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I recently had a bandsaw debacle that I fixed today. Unfortunately my Woodmaster 1.3 TPI Carbide tipped blade is trashed without a single resharpening. Not that it didn't serve me well, it did- very well through many tasks. However, I never gave much thought to my tires on the bandsaw. In hindsight the climate change from Alaska to Virginia probably should have clued me in. Everything seemed fine though and I figured as long as I un-tensioned the blade it would be fine . WELLL it wasn't. A couple weeks ago (last cool off) I was doing some work and the top tire (OEM Rubber) apparently snapped sending the blade off the wheel and into the door before I could hit the foot brake and bring it to a stop. Luckily nothing happened to me and I hadn't even gotten the piece of work into the saw yet. Unfortunately my first and favorite blade has crapped the bed in the process, but I did just change both tires and put a lesser blade on that I've been waiting about 7 years to try out on the saw. Since I've not been re-sawing at all the past few years this blade, while inferior for heavy duty cuts actually is more useful at the moment roughing neck blanks and such.

Anyway, just a friendly reminder that bandsaw tires don't last forever. I've had the 19 Inch Grizzly for for about 8 years now and I didn't see that one coming. I've since replaced the top tire and upgraded the bottom tore to Urethane and I hope to not have to deal with the problem again any time soon. It sure would have been a lot cheaper to buy the tires and maintenance the saw and still have my hefty re-saw blade as well than to have to deal with that mess. Live and learn! Hopefully someone here can benefit from my misfortune. I know, I know.... What the hell was I thinking?

Timely advice.

I just replaced the bottom tire on mine because of too much runout sending the cut all over the place.

The tire snapped?

That shouldn't happen because they're usually glued on.

Sorry about the Woodmaster. They aren't cheap.

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Last year - threw a 1/4" blade which broke so luckily inexpensive.
Tires had gone all soft and spongy after about 6/7 years.
Mine aren't glued - pulley and tyre have multiple grooves for retention.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Mine lasted about 7 years. But that was age rather than wear - occasional use.

5 or 6 years for me on a powermatic, and they got hard, and one started spinning. Didn't lose the blade though. Replaced with the stretchy poly tires that were hard to put on, but will probably last longer.

I'm thinking age on mine as well rather than wear because I only build one guitar a year, and the BS only gets occasional jig duty or household use in addition to that.

Have changed tires on 5 BS, I use long dowels and boil tires to soften the rubber before installing

Have you tried the boiling with the new poly tires? I think even really hot water would help, but I don't know how resistant that material is to heat.
thanks, Mike

There is a recent post on an Australian woodwork forum about a tire snapping on someones Grizzly 19 or 20" saw.
I was surprised how much of a stretch they needed to go on...no wonder they snapped.

Thinking of putting the replacement tire I have on my ACM 600.
Its a bit thinner than the original, guessing vulcanised tire.
The saw has never been right, possibly due to a fall in factory previously
lots of scratches in the table, looks like it was used for cutting pallets only.
I've tried dressing my tires, with varying success trying different blades
Learned a few techniques doing so, at least
I gotta try another blade first to make a decision, last 1" blade ran pretty smooth
before I annihilated it when I cut into some putty reclaiming stuff.
I will never know till I try another brand, I suppose

Things I learned dressing tires ...
While doing work on a bandsaw, with anything that's liable to drop ..
protect the base of your machine with plywood, do you don't chip the paint when something falls.
Same can be said to protect the table.
As you can see from the pic more cloth protection around the clamp.

A lapped plane iron makes very nice shavings on rubber ...I think most of my irons are dull at this stage from this.
(these tires are thick)
The angle of attack is like a scraper plane...WARNING !!!
When entering this iron into the cut, DON'T just ram it into the rubber !!!
This could cause a split in the tire ...
Instead, gently rotate/pivot the plane iron into the cut, the clamp screw makes it somewhat easy to do.

Get used to taking your wheels off ....very easy on my saw ...easier than blade changes now....
I thought I was getting close to square ...(ACM saws have flat tires)
Even with a straight edge on the rims and wee square to register against it, I was off by a bit.
It was very apparent, so don't be afraid to do so.

Now all you need is patience, and something to soothe your fingers from rotating that top wheel till your arm falls off.
It gives you a nice blister between the fingers also.
If your tire is not bad and your iron still has a sharp side, it won't take long.
A pen would also be handy for witness marks on the tire.
Can't think of anything else, but probably forgetting lots
Tomas

Ha, I remember changing the tires on my saw to urethane tires two summers ago. I thought it would be a quick project before getting on to the real work of the day.

I can't remember the details, but I do remember it being a sweaty wrestling match! And IIRC I had to go for two out of three!

7 years and going on my Rikon 10-325 I bought used. I think I will have to replace them in the next 2-3 years though. While changing blades I like to clean up the tires with some sandpaper.