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band saw gummy bearings

G

Gretch Flo

Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
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Location
Haslett, Michigan
My Rigid band saw (H. Depot) has had a bearing squeal for over a year. Has a life time guarentee. So waited til it died. In the mean time a fellow offered to sell me his Delta with a riser which I have lusted for for several years-exp after chainsawing something a little too thick. So when my motor died 2 weeks ago, I bought the Delta and the fellow brought it to my house and lugged it into the basement. Gave me a lesson on its use-so was paying attention to the bearings and adjustments with the various thickness of wood..
So I don't need the Rigid. The fix it shop ended up giving me a new motor (free), and a couple of days ago I retrieved it and installed and was cleaning up to hopefully sell now that I don't need it. . The bearings were barely moving. I tried to remove them but the screw is stuck (on both bearings). I degummed many times. Eventually I ended up pulling off the ? washer (scored from not spinning) in front of the bearings. Lots of gummy stuff. I think this is from using PAM on the blade to cut thru some wet wood as was recommended a couple of months ago on this forum. I have totally ruined the bearings that need replacing anyway. My question is "Should we use PAM and if so clean up the bearings every time." Or are they sealed enuf, but the scoring cause some to seep in????? I will be reluctant to use this "trick" again,Gretch
 
http://www.woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=108-443&search=Ceramic Guides&smode=

Great, but when you're working dry, punky wood, be sure to clean the saw or the sparks may ignite the dust.

I've got both guides and bearings, and they're great. For scrolling you'll want a set of graphite/phenolic guides.

Anyone know why they consider the top thrust bearing so important as to give you a cam to get it out toward the edge, and the bottom falls wherever?
 
Cutting wet wood will do a number on bandsaw guide bearings whether you use pam or not. I don't use pam, but I do make sure I'm using the right blade for the job.

The bearings should be cleaned regularly. At least as soon as they stop to spin freely and long before they start to squeal.

Ed
 
I've only used PAM a couple of times and sparingly. Just didn't want to get a lot of it on the wood I was cutting, but the times I used it was on some very, very wet wood. I haven't had any problems with build up on bearings, but I've got a Minimax MM20 that's a bit larger than your Rigid.
 
Gretch - I've got bearing guides on my saws (thrust (back) and sides) so I thought that's what you were talking about. Bearing guides are great for kiln dried wood, but are a lot of extra work with wet green wood. I could see somebody letting them go until they squealed.

I'm not familiar with the Rigid BS, but now I'm really curious about how the Pam would have transferred from the blade to the motor bearings? Maybe you were too generous with the Pam?

When I did use Pam, I would spray some on a paper towel and then wipe it on the blade (spinning the wheels by hand). Worked OK, but I was always worried about it going rancid in the saw. Now if I'm sawing a wood where I think I need something on the blade, I wax the blade with a paste wax.

Ed
 
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