Kalamazoo Bandsaw Feed issues and Noise

grinder&paint · Jun 2, 2020

Well, I may have gotten myself into more than I should have when I bought an ancient Kalamzoo 7A bandsaw a few weeks ago. So far I have rebuilt the motor, made new clamps, and made a pneumatic downed system to replace the missing hydraulic one. The saw cuts, but the blade makes an ungodly noise as it travels around the wheels. It sounds like it is coming from the gearbox side, but I can't tell. The gearbox feels very smooth when I turn it by hand or run it with no load. If anyone knows the issue I would love to hear about it.

The other issue is that the pivot shaft is very stiff. I have tried installing grease fitting zerks over the old oiling ports, but it doesn't seem to want to take grease or move. I have attached a video of the blade and picture of the shaft setup.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

YouTube

grinder&paint · Jun 2, 2020

If anyone wants the manual for this machine email me I have it.

metlmunchr · Jun 2, 2020

I've got a 9 inch Kalamazoo and from looking at your video, the construction of yours looks about the same. Probably the first thing to check is whether the wheels are both parallel and in the same plane. A piece of something like 1/4 x 2 cold rolled flat bar used on edge as a straightedge is accurate enough for checking.

Check both with the blade fully tensioned and with no tension. The frame will deflect a bit as the blade is tensioned, but if the change in alignment from loose to tight is significant then you should look for a problem with a bearing that's worn to the point of moving and becoming noisy under load.

If anyone ever fools with the idler wheel bearing carrier adjustment and doesn't know what they're doing, it's likely to get the idler wheel out of line with the drive wheel. Depending on the direction of misalignment, this can cause the back edge of the blade to drag on one or the other of the wheel flanges with enough force to wear away the flange over time. This will also cause a grinding sort of noise as the blade drags against the rotating wheel flange.

grinder&paint · Jun 2, 2020

metlmunchr said:
I've got a 9 inch Kalamazoo and from looking at your video, the construction of yours looks about the same. Probably the first thing to check is whether the wheels are both parallel and in the same plane. A piece of something like 1/4 x 2 cold rolled flat bar used on edge as a straightedge is accurate enough for checking.

Check both with the blade fully tensioned and with no tension. The frame will deflect a bit as the blade is tensioned, but if the change in alignment from loose to tight is significant then you should look for a problem with a bearing that's worn to the point of moving and becoming noisy under load.

If anyone ever fools with the idler wheel bearing carrier adjustment and doesn't know what they're doing, it's likely to get the idler wheel out of line with the drive wheel. Depending on the direction of misalignment, this can cause the back edge of the blade to drag on one or the other of the wheel flanges with enough force to wear away the flange over time. This will also cause a grinding sort of noise as the blade drags against the rotating wheel flange.

I will check the alignment tomorrow, I noticed the blade would jump up on the flange for a second and then go back down, making a lot of noise. The manual has a pretty good section on adjusting the carrier so I will try that. Thanks for the help.

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Kalamazoo Bandsaw Feed issues and Noise

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