Grizzly Bandsaw Issue

[Jeff Todd]

Hello I have a Grizzly G0555x Bandsaw nothing on it has been changed that is to say no riser block stock guides and all. Now I am ashamed to say that I have had this machine for nearly 4 years and have only used it a total of MAYBE 20 Minutes. However I am determined to make more time for me to be in the shop and want to start making some projects around the bandsaw. Now to the problem. I have the stock blade, a 3 TPI 1/2" AS blade, 10 TPI 1/4 Blade. If i set my blade to ride on the crown of the upper wheel, it appears to be close on bottom wheel too. the upper guide side Bearings cant get backed off far enough to allow the bearing to ride behind the gullets of the blades(any of them) if i put the Bearings down near the table. if i raise the guides all the way up they are pretty close to the correct position.. That is to say it seams as you lower the guide bearings (post) it moves towards the front of the machine I would say about 3/32" of an inch. So my question is there anything that I should immediately look at being the problem. I am kinda at a loss.

Thanks for the help in advance.
JT

[Bill White]

I have the 0555LX, and I'm wondering if your post may have been bent. There is a bit of adjustment to the alignment of the post. Might try fiddling with that adjustment.
Bill

[glenn bradley]

You may be trying to adjust the guide bearings without adjusting the thrust bearing position maybe? Page 20 in the manual that is online.

[Jeff Todd]

The thrust bearing was backed all the way off. When I try to adjust it as far as adjustments in the post. I don't recall seeing any thing to adjust there (besides the thumb screw to actually tighten the post) however I am not staring at the saw right now. I suppose the post could be bent I'll have to check that when I am able to. I was just looking for some advice as to where to start looking at first.

[glenn bradley]

The thrust bearing was backed all the way off.

Unless I am misunderstanding, this is your issue. The thrust bearing is moved forward to position limit the blades ability to move back. If the side bearings are backed as far as they can go (away from the cutting edge) and the blade is still too far back, use the upper wheel adjustment to bring the blade forward. Once the blade is positioned front to back, the side bearing (front to back) adjustment can fine tune the position relative to gullet. Once that is done, bring the thrust bearing to within about the thickness of a piece of paper from the rear edge of the blade. A picture would help but, I think your gross blade position is too far back and has surpassed the fine adjustment range of the side bearing carriage.

Said a different way; the upper blade adjustment places the blade in the "general" front to back position. Once there, the side bearing carriage is fine adjusted to set the side guide to gullet position. [The distance from the blade side surfaces is a separate adjustment but, that is not your problem here.] Once the gross blade position is set via the top wheel adjustment and the fine adjustment is made via the side bearing carriage position for the side bearing to gullet relationship, the thrust bearing can be brought into position.

Was that clear as mud or did I talk too much? ;-)

[Jeff Todd]

Glenn that is my problem yes and no. Using the tracking knob to run the blade closer to the front of the upper will will help. However it was my understanding that the blade was supposed to ride othe center if the wheels. Also which the post in the far upper position the bearing position seams correct (or close) and then the post it lowered to close to table level the bearing move twards the front of the saw. Leading me to believe the guide for the post is slightly cattywampus to the table/blade/wheels.. Or the post may be bent. I was just looking for other insites on the issue so when I can get out to the saw u have a few options to look at.

[John TenEyck]

If the rear bearing is moving towards the front of the table as you lower the guide bar then either the bar is bent, the attachment of the guide bar to the saw frame is out of adjustment (assuming there is any means to do so), or it's machined incorrectly, the frame is out of alignment, or the wheels are out of alignment. Might even be more than one cause. Start with easy stuff. Take the blade off and set a square on the table. Raise the guide bar up and down and see how far it moves away from the square. Ideally, you want it to stay parallel with the square top to bottom. If it does then the issue is not with the bar, or frame, it's more likely with the wheel alignment. You said the blade is riding on the center of both wheels, and that sounds a little suspicious to me. Normally, when the blade is on the center of the top wheel it rides forward of center on the lower one. To me, that suggests your upper wheel is too far back, and is consistent with your observation that the guide moves forward as you lower the guides. If it turns out the upper wheel is too far back, you will have to check how to bring it forward. In my Delta 14" you just add a washer behind the wheel, but there may be a different solution for your Grizzly.

John

[glenn bradley]

if i raise the guides all the way up they are pretty close to the correct position.

My apologies. I read right past that line in the original post . Bill and John were steering you in the right direction. Since the hole for the rod is cast into the saw frame I will hope for a bent rod; easily replaced. You may be able to cobble something together to make the guides work in the position you use most but, you really need the guide positions to be consistent regardless of height.

The blade position on the wheels is always a fun discussion and depends on a lot of things, not the least of which is tire crown or the lack of it. A lot of folks grabbed on to a couple of guys who said in passing that the co-planer relationship of the upper and lower wheels was of no consequence. IMHO this is a great position to take if you don't want to be bothered to set your machine up correctly. However, this can lead to a slew of issues that sell a lot of after-market goodies like "drift-correcting" fences, super-guides that try to force the blade to track and so forth.

On crowned tires I believe that the blade should be near-centered on upper and lower tires. Otherwise you get some pretty noticeable drift due to things like this happening:

Bandsaw-Blade-Drift-Visual.jpg

I can see why there are so many books on bandsaws. People almost make a religion out of there preferred way of setting up or using the tool. I pretty much just follow the basics; set the saw up to cut true, use good quality blades that are the appropriate geometery for what you are doing, re-check things now and again (and always before a critical operation) and just enjoy your machine.

[Myk Rian]

Your first problem is trying to use the stock blade. Get rid of it.

[Jeff Todd]

Your first problem is trying to use the stock blade. Get rid of it.

There were 3 blades listed there along with the stock blade I have a 3 TPI 1/2" AS blade (for roughing bowl blanks) and a 10 TPI 1/4" blade Both are timberwolf. But that would still have no effect of the blade line up on the guide.