What blade length for this Warco bandsaw?

[500e]

I run through the GB very little vibe with a good blade the new tires, the new tires made a huge difference.
Julian bought 2 sets to help with carriage, took some stretching to get on though,
Julian is running his saw with a belt from motor to top V pulley , I run through stepped pulley as I use it for metal, also made a new pulley for gear box to slow it down further
I found the wheels were balanced fairly well but a bit fettling helped the top wheel, it is easy if the bearings are good made a mandrel & used a pair of knife edges to do the bottom one it was worse than top wheel, there appears to be balance holes drilled under the tires from new, I was being really picky.
Could not find any mention of the unit on the Warco site @jordan1 if you have a link
I note @Wallace your top wheel has a LOT more balance drilling than mine, & mine is under the tire not on the face, could you post a photo of the drive through the door on other side please

 

[julianf]

My balancing holes are also under the tyre.

Blade should be here tomorrow, so will see how things go then.

 

[julianf]

Got the blade, but now i find a part of the saw is broken, that i had not seen before -

I *think* that the casting has snapped off, and someone has drilled and bolted instead. But, of course, there is no adjustment now.

I could slot the hole in the removable part - that may be the best idea, unless anyone says anything different?


I have no idea about blade tension. The Jet manual talks about things being marked on the tensioner spring, but mine has nothing there.

I cut some mahogony on it, and it seems to work. Unfortunately, i cut some other wood first, so then was disappointed at the rate decrease with the mahogany!


Dust extraction - the fine hardwood dust got everywhere, just from my testing. Im sure i have red/brown snot now also.

I have an extractor, but this unit was built before anyone really cared about that kind of stuff, so im wondering if im going to have to weld a 100mm "nipple" onto the lower blade cover or somthing.

 

[julianf]

I think it was this kit but seems to be £20 more expensive than my running cost total shows I paid. I'll take a photo this afternoon to remind myself what needed machining as it wasn't a straightforward like for like swap. I use Starret blades from 100ft coils and Tig weld them on a jig, some photos here.

Wallace,

Did you fit the new parts because the old ones were like mine (ie broken) or because you thought they would be better?

As above, i think im just going to extend the hole on mine, and bolt through it (i cant see that there would be a problem with that) however, if did occur to me that you may have the original parts for yours still, and that maybe i could cross your palm for them!

It wouldnt surprise me if yours were boken in the same way though - the casting is thin, and i can see anyone being a bit enthusastic with the bolt may hear that horrible click.

 

[Wallace]

@500e I’m interested in this gearbox you mention. Mine is a wood saw but when I did the research I found similar 14” dual purpose machines with a gearbox but nothing in this country. I will pull the saw out today and take some photos.

@julianf I bought the saw in bits off here with the intention of modifying it for metal, the roller conversion was purely to give a more reliable accurate guide to the blade. I have the old parts so will pull those out today and photograph them.

 

[julianf]

So, the saw is running very nicely, apart from one or two issues -

The tracking, as i understand it, controls the blade angel. If the blade is on the near side of the crown, it will be angled to the left of the operator, and vice versa.

My issue is that i can not get the blade centered, as further adjustment makes the wheel rub on the guard at the top. Im not far off. Im wondering about shimming the guard at the bottom to angle it away from the wheel at the top?

Second, im running the M42 blades from tuff saws. The chap there linked me to a couple of youtube vids on tensioning, where, basically, they say that there should be about 1/4 of an inch deflection when pressing on the blade. These things are always confusing to me, same as cam belt tension - i can deflect any belt given enough force, up until the ligaments in my hand tare.... So its not very objective.

Regardless, without making my finger numb (which one of the vids mentions) in order to tension the blade, i need to put a wooden pack under the tensoner, as the studding starts to curve as it gets more and more extended.

It looks like non original studding anyhow, so im wondering if its extra bendy stuff, or if im doing something wrong?