No tire on WT band saw?

[Trboatworks]

So- being a complete Luddite- I lost the fight with trying to get a tire to stay put on my old Walker Turner Band saw.
I tried standard then urethane with no luck as the things were creeping around and causing problems.
One day out of desperation I just took a couple of wraps of blue painters tape around the rim and called it good- a year later and the saw is still running fine and it seems to have lost all of the funny shudder the tires were causing.

What's up?
Tires over rated on band saws....LOL

I am running the Lenox Tri-master 3tpi carbide tooth blades- I had thought the wheel would get cut or the carbide chipped but no problems so far- better lucky than smart?

I still have a traditional tire on lower wheel which seems to be staying put.
I cut lots of aluminum on the saw and have even started chopping up some stainless (at wood speed...- not sure I can recommend this), and the top wheel is less trouble as there is no tire to grab chips.

I haven't messed with straight metal saws much- do they even use tires?

 

[Bruce Griffing]

My metal cutting band saws are tireless workers. No teeth touching the wheel tho....

 

[PeteM]

The crown on the wheel permits most metal saws to run without a tire and not have the teeth either clearing or not bearing too heavily on the wheel.

 

[oliverarn]

So- being a complete Luddite- I lost the fight with trying to get a tire to stay put on my old Walker Turner Band saw.
I tried standard then urethane with no luck as the things were creeping around and causing problems.
One day out of desperation I just took a couple of wraps of blue painters tape around the rim and called it good- a year later and the saw is still running fine and it seems to have lost all of the funny shudder the tires were causing.

What's up?
Tires over rated on band saws....LOL

I am running the Lenox Tri-master 3tpi carbide tooth blades- I had thought the wheel would get cut or the carbide chipped but no problems so far- better lucky than smart?

I still have a traditional tire on lower wheel which seems to be staying put.
I cut lots of aluminum on the saw and have even started chopping up some stainless (at wood speed...- not sure I can recommend this), and the top wheel is less trouble as there is no tire to grab chips.

I haven't messed with straight metal saws much- do they even use tires?

Was the tire in question rubber or urethane. Urethane tires are all hype and useless IMHO. Tune up your band saw with a pair up properly crowned tires and discover what you are missing.

Ron

 

[stephen thomas]

Urethane tires are all hype and useless IMHO.

I thought so too. But the cutting oil kept swelling the rubber tires on my metal BS, and even failed the super-duper epoxy guaranteed by woodworkers supply to keep them on. A few years ago I was placing an order with McFeely's (screws) and saw they were selling urethane tires fair priced so ordered a couple. The next time a rubber tire failed, I put the urethane on and it has been trouble free since.

Not sure I'd pay extra for tires for my 30 or 36" wood saws, though. i think rubber on the American may date back to war service (ww2) in the Navy.

smt

 

[oliverarn]

New one on me. I stand corrected. What glue did you use on the urethane tires.
Every time i tried the urethane tires i hated them but it was aways for woodworking. I never had any rubber tires swell on any of the metalworking bandsaws I used at work. DoAll's and such.

Ron

 

[CalG]

On the oliver "wood saw" that cuts anything dry (VFR powered) I fitted belting leather tires over 20 years ago. Mounted with contact cement. still going strong!

The Famco 612 lay down metal saw runs flood coolant with bare cast iron wheels.

 

[stephen thomas]

New one on me. I stand corrected. What glue did you use on the urethane tires.

The metal saw in question is a shop modified clone of the typical 14" saw popularized by Delta. The wheels have rims, but the original tires squirmed off when I was still running it dry, so I glued them on with contact cement. The good industrial stuff. About that time i started using cutting oil on steel, and they swelled and squirmed off again over a couple years. Too stretched and distorted to put back on, I ordered a new set from woodworker supply, and they asked what kind of glue i wanted. I describe my problem, and they shipped some green epoxy in 2 small cans, supposed to be exactly for the purpose. I did clean everything religiously before gluing. That may have lasted a half dozen years, maybe even longer. Then ran it with the tires half on and half off much of the time for a few years, before getting the urethane. Never even glued the urethane. I think it has been on the top wheel at least 5 years, replaced the lower maybe a couple years ago.

smt

 

[oliverarn]

I was just curious about the glue. I never had urethane tires come off as some people talk about. The thing i disliked about them is that with wood blades they seem too hard durometer? With the larger rake blades used for woodworking. I would get a lot of vibration from the saw blade rake. I never tried any metal blades. Interesting to know though.
I would think the tire rubber for metal saws running coolant or oil would be a different compound than what would be normally used on a wood saw. I believe many wood working band saw tires are neoprene. Neoprene degrades and swells when exposed to oil and solvents but works well for wood saws

 

[stephen thomas]

doubt it was the hardness. Most of that stuff is only about 70 duro A but you could check it.

Wood saws tend to run around 5,000sfm or faster in the case of some direct drive 36 or 42" Tanny's. The issue is constant thickness (absolutely uniform wheel diameter) and crown. Glue-on type rubber, or even Tanny press on rim/tire combos are supposed to be dressed round in place, and at least the top wheel crowned. But dressing them round is the critical part, or they will throb as the upper and lower wheels go in and out of synch.

That will never be noticed or have any effect on a rubber tired metal saw at steel cutting speeds.

smt