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Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - Printable Version

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Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - RoundToit - 05-24-2020

I have had this bandsaw for a few years now and love it, but I haven't had the opportunity to try resawing with it.

The urethane tire on top wants to come off rather frequently.  I put a new one on yesterday and it was hard to stretch onto the wheel.  Today after reapplying it many times, I can stretch it on by hand alone.  I am guessing the tires are usually a once and done and any further placing them on will stretch them more and cause them to work their way off.  They do stay on for a while but will come off again after maybe 10 to 15 minutes. The first time used it stayed on for about 3 hours.
I learned also (I think) that the blade teeth (1/2" blade)  need to be forward of the wheel or else the tire is pushed off (well my tire at least).  

I also have to tension the blade to the full amount. It straightens the blade at 4 and still needs to be cranked a little more and bottoms out at five.
I am wondering if the spring is worn? If it is tightened down all the way there is no play in the spring, or top wheel, and therefore no wiggle room for error.
The spring is 1.5 inches long and I am not sure where or what to get to replace it.

Also the drift is outrageous with the current blade (viking I think) and setup. It seems to be about an inch over the width of the table. I know there has to be some operator error in there somewhere.
I have ordered a 1/2" wood slicer blade from Highland Woodworking.

What's up with the tire?
Is the tension spring causing the problems?
Where can I find a spring?
Any advice is welcome.

Thank you.
Rick Roberts


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - Phil Thien - 05-24-2020

Well first of all, where did you get a tire for the 342?  Maybe it was a little loose to start with?  It should be bear to get on there.

Also, with smaller wheels and frame, you want the thinnest blade you can muster that is still suitable for resawing.  There are .025" and I think even .020" bimetal blades or at least stock out there which someone could use to make you some blades.

The Woodslicer blades will cut fast for a short time, but they dull rather quickly. I think you are better-off with a bimetal blade of thin stock.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - jteneyck - 05-24-2020

Some wheels have a recess to hold the tire from walking off.  Some have a narrow groove into which a protrusion on the inside of the tire registers. If the wheel has neither then the tire is likely meant to be glued on. 


There used to be an Yahoo Inca Group Forum.  You might do a search to see if they still exist somewhere for info. on both the tire and spring.  Was the saw designed to handle a 1/2" blade?  If it was then it sounds like the spring is toast.  So here's a little math that might help.  A 1/2" (3/8" from gullet to back) blade made from 0.025" thick stock will need about 280 lbs of spring force to apply 15,000 psi to it.  Go to McMaster Carr's website and look up springs that have the diameters and length of the one on your saw that have a spring constant of around 300 lbs/inch.  That's a really short spring you have and if you can fit in a longer one I would.  Also, I don't know if the Inca can apply 15,000 psi to a 1/2" blade.  But most saws can apply at least 10,000 psi and the same spring would still work at lower compression, or a little lighter spring.  If the saw can' t apply 10,000 psi I would right it off for resawing with a 1/2" blade.  FWIW, I've had pretty good results even with a sharp 1/4" blade cutting 6" hardwood.     

John


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - jlanciani - 05-24-2020

Way too much blade for a 10” saw, and if you bottomed out the spring it is toast.  A 3/8” x .025 x 4 tpi blade is going to max your saw out, and you’re going to need to find a new spring and make sure not to coil bind it next time.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - Phil S. - 05-24-2020

"This is a group for people interested in INCA WOODOWOODWORKING MACHINERY."

https://groups.io/g/incawoodworking

Succesor to the Yahoo group John mentioned.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - Timberwolf - 05-24-2020

(05-24-2020, 11:20 AM)RoundToit Wrote: I have had this bandsaw for a few years now and love it, but I haven't had the opportunity to try resawing with it.

