The other day my bandsaw blade broke when I was using it. Not sure why because i hadnt moved/adjusted anything in a while. Sucks, but fine. But, i went to put on a different blade (same length) and it wont fit on. I’ve tried multiple blades. It seems like something happened with the tensioning mechanism and it’s not letting the upper wheel drop down enough. In the picture the bolt that drops in from the top and screws in is barely screwed in and you can see there’s not much space for the mechanism to move up. You can also see how close the wheel is at the top of the bandaw. The mechanism will drop down if i completely unscrew the bolt and let it drop, but that’s not really helpful.
I’m not sure if the blade hit something when it broke or what, but i dont see anything obvious, and couldnt find a piece of anything on the ground.
Messed around with it for a while, took the wheel off to see if that revealed anything, and it didnt. Hopefully it’s something easy that I’m just not seeing. Any thoughts? Let me know if i can answer any questions or provide any more pictures.
It looks like the slide is stuck in tension near the top of its travel. Probably full of wood dust. Loosen the tilting tension screw first, then try pushing downward on the tension adjuster to see if it will free it to move. You could lube with tri flow or lock ease. Do not use anything but a dry lubricant. If you use oil... it will attract wood dust and you will have the same problem again. If this does not work, you may have to remove the assembly in order to get the slide to work again. Be careful not to pull downward on the aluminum wheel which could bend or distort the wheel.
So, in that position, all the way up, no blade will fit. Pull down on the entire wheel assembly and see how far down it will go. The spring should only be in compression as the wheel moves up, but I know from experience that those assemblies can be stiff to slide. It should slide easily with the rod connected. What brand of saw is it?
Is there a parts diagram that might show a missing part?
:|
... or, the blade has been made wrong. i have had 2 in the last couple of months that were made too short. you can run a tape rule around to measure it...
He has a broken blade that did work to easily measure from. Lay it out, tape it down and make two marks. Then measure between the two marks. Compare the measurement to the factory blade length specifications.
The upper wheel is so far up under no blade tension, it has no room to move up any further or it will rub on the housing if a blade were to be fitted. Therefore, I suspect something is wrong with the sliding wheel carriage. which needs to start out in a lower position. Some "hands on verification" would help figure this out where photos leave unanswered questions ......
I have tried a few different blades (two that i have used before on this saw) and they wont fit. This is a craftsman 113.
Yes, the wheel is almost all the way to the top. And i have to put a lot of pressure on it to get it to move down at all because of the spring. While i know this isnt what happened, it’s acting like the spring expanded somehow.
Also, i looked at a parts diagram and didnt see anything missing, but it was a pretty blurry pic so i could have missed it.
I’ll take a closer look and make sure everything is clean and lubed tonight and get back tomorrow with an update. Thanks
It's a Sears conspiracy..Didn't you hear the message when you first purchased the saw: This saw will self destruct in *** years?
I'm guessing that if you can't loosen it up by hand a little heat with a propane torch might help. Just clean up any dust so not to catch the place on fire..
You did not post the complete model number so it's impossible for us to do any further research.
:|
I took a wild guess and found one I think may be the same as yours:
I banged my head against it for a while last night and couldnt figure anything out. Took the wheel back off, so here are some pics.
Sorry, Complete model # is 113 24290.
Where would the pin be in the pivot assembly?
And just to be clear, when the tensioning bolt is not attached to the top of the pivot assembly the assembly slides up and down on the guides freely.
I banged my head against it for a while last night and couldnt figure anything out. Took the wheel back off, so here are some pics.
Sorry, Complete model # is 113 24290.
Where would the pin be in the pivot assembly? And just to be clear, when the tensioning bolt is not attached to the top of the pivot assembly the assembly slides up and down on the guides freely.
The tension bolt is not parallel to the guides. It's off just enough to twist or pull them out of parallel. Need a detail photo of where the tensioning bolt comes through the upper housing. And the total assembly of that bolt including the spacer. The video clearly show a spacer that slides onto the bolt at 5:33 in, and maybe some washers? That video was a dead ringer for this saw .... Right? You made no comment about it.:|
Have you sheered off the roll pin on the bottom of the adjustment shaft?
The shaft goes from the adjusting knob on top, through a washer for the pointer, then through the spring, through a bumper and through the guide assembly. It is held into the guide assembly with the roll pin. The shaft doesn't turn once installed, turning the knob increases spring tension and pulls up on the guide block.
In the video you can see him remove the roll pin for the shaft around 4:17
I don't understand how you can remove that shaft without taking the guide assembly off the frame.
Can you take pictures of the adjusting shaft out of the machine?
Have you sheered off the roll pin on the bottom of the adjustment shaft?
The shaft goes from the adjusting knob on top, through a washer for the pointer, then through the spring, through a bumper and through the guide assembly. It is held into the guide assembly with the roll pin. The shaft doesn't turn once installed, turning the knob increases spring tension and pulls up on the guide block.
I don't understand how you can remove that shaft without taking the guide assembly off the frame.
Can you take pictures of the adjusting shaft out of the machine?
At 4:17 in it show the roll pin being driven out. At 5:00 in, the video show the roll pin being reinstalled. Thank God for the video! It shows the entire carriage assembly in various stages of assembly and reassembly. In order to "shear off" that roll pin an extreme amount of force would be necessary as it is hardened steel. The aluminum casting would crack long before the roll pin gets sheared. It could be "missing in action" but that is also unlikely. The lower axle would then just drop down all the way. It's present location is fully up, so I suspect it's getting jammed by a misalignment of the tension rod since it slides freely when that rod is not under tension from the knob and spring. This was a sudden event when the blade broke, so a part may have come off in that process, who knows? I would check the order of assembly of that sliding carriage on the video to see if that matches the existing order on the OP's saw.
