it's been a while sense I updated this thread I see....
well, I've done alot to the little band saw....
the tracking was good where it was I whish I never touched the tracking for when I did I couldn't get the blade to stay on for the life of me....
it took a good 4 hours to finally get it to stay on !
then I could finely adjust it... and it wound up where it was originally ! AURGH !
but at least it is not rubbing on the back side of the blade now so it is a bit better....
a hint to you guys that try to do this.... take the blade guides off to adjust the tracking ! they will push the blade off for you ! ....
I had a problem with my saw from the start it would not cut all the way through a piece of pipe.... it just set there running and not cutting...the thing would not go down far enough to cut through I had to push on it with my hand to go all the way through the stock.... and that's no good !
i played with the raise and lower tension and found no place where it would continue to cut through even with the tensioner completely removed !
the switch it self was holding it up...
I got discussed and ordered a raising plate that Winkey's workshop offered and like a dummy I did not measure my saw was red just like his so I thought surely their the same ....WRONG the slot was 1/2" wider on my saw than on his saw.... but I took a thin grinding wheel ( cut off wheel) and cut out the strip so it would work on my saw and then installed it....
and it finally cut through the stock ! and shut off too !
....
I also drilled 2 extra holes in the back plate of the vice back piece and moved it closer to the saw blade ...I did not like the inch to inch and a half
gap between the vice and the saw blade.... (they do that so the back of the vice will clear the blade when cutting angles... I'll have to move the back of the vice to it's original position now.)
I waited to scribe a line in the riser plate for the 90 degree place till after I got the saw to cut straight because now it would not cut straight at all
.... I fussed with the blade guides for days and finally got it very close to cutting a 90deg. cut on 1" water pipe then tightening the bolt on the blade guide it striped out the threads in the soft pot aluminum.... so I drilled out the threads to a 7/16" bolt I had and nut it through and a nut and washer to hold the blade guide on... and that has been working grate sense.
the twist in the blade to make a vertical cut is excessive but there is no other way to do it.... if you want a straight cut they have to be twisted a long way.
... and today I added a stop for the raising the bandsaw to the vertical position.... it went back past vertical and I didn't like that so I added a piece of aluminum to the back under the pivot point to limit it's travel !
....
and for the first time in my life I tapped the holes using a power tool.
i figured cast iron is probably the safest one to try that on and it was Zip-Zip and they were tapped and ready to use ! it was COOL !LOL
so the saw is up and running and working great at the moment
I got a new blade for it but haven't even opened the package yet... i will when the blade that came with it brakes ! LOL....
....
with the elevating plate on there the tensioner actually works now
so I can reduce some of the force when cutting through a pipe (a good thing)
and to my surprise it still cuts through and stops when done, but the last 1/16" takes a very long time. but it will do it on it's own ! ( the downward force is almost zero at the end of the cut.
for the money it is a really good thing to have in the shop, saves me alot of work ! it's aggravating trying to get that piece of junk to work because of the way they cheaply made it ...but it does work !
I run the blade tension fairly tight.... not something I am accustomed to doing on the wood bandsaw.....
I have already used it many times in the vertical position cutting both steel and aluminum both and it is 100 times faster than a hack saw ! <GRIN>
....
Bob........