While watching this excellent video, I understood that I didn't consider the fact that both excentric bearings(upper and lower) had to be "synchronised" or symetric...while pressing the blade. From there, here is what I did. I found their furthest point. I punched a small dot on the shaft ( that holds the bearing), at 12 o'clock and one at 6 o'clock... I unscrewed this guide-arm and made a slot between the 2 dots( thus, a diameter) with an hack saw. To make the kerf looking like a pointer, I enlarged the dot , in the slot, at 12'o clock. This kerf helps in 2 ways; First. I visualise the position of the upper and lower excentric bearing ( both should be, let,s say, at about, 4 o'clock). Second. I place a screw driver in the slot to immobilise the shaft when I lock the 14 mm nut of the guiding device....making sure the final thighning do not modify the pressure on the blade...
Thanks for all the tips! After my first cut on a 3.75" round aluminum stock and a half inch cut I got true on three of four and off .01 on one side. Great for me! As my plans are to fly cut it true and perfectly flat!
Good series, thanks. It gave me the impetus to get out and tune up my problematic HF 7 X 12. I pretty much found and remedied the same as you with one important exception, the grooves in my wheels were holding stuck aluminum chips which raised the blade off the wheel surfaces and probably contributed to the many blade dislocations I was experiencing. Keep up the great work!!!
Great video. I purchased a used 4X6 generic saw that had some issues including not cutting squarely top to bottom. As soon as the new blade guide bearings come in I will use this method to get it aligned. Thanks and blessings to you and your family.
Love your videos and how you work out those troublesome bandsaw details. Been there........done that! I do precision cuts for model railway modular truss bridges using 1/2" square tubing,... both square ends and 45 deg ends. There is quite a learning curve with the HF 4x6 before it cuts halfway decently
Your video was very informing except for stopping the bearing with your fingers which is a very dangerous practice. You are able to do that but there are a lot of other people who may lose their fingers copying you.
I bought the saw years ago from a used equipment dealer. It was in usable but beat down condition. I have used it for rough cuts only, then truing up those cuts with the lathe or a 4" grinder.
Hi I work with industrial bandsaws vertical and horizontal what you can do to get your thrust bearings/guide bearing to alignment center correctly is use a feeler gauge (so if your band blade is 1mm wide/thick add 0.25 of a mm to the 1mm using the feeler gauge to get the bearing to kiss the blade use a light to check no light passes the bearing and blade contact, run a test cut there will be no score marks on the blade )that head pressure bearing/ back bearing could go back a few thou.
great video. You need to put a non plated washer under those new hand wheels you made so they don't start to bur up when you tighten them down,I did the same mod to mine a couple of years ago and the washers make the hand knobs much smother to turn. I need to re work my vice 2 so cant wait to see what you come up with, I have some 2"x3"x3/8 angle iron that i squared up in the mill but have not had a chance do it yet. Keep up the good work.
Just basic tuning made a huge difference in the cuts. I can only imagine that getting really precise with the adjustment would pay significantly increased dividends.
I learned a lot about tuning up my metal cutting band saw! Thanks! I really understand what I have to do to get my old worn out Kalamazoo saw running right!
I'd be super happy if I could get my saw to cut that perfect of a 90 deg. ! the problem I am having is the guides do not go far enough and I have had to file the corners of the bearing placement block to allow a bit more twist. I am trying to NOT push the blade down just twist it into the vertical position... so far so good but I stripped out the soft aluminum bolt that holds the blade guide to the sliding arm and I'll now have to tap it to a larger size as I don't think I can put a nut on the end of the bolt ! my blade isn't coming down perfectly straight as it is twisted slightly and cuts at an angle because of that.... just getting my saw to cut at 90 degrees has indeed been a battle but it does a good job of cutting ! .... so I am in the process of eliminating all the places that are not allowing the blade guides to twist enough... My saw had the blade guides pushed way out in order to cut through the work piece and turn off the saw too... with the blade guides back where they should be for longer blade life the saw will not cut all the way through or turn off... so an elevating plate was used to raise the work surface and that cured the problem of cutting through and turning off... the blade twist is an on going battle though.
If you stripped out the hole I'd suggest using a helicoil to repair. If you just go to a larger bolt you'll simply be more apt to pull the threads out of that too.
Bet you could play Bach's Cello Suites on that thing if you had a bow. Sorry. Excellent series. It is really useful to see how you solve problems and get things done. Thanks for making the effort to share this with us.
I looked at HF's latest 12-inch bandsaw...it's actually better than the older one was...it has a heavier head casting, improved blade guides, and a more robust hydraulic downfeed system.
