It's all good John, thanks. It would be interesting to see why they recommend a narrower blade when the wider is the one always breaking..
 

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Charles, I think the reason is that because of the small diameter wheels on your saw, the wider thicker blades dont' like those tight radius's.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Can you elaborate a bit on that? I'm not quite understanding, but (and anyone can answer this that knows the answer(Larry)) what is the normal diameter of a band saw wheel? These here are about 6".

 

I have been told though that the third wheel in general may be part of the problem, supposedly because the blade has an extra wheel that it has to deal with.

 

I have seen many a video with people using 2 wheel bandsaws turning corners to round and it's as if the blade was made to do that even with wider blades than mine. I tried it once on mine but didn't do so well.

 

It would be really cool if I could just get a shorter blade and just use the top & bottom wheels not sure how well that would work though.

 

I am going to start checking auctions on eBay and see if I can find a 2 wheeler that's in good shape.

 

I must say this though, Ron did a very good deed by sending this saw to me, (Thanks Ron) and its been great for cutting pen blanks but the things I am doing now, it's just not quite what I need with the blade popping off.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Charles, I put a call out to SuperCut to see what they have. They may join in here I don't know, but at a minimum I am sure they'll get back with me on the correct type of blade for a three wheel bandsaw.

 

I wouldn't got shopping for a two wheeler yet if we can get this one working just fine! But it's up to you man. Just saying.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Well yeah I see what yer "saying" there. I think I must note though that the breaks come usually when I am cutting a 1" thick pen blank of HARD wood or when I am cutting 3x3 stock for boxes, bowls etc. Mostly when I am turning the 3".

 

Still, the bandsaw should be able to handle the 3" stock.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

All of this information will be helpful to SuperCut, thanks Charles!
 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Charles,

 

It's the thickness of the blade that they are talking about. Standard blades are about .025" thick. The ones they are recommending are about .015" thick. The thinner blade will bend around the smaller diameter wheels easier than the thicker blades. The thinner blades  will also develop tension sooner than the thicker blade. They will not put as much stress on the saws tensioning mechanism to reach proper tension.

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Right but what is a normal size for a bandsaw wheel?

 

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the thicker blade should last longer, but then if the travel of the blade from left to right binds the blade, then it would tend to break easier whereas the thinner blade might be able to get around the problem whatever it is without binding. Since I do not have a actual fence for this saw, I use a straight piece of Corian and clamp it down as straight as I can on the bandsaw's table. Still I do get a lot of bend going on sometimes, even though I do try to let the saw do the cutting without me forcing the wood into the blade. I'm not sure if any of you remember my Doglegs thread I posted about a year ago, but that is basically what the saw does is cut dogleg angles or arcs into the wood if it is either forced or if the wood is hard like maple or cocobolo, even walnut will get it sometimes. BTW I'm talking now about 3" thick pieces of wood.

 

Thanks.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Charles, I guess there's no normal size for a band saw wheel. Because band saws vary in size. BTW, regarding your cutting problem, maybe you've got the wrong blade for the type of wood you're cutting. Have you tried this site for blades : http://sawblade.com ? I don't know if they cater saw blades that can fit your 3 wheel band saw, but if I were you, I'd try calling them. 

 

www.bandsawblog.com

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Or slicks on a band saw.

 

Can't hurt to  clean them,  I put a brush on my upper tire where Aggazani didn't.

 

If the tracking issue is new try looking at both the wheel with the motor on it and the wheel with the tension adjustment.

 

Look for wear in the connections bolts and mounts.

 

I'd take the whole thing apart to do this.

 

It appears from the images that the upper wheel is the most likely to be the one with any wear

 

There also maybe a loose nut somewhere.

 

I'm thinking:

 

The tension is adjusted when the blade is changed. This causes wear. Because the tension of the blade is pulling the top of the wheel in one direction ( I'd guess forward) there is most likely to be wear allowing it to cant in that direction a little or maybe even to wobble when running. That could cause the blade to pop off.

