Changing bearings on my bandsaw

Hi folks,

Long time lurker that finally broke down and registered. Hopefully I can give back a little knowledge now and then.

Need some advice with my bandsaw, pretty please.

Took my lower wheel off my bandsaw to shim, in order to make coplanar with top wheel, and thought it might be good to change the bearings as they are a bit tight. On my machine, the two bearings are pressed into each side of the saw body (as shown in the photo), to which the shaft that holds the lower wheel is attached. There is a bushing between the bearings.

Just to check my thinking, I'm guessing I'll need to tap the shaft out and then push the bearings out from the opposite side(s).

But when I need to get the bearings back, what's the most effective sequence of steps? Everything is very tight which would necessitate a press or some good ol' banging. I'd rather press obviously as I don't want to damage the bearings, but not sure I have a choice here. Should I 1) press bearing on one side of shaft, 2) tap shaft into bandsaw, tap the other bearing in and then 3) go back and forth until they're both somewhat even?

Want to make sure I'm not missing some key step or maybe there's an easier way.

Lastly, where do people buy their bearings online? I searched but only found recommendations from a few years ago, some of those sites are no longer around. I looked on ebay, but there are so many counterfeits... How do you know which is real? Does anyone buy from Amazon?

Much appreciated!

Here's what it looks like on one side.


And the other side. If I remove the pulley, the bearings are pressed into the cavity in the same way as the front.

It would probably help if you posted mfr and model of the saw, that way someone that has BTDT can respond. Just spitballing, to reinstall bearings you might be able to freeze them so they slip in, or instead of hammering use a nut/bolt/washers arrangement to press them in, then freeze shaft so it slides thru bearings. Without seeeing the big picture and having my grubby hands on it, its hard to say more.

Assuming they are a common bearing your local supplier would have them, if you want quality you might have to specify that you don't want chinese bearings. I typically search ebay for bearings and look for quality name NOS bearings, just have to check them on arrival because if too old the grease might be hard, if that happens just return them for a refund.

I am not seeing the lower bear housing adjustment point?

dalmatiangirl61 said:

It would probably help if you posted mfr and model of the saw, that way someone that has BTDT can respond. Just spitballing, to reinstall bearings you might be able to freeze them so they slip in, or instead of hammering use a nut/bolt/washers arrangement to press them in, then freeze shaft so it slides thru bearings. Without seeeing the big picture and having my grubby hands on it, its hard to say more.

Assuming they are a common bearing your local supplier would have them, if you want quality you might have to specify that you don't want chinese bearings. I typically search ebay for bearings and look for quality name NOS bearings, just have to check them on arrival because if too old the grease might be hard, if that happens just return them for a refund.

Click to expand...

Good tip about NOS. I had some previous success buying some from an industrial reseller who buys from liquidating companies. Also I'll planning on freezing/heating as appropriate. I think I will put bearings on the housing first and then shaft to see how that works.

It's a Harbor Freight copy of the old Delta design. Seems about the same as the Grizzly/Jet/etc, but manufactured with less tolerances. Got it for a deal, and actually pretty happy with it. Just had to spend some time balancing the wheels to get the vibrations down. Good for my home project purposes.

Thanks

memphisjed said:

I am not seeing the lower bear housing adjustment point?

Click to expand...

Not sure I understand, but there's no housing adjustment point. Pretty simple saw. Here's the relevant diagram for this model:

The bearings are a bit tight? They look brand new. Unless you are going to try and find some high end bearings, just put it back together and run it.

If you're that determined, find a blind hole bearing puller. It basically just goes in the hole and spreads out then uses a slide hammer or some other method similar to a regular puller to remove.

If you want nicer bearings try and find a local bearing house.


Here's a link to one on Amazon. If you are crafty, you could make something similar for probably next to nothing, they aren't that complicated.
https://www.amazon.com/OTC-4581-Hammer-Bearing-Puller/dp/B0002SRH7Y

If they feel a bit tight it’s probably caused by the shaft/bearings/bushings/seats loading one bearing or the other against the race.
Try just tapping the shaft one way or the other to see if you can get the bearings to settle on their centers a bit better.

Curious- why are you looking at this- tough to think you would have noticed this on assembled saw with motor attached.

One bearing could be cockeyed, new bearings wont fix that. Second tapping shaft in multiple places while spinning it by hand. It might self seat.
It looks like smacking the shaft with a deadblow from the drive side will push outer bearing out, then you can tap the inner bearing out.
Since there is no adjustment like a push/pull spindle plate you are going to need to shim the whole unit at the housing feet. New bearings are not going to correct alignment-unless old bearings are toast. Saws float the idled wheel to allow for runout, even the big saw$ do not have truly round wheels; alignment is the first issue- bearings I honestly wouldn't do unless they sound and feel like gravel.

I'm not going to comment on how to pull/replace your bearings.

I do have luck buying quality bearings on ebay.

My search string is skewed towards electric motor rebuilding since I seem to do that a lot. Anyway, here it is:

bearings (6202,6203,6204,6205,6206,6207) (fafnir,skf,*********,toyo,koyo,nsk,ntn,nachi) -(rs,2rs,sealed,seals,open,ducati,ski)

Obviously if you are interested in other bearing numbers, replace the 6200 series numbers with your own. I just look at the above saved search every so often, looking for someone selling off a lot of NOS bearings just to be done with them. I don't have to score all the time, maybe once every 2 months, but that has saved me a ton on top quality bearings and has yielded a lot of quiet running motors too.

metalmagpie

Thanks for all the tips.

Trboatworks said:

Curious- why are you looking at this- tough to think you would have noticed this on assembled saw with motor attached.

Click to expand...

I noticed the tightness of the bearings while trying to balance the wheels (without motor/pulley/belts attached).

In the end, I tapped the shaft out and the outer bearings came with it. The other one I just pushed out from the opposite direction. One of the bearings was definitely 'gritty' and tight. Luckily, I found some NTNs NOS on ebay that was significantly smoother in the fingers and in place than the stock bearings. Used the freeze/heat trick to reassemble and everything came together without much force. Did have to do a little sanding to smooth the shaft, not to remove material, and that also helped to limit the amount of banging. Seems changing the bearings also brought down the noise level, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. The wheels were much easier to balance with the new bearings, that's for sure.

metalmagpie said:

My search string is skewed towards electric motor rebuilding since I seem to do that a lot. Anyway, here it is:
bearings (6202,6203,6204,6205,6206,6207) (fafnir,skf,*********,toyo,koyo,nsk,ntn,nachi) -(rs,2rs,sealed,seals,open,ducati,ski)

Click to expand...

Much thanks for the search string, I'll save that for later.