What in the heck is wrong with my bandsaw?

[toomanyknots]

Well I took another video focusing on the wheel spinning, showing the wobble you spotted lostarrow. Didn't catch it myself. What exactly am I gonna need to do to fix this? Would I need to order a new shaft from grizzly?

[lostarrow]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner , I was in the shop. 
  I took a closer look at my saw(basically all the same) . The top wheel is riding bearing on  a stationary shaft. If the shaft were bent ,it would cause missalignment not wobble. If the bearing was shot it would cause vibration , not wobble. I'm sure that the top wheel is warped.
  On the bright side , it should be quick easy fix once you get the part. I would get a new bearing while you are replacing the wheel, if it's seen much use. This way you won't get it back together only to find out that the bearing is shot as well,or will be a month later.The bearing should only be about $20-25  . I have no Idea what the wheel would cost. When you order the wheel , make sure it comes with the rubber tire on it. It should, but would suck to wait for a package that didn't have all the parts.
  Without being there in person ,I could be missing something, but from the video , it seems fairly clear. Never hurts to get a second opinion before you order any parts.
   You still don't seem too sure of what you are supposed to be looking at  in the vid. I was watching the aluminum top wheel (barely visible behind the blade ) in relation to the back bearing (that gives you a fixed referance to observe deviation)

[toomanyknots]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner , I was in the shop. 
  I took a closer look at my saw(basically all the same) . The top wheel is riding bearing on  a stationary shaft. If the shaft were bent ,it would cause missalignment not wobble. If the bearing was shot it would cause vibration , not wobble. I'm sure that the top wheel is warped.
  On the bright side , it should be quick easy fix once you get the part. I would get a new bearing while you are replacing the wheel, if it's seen much use. This way you won't get it back together only to find out that the bearing is shot as well,or will be a month later.The bearing should only be about $20-25  . I have no Idea what the wheel would cost. When you order the wheel , make sure it comes with the rubber tire on it. It should, but would suck to wait for a package that didn't have all the parts.
  Without being there in person ,I could be missing something, but from the video , it seems fairly clear. Never hurts to get a second opinion before you order any parts.
   You still don't seem too sure of what you are supposed to be looking at  in the vid. I was watching the aluminum top wheel (barely visible behind the blade ) in relation to the back bearing (that gives you a fixed referance to observe deviation)

Here's a video I took of just the wheel spinning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKuwK0NeclU&feature=youtu.be

I just talked to grizzly. The guy I talked to didn't wanna hear nothin about a wobbling wheel. He is sending me out two new tires though. I told him I can see the wheel wobbling, and asked him a couple times what a wobbling wheel would do to tracking, etc, and he said basically he doesn't know, or really didn't wanna answer? Maybe he was about to get off work, and just wanted to go home. My bandsaw is still under warranty. I think the wheels are like 60 bucks each.

[lostarrow]

From what I understand , replacing the rubber tires is a pain in the but. They are usually glued on. I seem to remember a three page article in "Fine Woodworking " on how to do just that. It looks pretty obvious to me that the wheel itself is the culprit. I'm not sure what he thinks changing the tires will accomplish. I wouldn't waste my time.I'd try to speak to a different rep. See if they will reference the videos you took . That should clear up any questions. Good luck.
  If they give you a hard time , tell them that thousands of people are waiting to see the results of "Grizzly customer service" for waranty work before deciding to buy a bansaw of their own. I know not everyone is looking at this post, but we do have alot of people on this site . Nearly all are woodworkers ....... who buy tools.

[toomanyknots]

From what I understand , replacing the rubber tires is a pain in the but. They are usually glued on. I seem to remember a three page article in "Fine Woodworking " on how to do just that. It looks pretty obvious to me that the wheel itself is the culprit. I'm not sure what he thinks changing the tires will accomplish. I wouldn't waste my time.I'd try to speak to a different rep. See if they will reference the videos you took . That should clear up any questions. Good luck.
  If they give you a hard time , tell them that thousands of people are waiting to see the results of "Grizzly customer service" for waranty work before deciding to buy a bansaw of their own. I know not everyone is looking at this post, but we do have alot of people on this site . Nearly all are woodworkers ....... who buy tools.