 

But you will not know until you take it apart.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

There is actually no brand or type of blade that this saw recommends it supposedly takes all types, even metal cutting, As long as the blade is 1/4 or 1/8"

 

As for cleaning the wheels, that will happen the next time the blade is changed out it is vacuumed out after every use because there is no dust evac hose attached (there wasn't one when I got it) but there is a port for it.

 

There is only one bolt to adjust tension and that is no problem, it's not slipping at all.

 

If I could I would go ahead and replace the wheels, but there are no parts available anymore for this saw.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Charles, I got a great answer from http://www.supercutbandsaw.com/threewheeler.html.

 

I'll post it when I get home tonight.

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Thanks John. There is actually a pretty good expalnation right there at that link, but yeah I'd love to see that answer when you are able later. I'll be off quite a bit today due to going through a lot of pain today but I'll be on here off and on.

 

Thanks

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

The owner actually wrote me back Charles and gave us a much more in depth look into what is going on, he read this entire thread and gave me some great feedback.

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Great. Looking forward to it

 

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Here you go guys, some great information here!

 

Hi John,

 

Thank you for your email. I read through the thread that you referenced in your email, and I have a few comments/ideas for you.

 

Simply put, these tabletop bandsaws are notorious for blade issues. The issue with the blade coming off the wheels could be several things, including a bad bearing on one of the wheels or poor alignment of the wheels (with 3 wheels there is one more that has to stay in good alignment with the other 2 wheels), or simply a dull (or unevenly dull) blade will tend to work off the wheels due to the higher feed pressure that is required to make it cut, or other issues such as some that were already mentioned in the thread. You are right in that many of his issues may simply be solved by using a high quality bandsaw blade.

 

As for the breakage issues, the number one culprit with these small saws is the small wheel diameter. Despite bandsaw blades being designed to be flexible to bend around wheels many thousands of times, the smaller the wheel, the more stress is put on the metal of the blade, thereby work-hardening it and causing it to crack (the weld is the place where the metal is already slightly different, so it tends to break there first). If you simply let a bandsaw blade run on a saw long enough (even without doing any cutting), it will eventually break; the larger the wheel diameter, the longer the blade will run before this happens. To help counteract this problem, we have developed a line of blades, The Three Wheeler, that is made with thinner material (0.014 vs. 0.025) to allow for the more severe flexing by the small wheels. These blades cost $11.29 each and are available in 3/16", 1/4", and 3/8" widths (several tooth patterns in each).

 

Having said all of that, another issue that tends to develop over time with these small saws is out-of-round wheels which can develop a "whip-like" effect in the blade while running, thereby prematurely breaking the blade. Sometimes the tires get thinner in some sections (especially if the blade is left under tension for longer periods when the saw isn't being used), or some other things can lead to this (saws with plastic wheels sometimes have the wheels warp slightly over time). The way to check for this is to first UNPLUG the saw, install a blade and tension it normally, and then while turning the wheels slowly by hand, simply pluck the blade as you would a guitar string and listen to the pitch of sound produced. If the pitch changes as you turn the wheels, you have this problem.

 

Please feel free to call us toll free 800-356-9918 if you have any more questions or would like to try some of our blades (we manufacture a full line of various types of blades for other types of bandsaws in addition to The Three Wheeler).

 

I hope this information is useful,

 

Neil Morris

 

SuperCut Bandsaw Co., Inc.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Great info! Thanks, John!

 

 

www.bandsawblog.com

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

I wonder if certain tires and materials are more or less likely to deform as he described.

 

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Thanks John for the info, I am going to try one of those blades as soon as I can..

 

Cliff, I would think that either Plastic or light metals would have a better tendency to deform than harder metal, with emphasis on plastic.

 

Ok I am off to the Doc's office. I'll be back later.

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Do you mean thinner tires?

 

www.bandsawblog.com

Edited November 13, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk