Double groove pulley bandsaw wheel

[Jbird5986]

Hello all been working on the mill daily haven't done anything I would dare show y'all but I've learnt a lot.My question is I found two double groove pulley will they work or must it be single.I have went from only gonna spend a little to coulda bought a house thanks.

[fluidpowerpro]

I would think that you could make it work as long as you set it up so the teeth stay in front of the pulley. That way the set isn't removed by the pulley.

[Jbird5986]

So I got to reading on here last night and figured if all y'all could find the time to do it right so can I so when I got off I tore it all apart again.I know this is crazy but I'm building it this time out small scrap stuff if I succeed I'll tear it apart and build it right.I been framing houses 40 years welding for 2 weeks but I'm learning fast it's frustrating I'm used to being 5 steps ahead of 2 crews now I'm getting advice from my 9 year old.Does it seem to y'all like the carriage with just 1 side of the angle iron roll easier it looks that way in videos.

[Rocks4U]

I have been thinking about swapping my wheels out to the double pulleys and using a double v belt that is made together seems like it would keep the band from wanting to get u shaped like Tom cooks warns about also should transmit power better just have to keep teeth out in front. I'm running a 1.5 blad so shouldn't be hard.

[SawyerTed]

That "U" shaped band business is "borrowing trouble."   It's not all that common as far as I can tell. Other stuff ends a blade's life sooner.

Blades are consumable items.   They break, get used up, hit metal,  worn out, sharpened until unusable etc.  Throw them in the scrap pile when they can't be resharpened and are not reusable. 

Blades are relatively inexpensive in this business since blades are there the action is. 

[Magicman]

 I agree with Ted above.

I see from your pictures that your bandwheel appears to be taller than the belt which will not work.  The blade teeth must run in front of the bandwheel & belt to prevent the teeth's set from being removed.

[Joe Hillmann]

That "U" shaped band business is "borrowing trouble."   It's not all that common as far as I can tell. Other stuff ends a blade's life sooner.

Blades are consumable items.   They break, get used up, hit metal,  worn out, sharpened until unusable etc.  Throw them in the scrap pile when they can't be resharpened and are not reusable. 

Blades are relatively inexpensive in this business since blades are there the action is.

I agree with Ted.  The risk of U shaped or cupping in blades isn't a concern on a typical mill.  Maybe on a ultra wide mill that needs more tension than usual to get a nice cut it could maybe become an issue.  In my experience you only get a few sharpenings out of a blade before they break or you hit something to hard to resharpen.  So the blades don't last long enough to develop much or any cup.  It can't be too much of a problem because there are several big name sawmill manufactures that use the method that cooks says is bad.

[Joe Hillmann]

I think some companies use a double groove pulley on the drive side and a single groove pulley on the other side.  The blade rides on a belt in the front grove and the back groove has a belt in it connected to the engine.

Others use a single groove and use the same belt to drive it from the engine AND ride the blade on it.

[Magicman]

EDIT:  What I thought was wood is actually rusty iron so the sawmill's bandwheels are solidly supported.  I can not verify what is used for tracking.  The bandwheels are only ~13" diameter which will be problematic with blade breakage.  The edges of the bandwheels could be lowered with a lathe which would eliminate them contacting the blade teeth, but the diameter is still very small.