The top tire keeps coming of as soon as I start to tension the blade. I can not keep the tire on at half the recomended tension. Does the tire need to be glued to the wheel?

Loosen your top tensions (large tension near the needle, small tension near the top of the machine controls the tails on your back tack also)

If it mess up the stitch on your work, you will also need to loosen the tension on your bobbin case.

I usually start by turning the small tension to the left about a half turn, sew and see if that stops it, then if not, move onto more aggressive turns.

Before you do any of this, make sure that your thread is coming off the cone easily and that the thread isn't being held up by the thread stand or isn't wrapped around the peg that is the first hole in your threading.

Good Luck, :)

I'd be checking everything associated with the fan belt including the fan, blades, belt tension, water pump bearing.
Open the hood and with appropriate safety in mind (Keep your fingers out!) have someone start the motor and slowly increase engine speed until the sound occurs. You should hopefully be able to get a better idea of where the sound is coming from.

well you didn't mention a model or even mfg. so all I can give you is a general method of changing a blade on a std bandsaw

1st: locate the table cutouts , there are sometimes two of these , slide them out to leave a gap in table
2nd open top and bottom blade cover , swing back (this is a good time to clean this out)
3rd locate the blade tension knob this is always on the opposite side you stand on to use saw(reason is next)
4th slowly back off tension of saw blade , till blade falls off top or bottom wheel Or both
5th carefully feed the old blade out of saw guides top and bottom till blade comes out free, careful even old blades can still cut you
6th remove new blade from package (caution !!! spring steel) do not k-##-k the blade get it till teeth of blade are all on one side, might take a bit of fenniest to do so
7th slide new blade into saw guides(teeth out towards operator position) , top and bottom , I use a bit of sticky tape to hold mine there (it's 179 inches long) position the new blade to top and bottom pulleys (again sticky tape helps a lot)
8th slowly tighten the tension pulley (top) till the blade stays there all by itself No tape , remove all tape now , hard to do later
9th slowly turn the pulleys over by hand as you tension the blade , this produces a even tension and your less likely to break the new blade , continue till blade rides in center of both pulleys or it's pretty tight , I flick it with my fingernail if it rings (like a guitar) then its tight enough (I know the sound well)
10th ck all your saw guides for proper clearance , I use a piece of note paper , u should just be able to get it in along the side , but blade cant be aloud to twist at all , there are usually three guides on both top and bottom
11th close all covers up replace table cutout and run saw if it walks the blade off then ck your pulley alignments and the tires on rim of them ,tires do go bad every 500 hours or so keep a set on hand 4 fast swap out

Hi Don. have you tried over tightening the blade tension? that works for me

Set up your band saw properly. There are several reason why band saw blade keeps on coming off on the wheels: loose/wear tire, improper guide adjustment, incorrect tension, over feeding wood stock or the problem could be on the blade itself. Try to change your blade, I got my band saw blades on sawblade.com . I suggest you watch band saw tune up tutorial videos on youtube. Hope that helps.

There could be a problem with the tension and tracking. Make sure the tires are not worn out. Try to install new blade too, apply the right tension. Also, place the deepest gullet of the blade on the center of the tire. Check sawblade.com for some band saw tips.

Check if the tires are align. The blade must be on the center of the tires. Check for both tires for wear . You may want to
check the blade guides too. They must not touch the blade. I just purchased new tires on www.bandsawparts.com for a
friend. We've learned that his tires are well worn out that's why the blade keeps on coming off on the wheels.

is the deck adjusted level?is it the right belt?

Hi,
Sounds like it could be quite a few different things. My suggestion is to go to you tube and look at Band Saw setup. I haved viewed the one from the wood whisper and it covers set up in detail, there are also other videos that may help.

Sounds like a setup problem - wheels,tires,guides,and even blade tension can cause this.

Does the blade track true when turning top wheel by hand?(unplugged of course)
Is the blade tension correct?
Are the tires in good shape?
Are the guides and back up bearings set correctly?

I hope this will get you headed in the right direction.

Unplug the saw and take the covers off the wheels. See if any of them show excessive end play or deflections when gently racking them from side to side. You may need to shim the wheels. Ideally, you want them all to track in the same plane, and you can check this with a straightedge.
There should be a tracking thumbscrew locked with a wing nut or some such on the back of the upper wheel. Put the blade on so it rides in the center of the tire, (move the guides out of the way if need be until you get the blade to track correctly), and turn the wheel by hand to see how the blade rides. That way you can make adjustments before it pops all the way off. By moving the bolt on the back of that upper wheel in or out you adjust the pitch of that wheel and change the way the blade tracks...
After you get the blade tracking smoothly under tension, you can move the guides back into position to support your blade during cuts.