I've been struggling with a problem on my new Rikon 10-353 bandsaw—specifically, the blades are wobbling back and forth and chattering against the thrust bearing. Just to clarify, it's not side-to-side flutter; it's more of a forward and backward movement. I've tried three different blades from various suppliers, including the stock blade, so I'm thinking it might not be the blades themselves. I've spent some time adjusting the lower wheel as per the manual's guidance for blade wobble, but I've only managed to reduce it—still can't eliminate it entirely.
When I place a ruler on the table, just touching the back of the blade and rotate the wheels, I can see a gap forming and closing, with a maximum gap of about 2mm. This seems directly related to the position of the bottom wheel since it consistently returns to that spot when the gap appears. The blade has a noticeable chatter noise when cutting, especially if the thrust bearing is close.
I'd like to know if 1-2mm of wobble is something I should just accept or if I should be striving for zero wobble. How much effort should I be putting into fixing this? I've already ensured the blade tension is right, cleaned the tires, and adjusted the bottom wheel according to the manual. What else could be causing this issue? And for those with similar machines, how much wobble do you experience, and how much effort was involved in getting it just right?
2 Answers
It sounds like the alignment of the wheels might be off. You should really check if the blade tracks center on both wheels through multiple rotations. Honestly, nobody warns you about the time commitment it takes to fine-tune these machines! It can drive you up the wall, but it sounds like you're making progress, just not quite there yet.
Make sure to adjust the tilt of both the top and bottom wheels. It might take a bit of tinkering to get them perfectly aligned. That said, a defect in one of the tires could also be a potential issue, but that seems less likely given your situation.