Art Mulder
Member
- Messages
- 3,383
- Location
- London, Ontario
Just venting...
Tried to change the blade on my 14" bandsaw tonight. However the tension adjusting wheel would not turn very easily.
I kept working and working at it, and soon had the wheel off in my hands!! Part of the tension adjusting shaft had just sheered off inside the handle!
I was stymied... I'm left with a smooth shaft.
I resorted to the old faithful of rough tools. Yes: vice grips.
Even then the thing was just not turning. I finally was able to get the blade off, so that left the wheel and tension thing loose, but the shaft was still stuck. I sprayed in some WD-40 and left it to soak. Eventually I dismounted the upper wheel. This left me enough room that I could lift the upper wheel sliding bracket enough that the nut holding the tension adjusting rod and tension spring dropped out the bottom so I could get an actual wrench on the nut and get it off. Still was fighting me for a few turns before it finally let go and spun off.
The shaft is ruined -- some of the threads stripped out (green arrow). The problem seemed to be that the top part of the shaft was just totally gummed up which prevented it from turning freely (that is indicated with the red arrow, though it's since been wiped off).
Fortunately we've got a pretty good Bandsaw vendor here in Ontario that stocks replacement parts (R+D Bandsaws, == www.tufftooth.com)
I'm not sure what I could have done to prevent this. This part of the shaft is totally contained inside the upper wheel bracket, as well as the tension spring. Tiny bits of sawdust had gotten in there to gum up the threads, but there is not really any easy way for me to get in there to clean it out. Of course, I should have been releasing the tension more often, then maybe it would have kept it clearer. (I admit, I almost never release the tension on the saw.)
Tried to change the blade on my 14" bandsaw tonight. However the tension adjusting wheel would not turn very easily.
I kept working and working at it, and soon had the wheel off in my hands!! Part of the tension adjusting shaft had just sheered off inside the handle!
I was stymied... I'm left with a smooth shaft.
I resorted to the old faithful of rough tools. Yes: vice grips.
Even then the thing was just not turning. I finally was able to get the blade off, so that left the wheel and tension thing loose, but the shaft was still stuck. I sprayed in some WD-40 and left it to soak. Eventually I dismounted the upper wheel. This left me enough room that I could lift the upper wheel sliding bracket enough that the nut holding the tension adjusting rod and tension spring dropped out the bottom so I could get an actual wrench on the nut and get it off. Still was fighting me for a few turns before it finally let go and spun off.
The shaft is ruined -- some of the threads stripped out (green arrow). The problem seemed to be that the top part of the shaft was just totally gummed up which prevented it from turning freely (that is indicated with the red arrow, though it's since been wiped off).
Fortunately we've got a pretty good Bandsaw vendor here in Ontario that stocks replacement parts (R+D Bandsaws, == www.tufftooth.com)
I'm not sure what I could have done to prevent this. This part of the shaft is totally contained inside the upper wheel bracket, as well as the tension spring. Tiny bits of sawdust had gotten in there to gum up the threads, but there is not really any easy way for me to get in there to clean it out. Of course, I should have been releasing the tension more often, then maybe it would have kept it clearer. (I admit, I almost never release the tension on the saw.)