What in the heck is wrong with my bandsaw?

[toomanyknots]

Well my bandsaw has been acting up for a bit now. I am on my second woodslicer, (first one thought it was the blade) and I have been having a hell of a time. The blade wants to move back and forth, not when looking head on, but when looking from the side. And then when I try to feed some wood through it, the blade will come off the back roller guide, as much as a forth of inch, to where I am scared it is gonna pop off the wheels. I believe it is tensioned enough, really too much maybe, it is a 1/2" woodslicer on a 14" grizzly bandsaw. I got the wheels coplaner I believe, and the guides and all set up perfect. No idea what is going on. Googling this problem has lead me to believe two things, one my tires are bad, or two, I have a bad shaft. I guess tires ain't too big of a deal, but if I bent a shaft, is there an easy way to tell? Is it a huge fix, will I have to send in a big chuck of saw to grizzly to get a bent shaft fixed? I am hating life right now, I got all kinds of bows I need to make, and am sort of stuck until I get this piece of crap to work. The cut quality is garbage as well.

[osage outlaw]

Take your blade off and spin both wheels by hand.  If you have a bent shaft you should see one wobble.  I would check where the wheels fit on the shaft.  I had a key that would work loose on my old saw and it acted like what you are describing.  I found out the key wasn't seated in the slot far enough and the set screw was only catching the back edge of it.  It might be a good idea to check every nut and bolt to make sure everything is still tight.  Try calling Grizzly tomorrow.  They might be able to help you find the problem.

[toomanyknots]

Take your blade off and spin both wheels by hand.  If you have a bent shaft you should see one wobble.  I would check where the wheels fit on the shaft.  I had a key that would work loose on my old saw and it acted like what you are describing.  I found out the key wasn't seated in the slot far enough and the set screw was only catching the back edge of it.  It might be a good idea to check every nut and bolt to make sure everything is still tight.  Try calling Grizzly tomorrow.  They might be able to help you find the problem.

Thank you outlaw, I will follow your advice, as well as give grizzly a call as well.

[osage outlaw]

Please post what you find out with it.  I'm thinking about getting a 14" grizzly soon.

[lostarrow]

What does the blade do when you turn it on? Could be a kinked blade. Take a pic of the bearing set up. As well, see where your blade is running on the tire.It should be right in the center.If it's forward , it will put the blade at an angle towards the right at the back of the blade. If your bearing is set close to the edge of the blade , pushing the stock might be enough to make it jump the bearing. How do you tension your blade? The marks on the tensioner are total BS. Don't ever trust them!

[PEARL DRUMS]

I have a Grizzly 14". Ill give a quick version of my set up. First I back the roller guides that control the front to back motion all the way off. Then center the blade on the wheels, top and bottom and get my tension correct. Once I get that humming nice I adjust my rollers forward until they clear the back of the blade by .003-.005". Then just squeeze the side thrust rollers/blocks in until they just miss the side of the blade. It sounds to me like one of you backside rollers may be pushing the blade while the other isn't touching. Just a guess

[artcher1]

It may be nothing more than a retainer clip that has slipped or fallen off the shaft. I had that happen on a new drive shaft I had to replace on my Craftsman saw..........Art

[toomanyknots]

Please post what you find out with it.  I'm thinking about getting a 14" grizzly soon.

Will do, I'm about to call them in a minute.

[toomanyknots]

What does the blade do when you turn it on? Could be a kinked blade. Take a pic of the bearing set up. As well, see where your blade is running on the tire.It should be right in the center.If it's forward , it will put the blade at an angle towards the right at the back of the blade. If your bearing is set close to the edge of the blade , pushing the stock might be enough to make it jump the bearing. How do you tension your blade? The marks on the tensioner are total BS. Don't ever trust them!

I hope it ain't a kink in the blade, because I have been having trouble getting a good quality cut for a good while now, a month and a half or so, when I have not had this problem before. Typically, I can set the tracking on the blade, tension it, set the guides, find the drift angle and set the fence to it, and then cut smooth little sanding needed cuts all day long, as long as the blade is a good quality resaw blade like a woodslicer. I tension the blade by doing the "push 1/4" way mostly, I don't go by the tension gauge. The gauge on this 1/2" woodslicer was reading a bit above the 3/4" mark. I have had it up to about the same tension as a 3/4" carbide resaw king blade I was using recently, which didn't visibly dance back and forth like this 1/2" woodslicer blade, but I still could not get a decent quality cut, which is telling me something as I have heard this blade cuts beautiful quality cuts. With this woodslicer, it is like the blade is pulling itself off the wheels away from the back roller guides when I feed it. I have never had this happen. Both wheels appear to be co-planer, I check using a level. They didn't use to be co-planer exactly, I recently shimmed the top though to make sure they were perfect, so I could run this 3/4" wide resaw king I got.

[Dharma]

Use 80 grit sandpaper to "rough up" the surface of the tires. Each tire should be curved like a hill, not flat and the blade rides on the crest of the "hill" in the center of the tire. Bandsaw tires that become "slick" and glossy will cause the blade to move or pop off the wheels.

[Eric Krewson]

I had the same problem a while back, I was sure I had a bent axle on one of my wheels. I backed everything off and found my top roller bearing support had become twisted somehow. I had stalled the blade a time or two trying to run logs through the saw which probably caused the problem.

I tweaked the top support back around to where it was supposed to be, just grabbed it and twisted hard. Before I couldn't get the proper roller bearing adjustment, one side would be too close with no adjustment room, everything lined up perfectly. I readjusted my roller bearings and started the saw, instead of the jerky blade travel I had before everything ran as smooth as silk.   

[toomanyknots]

Please post what you find out with it.  I'm thinking about getting a 14" grizzly soon.

Well I called them and talked to someone names keith, he wants me to redress the tires, and then reset the tensioner, and if that doesn't work to give him a call, and he'll send me out some new tires. He had me try to move the wheels back and forth with the wheels tensioned, to see if there was play. I'm not sure how they would move, or if I checked enough, but I guess it wasn't that.

[lostarrow]

So the problem started after you shimmed the top wheel?................... There may have been a reason it was adjusted that way from the factory in the first place. Their job is to get the blades tracking ,regardless of what things "should look like".
    Possibility.    Still no pics? . Where on the wheel is it tracking? Front, back or center? If I was closer , buddy , I would pop over and give you a hand. I'm sure it's something simple!

[toomanyknots]

So the problem started after you shimmed the top wheel?................... There may have been a reason it was adjusted that way from the factory in the first place. Their job is to get the blades tracking ,regardless of what things "should look like".
    Possibility.    Still no pics? . Where on the wheel is it tracking? Front, back or center? If I was closer , buddy , I would pop over and give you a hand. I'm sure it's something simple!

I wish you were closer! I am trying to upload a video I took of it with the guides off spinning it to youtube right now. It is hard to see it moving back and forth though, it only does it a little bit. I don't know why it would be off co-planer on purpose, even the manual explains how to get the wheels coplaner. I did have a piece of horn recently get jammed in the bandsaw when it was running though, I had to turn it off as the blade was completely jammed.

[lostarrow]

Before or after shimming? Was it this blade that you Jammed the piece of horn with? Have you tried a different blade?   Do you like how I have 3 questions for every answer  you  give ?haha