# Melted my bandsaw tires



## swied (Feb 6, 2008)

I feel so stupid…

Yesterday, I was cutting some 3" thick balsa wood on my bandsaw. I was creating a set of curved sanding blocks to give away to surfboard shaper friends. I was just working away wearing all my safety gear (3M respirator, head phones, and eye goggles). My respirator prevented me from smelling the burning rubber until it was too late. All of a sudden my blade just came to a stop. I turned the motor off, and then I noticed some wisps of black smoke, and black goo dripping from my blade. I opened the case, and saw that the blade was embedded deep in the middle of the molten tires.

Sigh….

My only gues is that I had the tension on the blade too high. I guess that is a lesson learned. Now, I need to buy new tires. Is there anything else I should watch out for to prevent this from happening in the future.


----------



## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

I've never heard of this and I'm not a bandsaw expert (or even a heavy user for that matter) but it sounds like the tension would be too low. this would cause them to slip and then you'd have the friction you are talking about. This is just my UNeducated guess.


----------



## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

Did it melt the tires on both wheels? Just wonder if one wheel or the other had the bearings sticking.


----------



## swied (Feb 6, 2008)

It melted both tires equally, and I'm pretty sure the tension was not too low. I replaced the blade and tuned everything up within the past month. I have only used it a few times since then. It is a 14" Powermatic BTW.

One thing to note. My saw has always produced a ghostly whiring sound when I made a tight turn. I checked the motor and wheel alignments a while ago, but was never able to get the sound to go away. It didn't seem to effect the performance, so I just ignored it. Maybe whatever caused that sound was the culprit?


----------



## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

and with balsa waaoov
not good
something most have
prevented the wheel 
from turning the same
speed as the sawblade

do you have a dustcleaning
on you wheels


----------



## manumurf (Mar 4, 2010)

How about the blade guide bearings or the thrust bearings top and bottom. Do they turn freely or is one of them frozen? That could cause enough friction to heat up the blade I guess. Are your lower guides adjusted properly?


----------



## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I hate to admit it, but I did this. In my case, the tension was definitely too high. I have a good excuse/explanation but I'll skip that. I made a mistake and set the tension for my 1/4" blade as if it were a 3/4" blade. What a mess. The blade cut/melted a groove into the tires and the melted tire messed up my wood.

I had to cut the blade to get it off and replace both tires. I still have that piece of osage orange with a portion of a band saw blade sticking out of each side.


----------



## swied (Feb 6, 2008)

The blade guide bearings were in perfect working order, and everything turned freely. The brushes on the tires were also in good shape.

I think that Rich's experience above explains it. I now remember why my tension was so high. A little over a month ago I had to cut a curve on a 12" thick piece of balsa. Before you freak out, concider that the density of the wood was about 7 lbs per cubic foot. My blade cut through it like it was a block of foam.

In my tests I found that the blade would bow a little when I made a turn too fast. I cranked up the tension, and made my cut nice and slowly. It worked out well, but then I forgot to lower the tension on the blade aftwerwards.


----------



## tblank (Apr 8, 2010)

Fellow Swaylockian! A Powermatic is about top of the line. This is probably blade tension. Try the blue urethane tires, they last longer.


----------



## russv (Sep 21, 2009)

i put the blue urethane tires on my PM and it made a great machine even better.

I use to get the same whirling noise till I replace all bearing in the guides. The ones that came with the PM weren't sealed bearing and sawdust would get in. I use precision sealed bearings now and all is quiet and with the tires, life is good.

one thing i have to say about my PM, others talk about their BS bogging down when cutting thick hardwood. I probably have made hundreds of bandsaw boxes over the years. many of which were over 6" deep and lots of tight curves. I have never heard my bandsaw bog down once. not even when resawing.

russv


----------