Very nice video, only wish you would have included more about adjusting top wheel tilt and which bolt did what. Mine has two bolts and an allen grub screw
I wouls probably put a poliched 1/16" or so steel bushing between the alum. knobs and the cast iron frame to prevent any kind of potential galling between the two.
Another great video, I have not seen a HF saw that they have bored the pivot rod holes stright ?? on mine i bored the long arm side (left) and pivot arm to 3/4 and made two off center bushings that are held in place with set screws and made the bushings long enough to get a pair of vice grips on to adjust the bushing one aginest the other until downward swing of the saw was true. What type of camera are ya looking to replace the old one with?
dang...wanna come to Houston and adjust mine? lol. messed with the thing for an hour and don't have it dialed in yet. may be time to start over fresh:)
Another source of misalignment is the hinge point. Check and see if the ears for the picot rod are bored in line. Most ones I've seen are crooked. You can add shims to the attachment point of the pivot arm to the saw to kind of straighten it out.
In adjusting the the guide rollers you seem to miss the point that the height of the rollers is governed by the position of the blade against the shoulders of the drive wheels
Great video. At 11:58 on the video you show the completed alignment. I'm setting up my saw just like you recommend but I don't have a "fish" or shim. So, can't I just adjust the top plate so it's just over the left outside edge of the the inner brass part of the race? And the bottom, the bottom plate the same?
Yup as long as the blade is clearing that bracket you're good. I just used something of a consistant size so I could adjust the top guide and the lower guide to the same distance. Even doing that I still had to tweak it a little.
Hi, couldn't you just load a blade on and back off all the bearings and get the blade running where it wants to naturally run, and then bring in the guides until they are holding them in that position?
I found out what is wrong ( well until now !!! ) with mine the down wheel blade is way out!!! what can I do to push it back where it should be, when it is the wheel the motor is on ! thank's
While watching this excellent video, I understood that I didn't consider the fact that both excentric bearings(upper and lower) had to be "synchronised" or symetric...while pressing the blade.
From there, here is what I did. I found their furthest point. I punched a small dot on the shaft ( that holds the bearing), at 12 o'clock and one at 6 o'clock... I unscrewed this guide-arm and made a slot between the 2 dots( thus, a diameter) with an hack saw. To make the kerf looking like a pointer, I enlarged the dot , in the slot, at 12'o clock.
This kerf helps in 2 ways;
First. I visualise the position of the upper and lower excentric bearing ( both should be, let,s say, at about, 4 o'clock).
Second. I place a screw driver in the slot to immobilise the shaft when I lock the 14 mm nut of the guiding device....making sure the final thighning do not modify the pressure on the blade...
Thanks for all the tips! After my first cut on a 3.75" round aluminum stock and a half inch cut I got true on three of four and off .01 on one side. Great for me! As my plans are to fly cut it true and perfectly flat!
Good series, thanks. It gave me the impetus to get out and tune up my problematic HF 7 X 12. I pretty much found and remedied the same as you with one important exception, the grooves in my wheels were holding stuck aluminum chips which raised the blade off the wheel surfaces and probably contributed to the many blade dislocations I was experiencing. Keep up the great work!!!
Great video. I purchased a used 4X6 generic saw that had some issues including not cutting squarely top to bottom. As soon as the new blade guide bearings come in I will use this method to get it aligned.
Thanks and blessings to you and your family.
Did you figure out the issue and how to fix it? I just picked up a used one and have the same issue with it.
This helps me a lot to adjust my vintage metal bandsaw. Thanks for sharing sir Halligan.
You have really inspired me to spec my band saw. I really enjoy seeing your saw videos. Thanks for all your effort!!!
Love your videos and how you work out those troublesome bandsaw details. Been there........done that! I do precision cuts for model railway modular truss bridges using 1/2" square tubing,... both square ends and 45 deg ends. There is quite a learning curve with the HF 4x6 before it cuts halfway decently
Your video was very informing except for stopping the bearing with your fingers which is a very dangerous practice. You are able to do that but there are a lot of other people who may lose their fingers copying you.
I bought the saw years ago from a used equipment dealer. It was in usable but beat down condition. I have used it for rough cuts only, then truing up those cuts with the lathe or a 4" grinder.
Hi I work with industrial bandsaws vertical and horizontal what you can do to get your thrust bearings/guide bearing to alignment center correctly is use a feeler gauge (so if your band blade is 1mm wide/thick add 0.25 of a mm to the 1mm using the feeler gauge to get the bearing to kiss the blade use a light to check no light passes the bearing and blade contact, run a test cut there will be no score marks on the blade )that head pressure bearing/ back bearing could go back a few thou.
great video. You need to put a non plated washer under those new hand wheels you made so they don't start to bur up when you tighten them down,I did the same mod to mine a couple of years ago and the washers make the hand knobs much smother to turn. I need to re work my vice 2 so cant wait to see what you come up with, I have some 2"x3"x3/8 angle iron that i squared up in the mill but have not had a chance do it yet. Keep up the good work.