So you think that bit of wobble in the video could be doing it? I really need to get this darn thing working. It's making me freaking sick. Could it be the bearings in the wheel? It seems to have a bit of play when I try it, side to side and up and down a bit, but I got the nut off and I don't know if me shimming it with some washers.... heck, lets be honest, I don't know nothing,  . The wheels are the big iron kind, could they have warped?

[lostarrow]

Usually if the bearing is bad you get vibration and noise , not a wobble. The wheel will  shudder because it isn't being held firmly in line. Did you take the wheel off before, when you were shimming? Is it possible you moved the bearing  out of whack in the wheel?  What was your process for shimming and where did you place it?

 I'll ask again because you didn't respond to it last time
" You didn't by chance pry on the wheel when shimming did you? Don't take that as an insult if you didn't . If you did ,.................. just tell me you didn't ,and chock it up to lesson learned. "
   

[toomanyknots]

Usually if the bearing is bad you get vibration and noise , not a wobble. The wheel will  shudder because it isn't being held firmly in line. Did you take the wheel off before, when you were shimming? Is it possible you moved the bearing  out of whack in the wheel?  What was your process for shimming and where did you place it?

 I'll ask again because you didn't respond to it last time
" You didn't by chance pry on the wheel when shimming did you? Don't take that as an insult if you didn't . If you did ,.................. just tell me you didn't ,and chock it up to lesson learned. "
 

I didn't pry on it, I don't really know what you mean. I placed a couple washers behind the wheel until it was co-planer with the bottom wheel, and put the nut back on. I started having this problem before I shimmed it. I just tried for the millionth time to get this woodslicer blade setup and cutting good. I can't for the life of me get this thing to work. I try to find the drift angle over and over again, and the cut quality is always garbage. I am losing my mind. 

[lostarrow]

Ok , now I know what you mean  about the shimming , I think. Did you pull the wheel off to put  the washers on? If so, did it come off easy, and go back on easy? Or was some force involved that could have bent the wheel? That's all I was getting at.

Do the washers fit well, or are they somehow making things askew?

 Did you have to shim it out so far that it isn't sitting well on the shaft?
 
The bearing is press fit into the wheel, correct? I'm wondering if it got nocked  out of line  either in shimming process or when you jammed the horn in it?

Any way you slice it , that top wheel needs to be addressed before you can move forward .(as long as you're sure it's not the blade.) But you have tried other blades and we determined that wasn't it, right. I'm a little foggy from the meds.
 

[toomanyknots]

Ok , now I know what you mean  about the shimming , I think. Did you pull the wheel off to put  the washers on? If so, did it come off easy, and go back on easy? Or was some force involved that could have bent the wheel? That's all I was getting at.

Do the washers fit well, or are they somehow making things askew?

 Did you have to shim it out so far that it isn't sitting well on the shaft?
 
The bearing is press fit into the wheel, correct? I'm wondering if it got nocked  out of line  either in shimming process or when you jammed the horn in it?

Any way you slice it , that top wheel needs to be addressed before you can move forward .(as long as you're sure it's not the blade.) But you have tried other blades and we determined that wasn't it, right. I'm a little foggy from the meds.

Yes, I have tried four different blades now, no dice. It is beyond my human ability anymore to get a usable cut quality with this bandsaw. The wheel comes off and gos back on easily. I am not sure if there is any play in the bearings when the wheel is on, there might be a little. The bearings do turn fine and aren't jammed or anything. I'm pretty sure it is sitting fine on the shaft. (I'm sure I can think of a joke to go with all of this "shaft" talk, but I will leave it alone,  ). I'm not positive I know what you mean by "bearing is press fit into the wheel", but I believe so, if what you mean is the bearings are pretty much part of the wheel, and or jammed into the wheel I guess. I just slapped back on my 3/4 resaw king. Pray for me please, I got so much crap I need to do! I'm about to call woodcraft and rockler tomorrow and see if they can slice some laminations for me, I wonder if they will. So, in your opinion so far, should I ask grizzly to send me a new upper wheel on my warranty? I'm thinking they are not gonna want to do that.

[lostarrow]

That wheel is definitely warped .I don't see any other way to fix it  but replace. I think we've run the gammit for possibilities . Either the bearing is in the wheel crooked , or the wheel is warped. Change it. How much is your time worth? You've spent a day now at least , to no avail. Even if they don't want to do it under warranty , I'd spend the $60 to be on my way. 
    What made you decide to shim the wheel? I'm assuming you've had this saw for a while and used it with no issue.Last ditch effort , you could try to take the washers out . 