The other day my bandsaw blade broke when I was using it. Not sure why because i hadnt moved/adjusted anything in a while. Sucks, but fine. But, i went to put on a different blade (same length) and it wont fit on. I’ve tried multiple blades. It seems like something happened with the tensioning mechanism and it’s not letting the upper wheel drop down enough. In the picture the bolt that drops in from the top and screws in is barely screwed in and you can see there’s not much space for the mechanism to move up. You can also see how close the wheel is at the top of the bandsaw. The mechanism will drop down if i completely unscrew the bolt and let it drop, but that’s not really helpful.
I’m not sure if the blade hit something when it broke or what, but i dont see anything obvious, and couldnt find a piece of anything on the ground.
Messed around with it for a while, took the wheel off to see if that revealed anything, and it didnt. Hopefully it’s something easy that I’m just not seeing. Any thoughts? Let me know if i can answer any questions or provide any more pictures.
The tensioning rod does not unscrew, but the knob that adjusts the tension does. The tensioning rod has the roll pin that is mentioned above to secure it in the sliding assembly and therefore will not "unscrew". Again, check the order of assembly of those parts so it matches the video.
:vs_cool:
Woodnthings: The second picture he posted in post #12 shows the sliding mechanism in the fully down position with no rod, how did he do that without pulling the assembly off the frame and removing the pin? I can't do that with mine (113.243300).
Maybe his assembly is different from the video (and my bandsaw) in that instead of a roll pin his rod is threaded at both ends and screws into the sliding assembly?
Labow: try removing the knob from the top of the shaft, then thread the shaft down into the sliding assembly, see if it will thread in without pulling the assembly up. If that works then start threading the knob onto the top of the shaft again and see if the band starts tightening as the spring compresses.
Maybe the top knob is just threaded so far onto the shaft that there is no way to get any initial slack.
EDIT: That's it! his model is different, I just downloaded a manual from Vintage Machinery and it shows his shaft as being threaded on both ends and no roll pin. In the back of the sliding assembly on that model is what looks like a set screw to keep the shaft from unscrewing from the assembly. Maybe this was an earlier model and the roll pin was an upgrade later? If the set screw in the back came loose he would be able to unthread the entire shaft by turning the top knob. I'll bet he has the top knob threaded all the way onto the shaft which makes it too short and it won't engage with the sliding assemblyunless it's all the way up.
That explains why he said "unscrew" the rod, it's a slightly different construction. So, why does it get jammed up? I still maintain the rod is the culprit. It must keep the sliding mechanism from moving freely on the guide rails, either because the hole in the top of the case is not directly above the center of the sliding assembly, OR the sliding assembly is not centered under the hole, OR the parts and pieces are not in the correct order. Who knows? This isn't Space X technology, just a simple mechanism and some interweb trouble shooters trying their best to figure it out. Thanks for your input! :vs_cool:
The manual for his saw is from 1969, mine is from the 80's so his assembly is a generation or two older but the principals are the same.
We'll have to wait for his response but I don't think it's jammed up, if he has the top knob incorrectly screwed all the way on to the shaft for some reason then the length of shaft below the knob will be too short (he probably has two inches of shaft screwed inside the top knob) and it will only engage when the sliding assembly is in the top position, because the set screw is loose when he tries to turn the top knob CCW to lower the wheel it just unthreads again. I think he's going to have to pull the assembly off the frame, take the knob off the shaft, thread the shaft into the sliding assembly and tighten the set screw in the back so it won't turn (a little loctite wouldn't hurt either) then re-install the assembly back onto the frame. At that point the assembly should be in the lower position and should slide up and down by simply pulling on the shaft since there is no spring tension without the top knob.
If everything goes OK to this point and there is no binding of the shaft keeping the sliding assembly from moving smoothly he can put the wheel on, install a band and put the top knob on and adjust.
When the sliding assembly is off, take some 600 wet/dry and make a strip 1" wide backed with 1" duct tape to use as a polishing strip. Use a shoe shine motion all around the rods then give them a coat of silicone or wax to prevent rust/oxidation. It should slide freely now.
And the winner is...JayArr. The top knob was screwed all the way down on the shaft and that was keeping the sliding assembly from dropping down. Unscrewed that, spent an hour looking for one of the washers that i had dropped somewhere along the line, put it all back together and it’s working great. I knew it had to be something simple like that. Just didnt know where to look. Thanks for all the help!
Great to hear we got to the solution. Did you pull it off the frame and tighten the set screw in the rear?
Just one last thing. You have the washer in the wrong place, it's not supposed to be under the spring it's supposed to be lower, on top of the sliding assembly.
It looks like the tension adjustment is made at the knob end of the shaft, so I think I would put some thread lock (or superglue) on the end of the shaft that goes into the sliding carriage.
The issue was two fold. The knob was screwed all the way and a washer was in the wrong place. :|
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Woodworking Talk
1M posts
88.3K members
Since 2006
A forum community dedicated to professional woodworkers and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about shop safety, wood, carpentry, lumber, finishing, tools, machinery, woodworking related topics, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!