New to me G0513X2 Setup

[glenn bradley]

Time to setup dad's bandsaw at my new shop. It is a windfall having a pair of these machines. Dad lived near the ocean and did little maintenance the last year or so.

First thing is to change the plug end to match my new 240v standard and put a large paddle on the switch.

I put a piece of sheet magnet over the lower dust port as I do not use this one.

The ocean does strange things to plastics and rubbers. The tires are shot. I have put urethane tires on while the wheels were on the saw. Dad had purchase some OEM tires that are much stiffer so I pulled the wheels.

You raise the motor to de-tension the belt on this model. Here's my handy motor jack; a couple of boards and a quick-grip spreader.

The tires get heated for about 10 minutes.

You then wrestle them on wishing you had some help. A couple of clamps and a large round shaft screwdriver help out here. As long as I had the wheels off I checked for coplaner. This machine was real close but, I'm here so why not spend an extra ten minutes. I use some shim stock behind the spacer that the upper wheel bearing rests against.

Now I just wait 6 hours (per the instructions) for the tires to fully cool. Then I'll slap a blade on it and do the alignment process.
P.s. Speaking of the ocean doing strange things to plastics. The mobile base wheels self destructed. I put metal replacement wheels on my other bandsaw and have a set for this one as well.

 

[glenn bradley]

I know this isn't exactly riveting but, keeps the conversations going

Here's what happens when you make "just this one cut" without bothering to turn on your dust collection. Dad was notorious for this even though a remote fob for the DC was hanging right on the bandsaw .

The bearings were moving OK so I just cleaned them up. For comparison I pulled the under-table DC shroud off of my saw which has not been cleaned during the whole floating wall cabinet project.

Although I'm not perfect I do run the DC almost every cut.
Another thing I sometimes do is figure I've handled bandsaw blades enough to where I don't need gloves . . . wrong! Use gloves

People who have read my posts know I have an issue with the fence locking lever on this saw series. You cannot unlock the fence lever to adjust if martial is on top of the saw. I put a fix on my saw and will do the same here. Grab a piece of scrap.

Cut it to size (3/4" x 1-1/8" x 3-3/4" for me) and drill a through hole for your 8mm bolt and a counter bore to protect your delicate hands from the bolt head.
Cut a relief into the back to accept the locking mechanism dog and keep the handle oriented correctly.

Soften the edges and slap on a coat of shellac.

Now you can unlock the fence for minor adjustment even when material is on the table.

Almost time to make a test cut.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Interesting, I had changed the tires on mine while on the saw and it wasn't "to bad"... The ability to rotate the wheels with a dowel under the tire to even the stretch was useful.

I'll have to look @ the fence again, I think maybe I never noticed because I use it in low mode 90% of the time.

 

[glenn bradley]

Yeah, blade alignment varies in importance depending what your are doing. Tall accurate cuts for veneer or bandsaw boxes calls for a little attnetion. The bandsaw has got to be one of the most forgiving machines that I have . I used a 3/4" Timberwolf to setup the table / miter gauge slot / fence. I just went ahead and used it to test the fence alignment.
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Well that seems fine. I put on a 3/16" x 4TPI blade that I use to cut curves in thick stock and repeated the test.

This saw won't really be used for resaw but I figure if it can do this it can cut accurate perpendicular curves in thick stock without a problem. Now I need to clean it all up and cobble together some sort of dust collection