Ludell small horizontal bandsaw problems

[Threadkiller]

Hi all. I purchased this bandsaw (see picture) off craigslist and I havent been able to get it to cut straight since day one. I cant figure it out for the life of me. Ive messed with the blade tension, the blade guides, the spring tension, changed the blade...I cant figure it out. Does anyone have any insight? I tried cutting a piece of square tube, the blade will cut about 1/4 of the way down and get stuck and lock the machine up. Help please, Im at a loss.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

There is a Yahoo group for these small import band saws. This PDF is a very good step by step set of instructions on making them usable:

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/4861259/1059239289/name/Basic+adjusting

 

[DenisG]

Here's a link to the Yahoo group (mentioned above):
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/4x6bandsaw/info

 

[Threadkiller]

Wow! Thank you both! I will have to mess with it later. Thanks again!

 

[Zrexxer]

Not to mention - a quality bimetal blade makes all the difference in the world.

 

[DenisG]

Wow! Thank you both! I will have to mess with it later. Thanks again!

You're welcome! Let us know how you succeed.

 

[zkling]

Sounds like you might have too high of feed pressure or too coarse of a blade. With the machine stalling like that. With the gear reduction those have there is tremendous amounts of torque about the drive wheel so stalling them out is pretty substantial. Does the motor stall as well? Did you check belt tension?

 

[Threadkiller]

I didnt get a chance to mess around with it yesterday. Life got in the way. The motor did lock up, which makes me a little concerned because I dont feel like buying a new one. Itll never stall while cutting flat stock, even on an angle like it does. This was the first time I tried cutting tube and the first time I saw the machine lock up like that. I dont know the spec on the belt tension, but it looks correct to me.