's the tire or wheel itself, think its the wheel though. Getting a dial indicator to test how much, I plan to test the arbor itself too if that is it.

The blade also goes back and forth, but this can be due to it simply being old and worn out (it also wore a track into the crowning which can throw things of, so I need to recrown the wheels too, lots of rubber to take from though), it's really a piece of junk IMO. Good enough for practicing folding and thats about it.

[Dennis Aspö]

Well I got my blade today and I was finally able to run the saw properly. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as all that. Still side to side movement with the blade but greatly reduced, though I was able to adjust the upper wheel tilt until I wasn't able to see any side to side movement of the blade near the table. Still the amount of vibration was unacceptable. So next step must wait until I get my dial indicator so I can document the runout and also remove the upper wheel and check the axle itself for runout. Might be new bearings are required, or perhaps the upper wheel can be shimmed or adjusted somehow.

[Phil Thien]

I still suspect your upper wheel is out of round due to uneven tire wear. I'm interested in what you find, though.

[Dennis Aspö]

I hope very much you are right. I found this video on how to true the wheel and it looks like something I could try and build:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO-NsK-rwjc

[Jim Matthews]

Once the new blade is installed, if it tracks straight under load - it's ready to go.

Once the wheel guards are back on, you likely won't notice.
That's one purty old lady you brought home.

She'll still know how to dance, even if it takes her awhile to warm up.
* you still suck *

[Dennis Aspö]

I can't live with the amount of vibration it puts out currently even if the blade tracks well atm. Hoping its just the tires, spherical ball bearings like these can be expensive to replace I hear.

Also have the wheel guards on when I did this, I mounted those before I dared run the motor with blade on.

[Dennis Aspö]

Got my dial indicator and tested it, .2mm or 7-8 thousands of an inch runout on the shaft, it is less further in which means it's bent. So I guess that is the most likely reason for the vibration.

[David Kumm]

Have you seen the video on youtube about straightening a bent shaft using heat? Dave

[Dennis Aspö]

Haven't seen it no. I was told it was "good news" if the shaft was the problem, expecting more details on why from the guy who said it, assumed it meant an easy fix.

[Phil Thien]

Did you check the bottom shaft?

Also, how about checking at the rim of the wheel while mounted on the shaft. If the wheel is round, your measurements at the wheel should approximate the shaft.

[Dennis Aspö]

Well I already took the shaft apart and ordered new bearings, it was pretty bad looking, the front bearing was also in quite bad shape. I'm taking the shaft to a machinist so they can see if it's true or not, and perhaps having a new one made is best. It might have been repaired before given the heat discoloration.





The housing for the shaft on this saw doesn't tilt, instead it uses two self-aligning ball bearings, and the rear part of the shaft is raised via a collar that the other bearing goes into, the collar is prevented from moving sideways thanks to the lid which fits into a cutout in the collar, so it can only move up and down. This is apparently not a common setup.

[Peter Kelly]

Göteneds Maskiner built metalworking tools no? I seem to remember using one in the machine shop at school in Sweden.

I wonder if the replacement motor was to increase the rpms for woodworking.

[Dennis Aspö]

I believe they still do, also woodworking tools, under another name now that I forgot, Cidan machinery perhaps. I had a guy over who is something of a specialist in old woodworking machines, esp. swedish made ones, he mentioned the same thing but was pretty sure about it being built for woodworking.

We're only pretty sure that it is a Göteneds, given the complete lack of identification it's a mystery saw.

[Dennis Aspö]

New shaft arrived yesterday, it wasn't that costly IMO, machinist said 60-70 bucks and he'd send me the bill, not bad for a whole new part but I've never had to do anything like this before.


Reassembly was a breeze, everything just fitted back real easily, it was a hundred times worse taking this apart. Vibrations are now much reduced and the saw blade tracks perfectly and I can't see any side to side movement of the upper wheel anymore. But there's still residual vibrations. But maybe the upper wheel can now be ruled out, the lower wheel seems to have some side to side movement too, so perhaps the motor needs new bearings as well.