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Shopsmith Bandsaw Blade Tracking

Oct 06, 2015

How to get the blade to track properly on the Shopsmith bandsaw

Are you having problems with the tires, blade, or both coming off your Shopsmith bandsaw? I’m going to try and help you by explaining how the bandsaw blade should track in your Shopsmith Bandsaw.

If you’ve had problems with the tire coming off your Shopsmith bandsaw or the blade coming off, sometimes even both; you may have gone down the same route as I did. Replaced the tires and still the same thing happens. Maybe you’ve gotten the Shopsmith used and it came to you with the wrong size blades, or no blades at all. Maybe no instructions either. So you search to find what size bandsaw blade to use.

You go to the forums to seek advice and you find where they say you should use a 72 inch blade Shopsmith bandsaw blades. You can use other blade brands but the must be within a half inch of that 72 inches. But leave out the key information that you will have to adjust the tension differently than what the tension scale on the machine says to adjust for that difference in length. They just assume everyone would know or think to do adjust the tension.

You may be like I am and simply like to build things out of wood. You simply like woodworking and just want the bandsaw to work without having to go back to school to get a mechanical engineering degree to understand how to keep the blade on your bandsaw. I mean come on, there’s a reason I build things out of wood and not metal. Yet there seems to be a need for that engineering degree where you go to get help.

Please understand, those people are good folks that really are trying to help you. But they seem to get caught up the technical and mathematical bits when they are trying to help you and end up going all around, past, and beyond what you really need to know in simple and basic terms. Friends that had bandsaws were offering me advice and, unfortunately, the advice they had which was good advice for other brands of bandsaws, was wrong advice for the Shopsmith. It simply throws people who have never used the Shopsmith bandsaw to see the blade ride the back of the wheel. But that indeed is where it’s supposed to be.

That is why I made the videos below. I could find plenty of videos showing how to cut, how to adjust the fence, and lord knows, plenty of videos of people pushing wood through it. But none that really walked me through the alignment of the blade. So I did my best to explain what I have learned about alignment of the roller bearings, blade guides, and placement of the blades. I hope these help you get your Shopsmith bandsaw in condition to make some sawdust and build some beautiful woodworking projects. And below the videos are some links to bandsaw blades that will work on your Shopsmith bandsaw. Any purchase you make through those links help support this website and my youtube channel, helping me bring content to you.
Video #1 - Shopsmith Bandsaw How the Blade Should Track
Video #2 - Shopsmith Bandsaw How the Blade Should Track Part 2

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