Bought a home-made band saw- question about band guides

[dbpochardt]

Hi I'm new to the forum.
Background Info: I bought a building site, which included a nice little woodshed with a band saw in it. I bought the saw on the estate sale. The person who built it passed away last summer so we are trying to get this thing going. We are trying to make lumber to build a heated shop.

My question involves the bearings that guide the blade. It looks like the blade is made to run on the edge of the bearing that is behind the blade in the picture. It throws a few sparks all the time, obviously not safe with all the sawdust around. What do other people have for guides? It seems like the bearing should be tipped 90 degrees so the bearing actually does something...

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Do you have a picture of the band saw?  And the guides?

Some description of the wheel size, or motor for power, or length of track, etc. ??

Pics can be posted by setting up your own gallery and albums in your profile.
Then a tutor is in the "Behind the Forum" board on the home page.

The band should run freely (turned by hand) around without touching the roller guides. Then they are set to hold the band down about 1/8 -1/4" and usually have a backup flange or roller to push against when in the cut (not in the cut, they are about 1/8" away from the back side of the band).

There are shop band saws that have a bearing lined up like you describe. Have not heard of that setup on a log bandsaw mill.

[bandmiller2]

Welcome,look to the left to Cooks and bring up their site they sell all sorts of after market guides and parts. Frank C.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum,    dbpochardt.   

As mentioned above, pictures of your setup will help.

[dbpochardt]

I just figured out how to include pictures in the message, here are the guides, more pics are in my gallery. The saw has a 11 HP Briggs and Stratton. The wheels that the blade runs on are just under 20" across and the bands are 13" 9' long.


  


 

[beenthere]

Good on the pics.
As I see it, a conventional guide setup for a shop band guide. But proper adjustment, the band would run clear of the bearing in the back when not cutting. No screeching or sparks.
The pics appear to show the bearings out of adjustment. 
As mentioned, there should be some good help such as going to Cooks site and seeing what is available.

[york]

Hi,does it look as if the mill builder ever was able to mill out logs with this mill?

     From here,it looks as if the band should run under the bearing,but don`t like the looks of his band guides,as others are saying,check out Cooks.....Good luck,albert

[Cypressstump]

Are those single or double stacked baerings?

How much support does the bearing the blade rides upon provide? And yes, you are correct on your assumption of the horizontal bearing as most all brand made mills have a horizontal back bearing of which normally is 1/8" or so off the back of the blade.
Also most brands have two of the vertical bearings back to back or double stacked to offer a wider support platform for the blade.

[mikeb1079]

hello dp and welcome.  i built my homemade mill with a bearing setup like you have.  i originally used cheap bearings much like those in the pic. 

although they did work for awhile i eventually upgraded to a 2" roller bearing w/flange made by cooks.
http://www.cooksaw.com/sawmill-parts/roller-guides/standard-roller-guides/for-1-1-4-blades/1-1-4-roller-guide.html

i am very glad i did.  the initial expense will be worth it in the long run, as the cheap bearings only lasted a couple of months and froze up.  i would def recommend the upgrade.  you'll get better lumber too.   

[fat olde elf]

Call Cooks as suggested several times above.

[dbpochardt]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just have single bearings there now but I'm gonna switch to double stacked today and adjust them as you've said. If that doesn't work the Cook's bearings should do it.

York- The fellow who built the saw did cut quite a bit of lumber, though from what I've seen, none of it was very straight. The woodshed is made partly from wood that he cut, and there are 3-4 racks of wood drying in the back room of the shed. It was working but he hadn't perfected it yet.

[york]

OK,then sounds like the mill is worth the cost of the Cook guides,have them on my mill,there not cheap,but you get what ya pay for-later on as you work on this mill,how about a few more pic.??

albert

[Fla._Deadheader]

One thing about the sparks. On the blade backer bearings, they should be slightly offset, so, as the blade touches the first one, it should only hit the LEADING edge of that bearing. Opposite for the other bearing, as the blade exits the cut. Just have it touch the TRAILING edge.

Reason is, as the blade strikes the whole upper section of the backer bearing, it "scrubs" the bearing, which is harder than the blade. CAREFULLY run your thumb across the back of a used blade, and see if it has a sharp burr. That's how knives are sharpened.

Doesn't take much. Just enough so it doesn't "scrub" across the bearing. May have to slightly bend the brackets to get that alignment. GO SLOW and check with a blade mounted on the wheels, so you can SEE where it touches.

I made my first set also, and, soon bought Cook's guides. Hard to beat their guides, but, they are not inexpensive. BUT, you only buy them once, and, get some replacement bearing to go inside those rollers.

Some guys wear the rollers as a cone shape. We never did. They are still good, after way over 100,000 bd/ft of very abusive sawing, and hosing downs.

[francismilker]

The last mill I had was a shop built mill and it used two bearing with a 1/2 ID stacked for the band to run on top of.  For a backer bearing it used a slightly larger bearing with a 1/2 ID to keep the back of the band true.  Problem was, it scrubbed the bearing as mentioned above.