Just basic tuning made a huge difference in the cuts. I can only imagine that getting really precise with the adjustment would pay significantly increased dividends.
I learned a lot about tuning up my metal cutting band saw! Thanks! I really understand what I have to do to get my old worn out Kalamazoo saw running right!
I'd be super happy if I could get my saw to cut that perfect of a 90 deg. !
the problem I am having is the guides do not go far enough and I have had to file the corners
of the bearing placement block to allow a bit more twist. I am trying to NOT push the blade down just twist it into the vertical position... so far so good but I stripped out the soft aluminum bolt that holds the blade guide to the sliding arm and I'll now have to tap it to a larger size as I don't think I can put a nut on the end of the bolt !
my blade isn't coming down perfectly straight as it is twisted slightly and cuts at an angle because of that.... just getting my saw to cut at 90 degrees has indeed been a battle
but it does a good job of cutting ! .... so I am in the process of eliminating all the places that are not allowing the blade guides to twist enough...
My saw had the blade guides pushed way out in order to cut through the work piece and turn off the saw too... with the blade guides back where they should be for longer blade life the saw will not cut all the way through or turn off...
so an elevating plate was used to raise the work surface and that cured the problem of cutting through and turning off... the blade twist is an on going battle though.
If you stripped out the hole I'd suggest using a helicoil to repair. If you just go to a larger bolt you'll simply be more apt to pull the threads out of that too.
Bet you could play Bach's Cello Suites on that thing if you had a bow. Sorry. Excellent series. It is really useful to see how you solve problems and get things done. Thanks for making the effort to share this with us.
Thanks for the vid . I think it will help me a lot .I have been having trouble getting the blade adjusted right
I looked at HF's latest 12-inch bandsaw...it's actually better than the older one was...it has a heavier head casting, improved blade guides, and a more robust hydraulic downfeed system.
Very nice video, only wish you would have included more about adjusting top wheel tilt and which bolt did what. Mine has two bolts and an allen grub screw
Hi Mr.
What causes the bandsaw blade(horizontal) to cut the metal inclined .
My Regards
I wouls probably put a poliched 1/16" or so steel bushing between the alum. knobs and the cast iron frame to prevent any kind of potential galling between the two.
Another great video, I have not seen a HF saw that they have bored the pivot rod holes stright ?? on mine i bored the long arm side (left) and pivot arm to 3/4 and made two off center bushings that are held in place with set screws and made the bushings long enough to get a pair of vice grips on to adjust the bushing one aginest the other until downward swing of the saw was true. What type of camera are ya looking to replace the old one with?
dang...wanna come to Houston and adjust mine? lol. messed with the thing for an hour and don't have it dialed in yet. may be time to start over fresh:)
Another source of misalignment is the hinge point. Check and see if the ears for the picot rod are bored in line. Most ones I've seen are crooked. You can add shims to the attachment point of the pivot arm to the saw to kind of straighten it out.
Halligan142 thanks for the tip! I'll check that out for sure
In adjusting the the guide rollers you seem to miss the point that the height of the rollers is governed by the position of the blade against the shoulders of the drive wheels
That’s pretty darn good.
Great video. At 11:58 on the video you show the completed alignment. I'm setting up my saw just like you recommend but I don't have a "fish" or shim. So, can't I just adjust the top plate so it's just over the left outside edge of the the inner brass part of the race? And the bottom, the bottom plate the same?
Yup as long as the blade is clearing that bracket you're good. I just used something of a consistant size so I could adjust the top guide and the lower guide to the same distance. Even doing that I still had to tweak it a little.
Sir, can you advice me, why my blade always detached from the wheel?
Great video, thanks
Hi, couldn't you just load a blade on and back off all the bearings and get the blade running where it wants to naturally run, and then bring in the guides until they are holding them in that position?
I found out what is wrong ( well until now !!! ) with mine the down wheel blade is way out!!! what can I do to push it back where it should be, when it is the wheel the motor is on ! thank's
Superb!!!
Thanks that's great..will do mine soon.
Thank you for the video, helped too much.
On my same model saw from HF the bottom blade pully is not adjustable and blade rides half way out ? How do I remedy that ?
Adjusting the top pulley will move the blade on the lower pulley.
Ok. Will try that later this week. Thanks a million.
Thanks
Nice vedio good information.
Sign the post "show yourself" on PM ;-)
You look like me, hahaha!