Making bandsaw wheels

[tonyfoale]

Thanks for your many posts, Tony. I have your book from 1984 and reread it every decade or so.
Mike

You need the one from this century. Five times the content and three times the illustrations. Check it out at https://motochassis.com

I made a 3-wheel bandsaw maybe 40 years ago, wanting a deep throat without huge wheels. The wheels are at the vertex and capitals of a big V made of large square section tubing. I never thought of using available wheels, but made mine from 3/4 inch plywood, about 12" diameter, with bearing housings machined from cast iron pipe floor flanges. The wheels were brush coated with thinned polyester resin after truing and crowning on their own bearings I glued bona fide saw wheel tires onto them using various adhesives, but the tires always came off. I think the high local loading and "squirm" of the tire material gradually ruptures the bond. I've never seen commercial bandsaw wheels without a recess for the tire, and suspect that may be necessary. Mine works fairly well running on the "hardened" wood, riding up the crown and only coming off when the blade jams or cuts too heavily. You could probably machine a groove in your body filler if needed.
Mike

It sounds similar to the one that I make 65 years ago. That had three wheels to get the throat without large wheels. I made my wheels by casting them in aluminium and machining them on my Myford 7 lathe. The size of the wheels was determined by the swing of the lathe. If memory serves me correctly I crowned the two freewheeling wheels and kept the driving wheel flat, just like I did on the one featured here. On both the old and new versions I made the tyres by cutting around bicycle inner tubes and gluing that on with contact adhesive. I have never had to replace or reglue any and the current saw gets a lot of work.

A groove in the wheel rim instead of a crown would guarantee throwing the blade off. I made a post on this forum explaining how a crown works.