The urethane tire on top wants to come off rather frequently.  I put a new one on yesterday and it was hard to stretch onto the wheel.  Today after reapplying it many times, I can stretch it on by hand alone.  I am guessing the tires are usually a once and done and any further placing them on will stretch them more and cause them to work their way off.  They do stay on for a while but will come off again after maybe 10 to 15 minutes. The first time used it stayed on for about 3 hours.
I learned also (I think) that the blade teeth (1/2" blade)  need to be forward of the wheel or else the tire is pushed off (well my tire at least).  

I also have to tension the blade to the full amount. It straightens the blade at 4 and still needs to be cranked a little more and bottoms out at five.
I am wondering if the spring is worn? If it is tightened down all the way there is no play in the spring, or top wheel, and therefore no wiggle room for error.
The spring is 1.5 inches long and I am not sure where or what to get to replace it.

Also the drift is outrageous with the current blade (viking I think) and setup. It seems to be about an inch over the width of the table. I know there has to be some operator error in there somewhere.
I have ordered a 1/2" wood slicer blade from Highland Woodworking.

What's up with the tire?
Is the tension spring causing the problems?
Where can I find a spring?


Any advice is welcome.

Thank you.
Rick Roberts
...................................
I used contact cement on my Delta BS tires...20yrs ago...they are still on and working fine...You may want to try that before they get too stretched out.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - kwadams - 05-25-2020

Hi Rick,

We met a number of years ago when you hosted a few of us to your shop for a little session.

How old is your Inca...is it the green (Swiss) version or blue (French)? I had bought one of the newer versions when they were stopping production only to find that they had changed the tire to some new format (it was white actually) and I had trouble with it from the start. Ending up returning it to Garrett Wade and I found a basically NOS Swiss version that I’ve owned for many years now. It has the hard rubber tires that I believe are cemented on somehow. This saw tracks very well and is incredibly smooth running, although I usually keep just a 1/4” blade on it. I’ve also used a 3/8” blade for some smaller resawing. Even though it was speced for a 1/2” blade, I think it’s better with 3/8” as someone mentioned.

You might try placing a small amount of contact cement (very thin) to keep the tires on and a 3/8” blade. If you can get a hold of Jesse at Eagle Tools, he’s a source of advice on all things Inca. The Groups message board is pretty good, as well, although not very active. My little Inca saw might be the last power tool I would own.

Take care,
Kevin


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - EvilTwin - 05-27-2020

What flavor of Inca 342 is this?  I have the two wheel 10" one, the "260" .  From what I gather they also have a model that starts with 342 and is a 3 wheel version.  I checked online and found a copy of the manual and according to that, the max width of a blade is 18mm or about 11/16ths.  I dont know that I would want to spin that large a blade on such small wheels and if you have the 3 wheel version I would be even less excited.  I did see that they market urethane tires on Amazon for the 10" wheels, though mine is still spinning the original rubber.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - Cabinet Monkey - 05-29-2020

INCAs were never designed with re-sawing in mind.  It's a fool's errand trying to get it to do so.

Kinda like trying to get this to cut 1/4" curves

[Image: 82506640-3f1f-4633-8a4f-3b357718ee4e_fullsize.jpg]
You'd be better served to look into a used 14" JET or Delta bandsaw if you need to resaw and cut curves.


RE: Inca 342 Bandsaw, Resaw. Help needed!! - RoundToit - 05-31-2020

Thank you for all the great suggestions.

I ordered a new spring and also the wood slicer blade, 1/2".

The new spring was about 1/4 inch longer, so I assume the other was compressed that amount.
Put the new spring in and the blade was tight at 3 on the gauge where it was at 4.5 to 5 on the old spring.  It seems to have made a big difference.

I think the new blade did also, and I had to replace the tire since it was stretched out from coming off the wheel too much.  Once all that was done I was able to resaw 3/4 inch oak about 5 inches wide with no problems.  It also tracks much better now with very little drift.

What a leaning curve this was for me. So far so good, let's hope that holds up.

Thanks again
Rick