Vibration in Crafstman 21400 10" bandsaw

[burrellski]

I jumped on the $99 10" band saw 21400 at Sears based on everyone's good recommendations and the obvious advantages is has over other benchtops. Took the time to do what I thought was a thorough setup, checked to make sure wheels were balanced, coplaner, set guides, etc.... Now when I fire it up, I've got a little more vibration than I was hoping for. Won't pass the nickle test just sitting on the workbench. If I clamp it down to the workbench it gets a little better and will sort-of pass the test. Any ideas of something I missed?

EricS wrote a great review of the saw and one of the comments he made was the lack of vibration.

Thanks
Matt

[LCHIEN]

i don't know anything about that particuar saw but one of the ways to isolate vibr. is to run one part at a time.

e.g.
Remove the belt and possibly pulley from the motor. Run the motor but itself.
Add the pulley, run the motor
Add the belt and second pulley (which will connect the lower wheel) but leave the saw blade off, run the motor (testing the belt, 2nd pulley and wheel)
Finally add the sawblade and second wheel properly tensioned (remove the lade guide and stuff). Run the motor.
Finally add the blade guides and run the motor..

If at any stage it starts vibrationg then the last components you added were resonsible for the vibr. usually out of round, out of balance or not smooth causes it.

[eezlock]

craftsman bandsaw......

I have that same bandsaw and like it very much. Have never experienced the problem that you stated with yours. I would not worry too much about the so called " nickel test" it is nothing more than some type of bragging rights
doesn't really mean a whole lot! All power saws, any type table, bandsaw,jig
or scrollsaw, mitersaw, chopsaw, sliding compound miter, will have have some vibration associated with them ( if the motor is running). Unless the vibration is excessive...don't worry about it!

Mount the saw to a good stable work platform, check adjustments listed in owner's manual....and if all is ok...go and start cutting some wood. eezlock

[bthere]

I am not in any way trying to start an argument, but keeping the vibration as low as reasonably attainable would be a good thing. The main downside to even low level vibration, particularly on freehand cuts following a line, is the affect it has on accuracy. If the part is jumping around to any degree or you can't see your scribed line perfectly, then your cut suffers. It sounds like you are pretty close if you are sort of passing the nickel test.

The question I end up with is whether you can cut as accurately as you need with the amount of vibration you have? If it's good enough for what you want to do, then there is no need for obsessing (unless you want to).