Band saw re-tyre

I recently had to re-tyre two band saws, something I had not done before and a job I have been putting off for a while now, not being sure how to go about it, but it all went smoothly, so thought I would share my findings.

The first I tackled back in April which was a MiniMax S45, the tyres on both wheels had started to crack, they were polyurethane. I couldn’t find a supplier for new tyres and after a lot of telephone calls the best suggestion was to buy new wheels at great expense, I wasn’t going down that route as the wheels were perfectly good. I found Rubberised cork which is made for the job so thought I’d give it a go.

It was pretty straightforward, the band wheels slipped off easily and the old tyres came away with a scraper, no problem, any adhesive residue I removed with acetone. The rubberised cork had to be measured and cut with precision, to include a mitred join, this was stuck onto the wheels with a heat resistant contact adhesive.

The saw runs better than ever and after fairly constant use the new tyres are still as good as new.

The second band saw I fixed this week, a different problem, this time it’s a Startrite 18-S-5 and the rubber tyres were still intact with a good thickness remaining but the blade after many years of use had worn a groove on all three tyres, which meant I could no longer track the blade. I wasn’t sure which way to go with this one as the tyres just needed re-dressing not re-placing. My solution was to mount the wheels onto a lathe using a four jawed chuck, and sanding back to shape, it worked perfectly as the wheels were spinning whilst sanding they stayed true.

Hopefully this helps anyone thinking of tackling what at first seemed like a daunting job.

Steve

Sound like a great solution and with very little outlay Steven. Luckily mine are still quite good at the moment, but worth thinking about what you have done for future reference. Thanks for posting

Sounds interesting Steven, I have an old Startrite 352 with the original tyres it must be 40 years old but still going strong and the tyres are still in good shape.

Derek -- When did you become a Moderator ? good work. -- Julian

Thanks Julian about a month now

Julian, The Startrite is a great machine and by far the better of the two, it's about 30 years old I think, with many more to go, but I look after these as part of my job, which is instructor technician in an art dept. of an FE college so It's fair to say the machines get a fair amount of use / abuse. it's done well and still going strong.

Steven -- I spent 30 odd years in a similar role as yourself here in Wales but looking after all the electronic equipment in our Schools. I acquired the bandsaw and a few other bits and pieces from a school that I closed down a number of years ago. as you say great machines. -- Julian

30 odd years of teaching, but you look so young in your profile picture, I'm coming up to 19 years of teaching and still love every day of it.