All good advice in the previous recommendations. I shimmed both wheels with
brass thrust washers to get them on the same plane (checking with a long
straightedge spanning both wheels) also, the washers minimized the wobble of
the free wheel.

DoN's comments wrt the back edge rollers.. definitely worthwhile to check
those.

Safety first..
I removed the worm shaft pulley and installed a long tap handle to manually
rotate the wheels and band slowly while adjusting the pitch of the free
wheel.. an adapter for a slow running variable speed drill would serve the
same purpose of running slow (with full blade tension) while making checks.
Using the saw's motor to run the blade while making adjustments (or any time
the blade guard is off/open) would be a safety risk worth avoiding.

The powdery swarf sounds like worn blade teeth, you should at least see fine
sparklies for chips with a fine-toothed blade, and of course larger chips
with a coarser tooth pitch.
You'll get used to the prickly feel of sharp blade teeth on your fingertips,
but a magnifier may reveal small flats on the tips of the teeth you're using
now, indicating a worn blade.

Also, after correction of the wandering blade travel, it's important to
avoid too light of a downward pressure (while cutting) on the blade..
rubbing without creating chips will dull the teeth quickly, so try to
maintain at least moderate downward pressure.. more pressure is good when
the chips are plentiful.

You may have noticed it mentioned before.. a good cutting lubricant is very
cost effective and greatly enhances cutting performance.
My long-time favorite has been Lenox ProTool Lube.. just scored several 6
ounce bottles on eBag at $3 each (Fastenal no longer stocks it).

Lastly, avoid cutting OBF old bed frame.. the hard spots will wipe away the
tips of the blade teeth immediately.
If necessary, it's better to cut OBF with a cutoff disk in an angle grinder,
or use a hacksaw to avoid the need to change the bandsaw blade.
HSMs would be better off avoiding it, since it also wipes out cutting edges
on drills, and it doesn't weld worth a damn.. it'll look like it's welded,
but the weld is likely to pull out with light to moderate force.

--
WB
..........


wrote in message
...
I have a cheap 4x6 band saw which I bought on sale from Busy Bee and
which came with a Harbor-Freight manual. I have also downloaded a
Grizzly manual for their equivalent saw.

I am having a persistent problem with tracking of the blade on the
lower (driven) wheel: the blade runs about 2/3rds on the wheel. I have
re-done the tracking procedure on the top wheel where it is
satisfactory. I have tried different tensions. If I move the blade
manually *backwards* by rotating the pulleys the blade slots in fine,
right next to the shoulder. If I move it forward, manually or by the
motor, it goes back to its previous position.

The saw cuts OK and there has been no tendency for the blade to slip
off the wheels. I am inclined to accept it but I was wondering if
anyone else encountered this and what, if anything, they did about it.

The other issue is the quality of the chips: The Grizzly manual has an
interesting chart explaining what needs to be done depending on the
shape of the chips. Nothing I do seems to make a difference - they are
always powdery!

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC