Install blade bandsaw

What works best for me is to have the gullets of the blade aligned with the center of the upper wheel tire. I find this is where I get the straightest cuts. Now that the blade is tensioned, and tracking properly, you can adjust the upper and lower blade guides and thrust bearing. You will need to spin that top wheel frequently to make sure the blade is seated as you make the guide adjustments.

Adjust the blade guides first. They most be positioned so that they do NOT touch the blade's teeth, which means they want to be back a bit from the front of the blade at a point right next to the blade but not touching it.

Do this to the upper and lower guides. Once this is done, now is time to adjust the thrust bearing that sits behind the blade. On both the upper and lower thrust bearing, they want to sit just behind the blade but not touch it.

Now you and re-assemble any other parts you may have taken off, like blade guards etc, and test the bandsaw. Install new blade. Check tracking. Position upper and lower guide bearings. Adjust upper and lower thrust bearings. Adjust upper and lower guide bearings. Set blade tension. Bring me a beer. Why So Tense, Bro? Before going any further, make sure the saw is unplugged!

An accidental power-on could be disastrous. Loosen the tension lever. Get the leveling bar out of the way. Lower the upper guides and open the guard. It may take a little twisting and turning, but go ahead and get the blade out of there. Blade width 3 in this diagram is measured from the points of the teeth to the back edge of the blade; not to be confused with blade thickness or blade length. Image: kmstools. Shown for reference only; yours may look completely different.

Photo: Grizzly. On some, you have to retract the thrust and guide bearings separately. Installing A Bandsaw Blade Some people find it easier to get the new blade in place by holding it to the top wheel with spring clamps while routing it over the bottom wheel. Make sure the teeth point downward. The tracking adjustment skews the plane of the top wheel, making the blade ride more towards the front or rear of the tire.

Set The Forward Position Of The Guide Assemblies Position the upper guide post assembly about a third of the way up from the table and tighten the locking knob. Adjust the thrust bearing so that it almost touches the spine of the blade.

Have a peek at my lower thrust bearing. Ooo la-la! The thrust bearing on this Craftsman sits perpendicular to the blade. Mind The Gap A closer look at the upper thrust bearing. Leave a tiny gap between it and the back of the blade. Rotate the wheels by hand and see that the blade only touches the thrust bearing at brief, intermittent points, or not at all.

The blade guides should almost, but not quite, touch the sides of the blade. While the method works perfectly, it overcomplicates things and employs a couple of unnecessary steps, namely achieving coplanarity of the wheels and eliminating drift.

Four years later, I became aware of a video from The Woodworking Shows featuring Alex Snodgrass and his simpler and nearly foolproof method for bandsaw tuneup. He agreed and here we are! I can say without a doubt that this is the BEST way to set up a bandsaw.

Install the blade and apply just enough tension to keep the blade securely on the wheels. Use the tracking adjustment while turning the wheel by hand to line up the deepest part of the gullet with the center of the top wheel.

You can usually ignore the tenon meter on most bandsaws as they are notoriously inaccurate. This test should be done at the back of the saw where nothing can get in the way of the blade. After the tension is set, make sure the blade is still tracking properly with the gullet in the center of the top wheel. This adjustment is made to both the top and bottom guides. Adjust the thrust bearings carefully so that they do NOT rotate while the blade moves, but they DO begin to rotate as soon as light pressure is applied to the blade.

Spend the necessary time to get this adjustment just right. Just like the thrust bearing adjustment, the side guides should be as close to the blade as possible without actually touching.

So when the blade moves the bearings should be stationary. When a slight amount of pressure is applied to the blade as its moving, the bearings should spin. Turn the saw off, flip the board around and try to get the blade to slide into the cut slot. If it slides in easily and without resistance, we know the table is 90 degrees to the blade. The wider the board is, the more accurate this test will be. Description The Carter conversion kit updates your saws performance through the use of model all sealed ball bearing roller guides.

Login to Write a Review. Purchase Here. Login to Add to Toolbox. We were surprised, however, to find that the two Allen wrenches needed to install and make adjustments to the bearings were not included in the kit.

We immediately noticed improved performance from the bandsaw as the bearing guides gave it a huge boost in accuracy.