 The only other thing I can think of is that  if the washers were the wrong size  and caused the wheel to sit crooked on the shaft, you may have shifted the press fit bearing  in the wheel when you tightened it down. Long shot . Don't even know if it's possible  without seeing how it went together. Good luck ,my friend, I'm out of ideas.

[toomanyknots]

That wheel is definitely warped .I don't see any other way to fix it  but replace. I think we've run the gammit for possibilities . Either the bearing is in the wheel crooked , or the wheel is warped. Change it. How much is your time worth? You've spent a day now at least , to no avail. Even if they don't want to do it under warranty , I'd spend the $60 to be on my way. 
    What made you decide to shim the wheel? I'm assuming you've had this saw for a while and used it with no issue.Last ditch effort , you could try to take the washers out . 

 The only other thing I can think of is that  if the washers were the wrong size  and caused the wheel to sit crooked on the shaft, you may have shifted the press fit bearing  in the wheel when you tightened it down. Long shot . Don't even know if it's possible  without seeing how it went together. Good luck ,my friend, I'm out of ideas.

Thank you by the way! I shimmed it because it has never been truly co-planer, and I wanted to get it perfect before I put the big 3/4" blade on it. I usually use a 1/2" blade. I bought the new 3/4" though in the first place because it was having problems, and I could not get the cut quality that I used too. It jammed while it was running though with that horn before it started having problems, so I am thinking that might of did something.

[lostarrow]

Could be.  I don't think you'll be that happy with a 3/4" blade though. You might have a bugger of a time tensioning it . If your saw is tuned up right, a 1/2" with 3TPI hooked teeth or skip tooth blade will give you the best cuts  on this saw IMHO. The 3/4" blade will just make more work  for the motor.

[mikekeswick]

Could be.  I don't think you'll be that happy with a 3/4" blade though. You might have a bugger of a time tensioning it . If your saw is tuned up right, a 1/2" with 3TPI hooked teeth or skip tooth blade will give you the best cuts  on this saw IMHO. The 3/4" blade will just make more work  for the motor.

I completely agree with this statement.
Large blades need an exponentially greater tension on them. Most saws that say they can handle a 1/2 inch blade struggle to get them properly tensioned. At least in my experience. I had similar problems to you Toomany until I spent all my money on an industrial saw....never had an issue since.
I have never seen /used one of these grizzly saws so can't really comment but I would remove your shims, use a 3/8ths or so blade and try to 'restore factory settings'!
Also did this problem come on gradually or suddenly?

[toomanyknots]

Could be.  I don't think you'll be that happy with a 3/4" blade though. You might have a bugger of a time tensioning it . If your saw is tuned up right, a 1/2" with 3TPI hooked teeth or skip tooth blade will give you the best cuts  on this saw IMHO. The 3/4" blade will just make more work  for the motor.

I completely agree with this statement.
Large blades need an exponentially greater tension on them. Most saws that say they can handle a 1/2 inch blade struggle to get them properly tensioned. At least in my experience. I had similar problems to you Toomany until I spent all my money on an industrial saw....never had an issue since.
I have never seen /used one of these grizzly saws so can't really comment but I would remove your shims, use a 3/8ths or so blade and try to 'restore factory settings'!
Also did this problem come on gradually or suddenly?

I'll give it a try, but this is actually the second time I shimmed it. The first time it was just close, not perfect. I've never used it without having it shimmed, from the factory the wheels were way off co-planer, the top wheel being a good deal farther back then the bottom wheel. As much as this points to the blade, I started noticing this after replacing my old 1/2 woodslicer blade with a new one. Since then, I have replaced the new woodslicer, bought the 3/4 resaw blade, and still had the same results. I think when I got the cash i'll pick up an olson blade from menards or woodcraft and see how it fairs. After messing with the drift angle of my fence, I was able to get a semi-decent cut from my resaw king, but it still is wandering a bit. Which I guess makes me think it still might not be tensioned enough. I turn the knob though with a c-clamp clamped to it, or else I could not turn it by hand. My spring is pretty compressed. And don't you know it, grizzly has the spring marked on their site as unavailable anymore...

[lostarrow]

You'll likely cause damage by trying to tension that 3/4" blade. These saws aren't made to handle them . sounds like the top and bottom castings weren't aligned when bolted together  if the wheels were that far off.