Squaring up a 4 x 6 bandsaw.

[ShopShoe]

I have one of the 4 x 6 bandsaws. When I got it it would not cut squarely from top-to-bottom. I became convinced that the pivot bolt holes were not bored in line and wondered if I could do something about it. My saw seemed to have plenty of extra metal, so I drilled the holes out to 5/8 in. with a S&D drill in a handheld drill and made two eccentric bushings for the shaft.

This was the first thing I made with my 4-jaw chuck in the lathe. I turned the whole thing, then cut the two bushings apart. I did not have the mill, so I hand-hacksawed and filed wrench flats on the bushings.

Back at the 4 x 6, I drilled and tapped for two allen setscrews and put it back together. Setup was done based on checking the squareness of the cut-off piece: MUCH BETTER.

Next step was to build a new base. I used 3/4-in. plywood and incorporated blade and accessory storage.

I re-used the stock wheel arrangement for moving the saw.

I decided to make a trapezoidal base that the saw is just attached on top, rather than copy the sheet-metal design of the original saw. This way I did not have to relocate the power switch.

So far, this has worked really well and I have not had to spend so much time re-squaring cut-offs before further work.

 

[rleete]

Nice fix.

 

[New_Guy]

that's a really good idea how did you work out how much to offset the bushes?

 

[ShopShoe]

New_Guy,

This was a case where I guessed, then added as much wiggle-room as would not let the eccentrics become too thin-walled. Because both sides were modified, there is quite a bit of adjustment. The wrench flats combined with long wrenches make fine adjustment possible. Any extra tuning can be taken care of back at the blade guide bearings.

Thanks for asking.