Minimax MM20 upper bearings

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks, Joe! Appreciate the insights.

[Mark e Kessler]

Tom, thanks for the update. The wheels are now co-planar on mine and this saw sounds a lot happier. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that getting the wheels co-planar had some merit.

This saw sounded like a box of rocks a week or so ago, now with better bearings and a finer degree of tuning it’s starting to sound a little closer to what I expected of a nicer saw.

Frankly, I was expecting whisper quiet given that most nice bandsaw are, I recognize that the steel frame amplifies vibration noise but it has been pretty irksome to have it both be louder than expected and deal with that awful squeal.

Hi Brian, assume you saw the 2003 MM16 I picked up recently. I have the belt squeal as well I was able to tighten it up and most of it if not all went away, probably due for a new belt anyways.

On the wheels being co-planer, when we are talking co-planer do we mean top to bottom wheel plumb in line with each other (i think this is what is typically talked about with bandsaws) or/and right to left + the lower wheel has the upper and lower bolt to tilt in and out, I think the manual says to never adjust the right and left bolt on the lower wheel and that they adjust it for the largest blade at the factory.

I didn't check co-planer on mine (damnit, should have when I had the table off...), the tracking was pretty darn close with a 1/2" blade (teeth hanging off a hair top/ a little more than a hair on bottom wheel) so I thought I was good until I put the 1" Woodmaster CT on and tensioned it (ballpark 25-27k using the ol' clamp caliper on blade...) and found that the blade at the top wheel was about right (teeth barely hanging off but the bottom the blade was like almost 1/2" hanging off so I adjusted the lower wheel (top/bottom bolts) and got it darn close. I went back to the 1/2'' and I think I had to tweak the wheel again (stupid me, I can't actually remember if I readjusted for the 1/2"...duh).

Honestly I have never bothered or thought it was important to check for co-planer but the CT on the lower wheel hanging a good 1/2" off so something needed adjustment, and this thread got me thinking I need to do some more investigation. I also had some (in my opinion) excessive vibration which I thought was bearings until I found that the bolt on the top wheel seemed a little loose, got almost a full turn and definitely removed most of the vibration.

Thanks, Mark

[Brian Holcombe]

Mark,

Yes, that is a good description. I might spin the upper wheel and see what it sounds like also.

[Tom Trees]

I've since done a few minute adjustments since my last video working on my particular Italian saw.
Just a lot of faffing around with plumb lines,
Must go searching for some good woven cord, as the accurate one takes an age to settle.

Seems I've hit a bit of a snag that is that the wheels seem to be wanting to be closer to the column than before.
so much so that the guides has ran out of adjustment in regards to the left, so it seems I need make a part.

From studying other models of my seemingly discontinued machine, it appears that all these saws are positioned the way I have adjusted mine,
and the guides have a different mount or type.

Getting to the point, I must check if my upper wheel makes any groaning, since the wheel is level now.
I haven't noticed that, not to say its not there anymore.
The wheel doesn't appear loose either, as in not coming off the shaft compared to the last time where I removed the wheel,
Relieved I can count that out and see if it was just a case of it being so skewed before my adjustments.

Interesting to read the comment Mark about the left and right being adjusted for the largest blade.
Seems like a 3/4" is about the sweet spot for my tires with a worn/rounded edge, and using the level.
Be interested to see a demo of some other or similar method.

Tom

[Brian Holcombe]

The smaller belt does not fit on this machine, so anyone following along don’t bother doing that.

I decided just to tension the motor like I normally do with a couple blocks and a lever. Nice and tight, the squeal is gone.