I have a Rikon 10-325 and I must admit that so far it has been a pretty good machine. I use it infrequently, but whn I do I am cutting 12" logs, which seems to be taking its toll. When I mount my new blade and tension it, the wheel is incredibly hard to turn. Not impossible, but it seems like it should be easier. I can hear a noise that sounds like something is scraping when I turn it. I have looked EVERYWHERE around the blade and I have yet to find and obstruction. When I turn it on, I can smell something that smells like not like wood smoke but a different more oily smoke. I cant see the smoke, but I can certainely smell it. My only though is that the bearing might be smoking from overtension. I do tighten my blades pretty hard. Do you think that's the problem? Please give all advice and experience. Thanks,
Paul
Not familar with that saw but I'd look at the belt/s and pulleys to see if they are misaligned. If they are fine, then remove the belt and see if the wheels rotate freely and go from there.
Take the blade off and check how smooth the wheel rotates. If it's good then check the belt. The process of eliminating variables helps troubleshooting a lot.
Also, if you're applying that much tension to the blades then you're compensating for some error in your bandsaw setup. Either your guide blocks aren't set right or you have a bad/dull blade. There just isn't a need for excessive tension and you'll either damage the bearings, flex the saw frame or gouge up the rubber tires if you overdo it.
Thanks all for the responses! I figured out that the top wheel was grinding on the blade guard when it was raised fully. I believe it is because the wheel was tilted from blade tracking alignment. Off to work to solve the problem. Thanks!
ptkaster, when you say you tighten the blade pretty hard. Do you not tighten the blade by the tension gauge?
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