so all your band saws making weird noises and you want to know what they mean and how to fix it some of those sounds may be obvious but others could be more of a mystery today we'll cover the most common causes for these noises and by the end of this video your saw should not only be quieter but it should cut better too let's start with the most mysterious of sounds blade squeal this is a high-pitched screeching sound that your machine makes only when it's cutting and usually through thick wood such as when you're resawing boards Matthias Wando did a video about this a decade ago it's really a good watch if you want to see more of the science behind the noise but what he found was that as a bandsaw blade cuts it begins to vibrate very slightly creating fine ripples in the surface of the wood and once these ripples begin the vibrations sort of becomes self-sustaining as the frequency of the ripples combined with the frequency of the Blade's teeth to produce a constant fluttering effect and that high pitched noise this phenomenon is known to bandsaw blade makers and it does affect how they design their blades they found that changing the frequency of the teeth can reduce or eliminate the squealing for example a blade where the set of the teeth merely bends from one side to the other is more likely to vibrate than a more complex pattern such as left right straight left right straight and so on premium blades often break that pattern up further with a left right left right straight pattern that repeats but it's not just the direction each tooth is bent that matters the number of teeth per inch the length of the blade and the RPM of the saw are also factors that good blade manufacturers have to take into consideration because all of this can change the frequency of the teeth passing through the wood and therefore the speed of vibration and the pitch of the sound produced it's a fascinating subject that's pretty complex but the bottom line is if your saw is squealing when it's cutting the answer may just be the blade you're using so try one with a different tooth set or you may even try a skip tooth blade which has a similar effect on the frequency another common bandsaw noise is the rattle that comes from the entire machine vibrating not just the blade this is usually a metallic sound from the shaking of the metal covers but the cause is obvious your saw is just vibrating you're unlikely to completely eliminate all vibration from any saw but you should be able to stand a nickel or in this case a key on its Edge if it falls over your saw is vibrating more than it should there are several things that can cause these vibrations and you might have to check through them one at a time first be sure your bandsaw's tires are clean and smooth caked on dust or flat spots can cause a bumpy ride a cleaner like simple green can help you to remove any built up crud and you can install brushes on the frame to keep the tires cleaner for longer I'll link to some aftermarket brushes below this video feel your tires for flat spots and check them for cracks if they look like they'll need replacing you can order new urethane tires and replace them yourself I'll link to some of those below as well if the wheel looks to be in good shape the next thing I'd check is the drive belt obviously if it's worn or frayed you should replace it but keep in mind that the old style v belts can develop a shape memory as they sit idle on the machine for a while then as they turn on your saw the belt can have trouble reforming its shape as it orbits the pulleys a link belt will solve this problem and it's a worthy upgrade I'll link to one of these below too now while you're checking the belt be sure the bolts on the motor mount are tight so there's no movement there then you may turn your attention to the pulleys many cheap bandsaws have cast pulleys which may not be as true as a properly machined pulley you'd have to set up a dial indicator to test yours but it may be worth just replacing it at least the motor pulley if you think it may be the cause of vibration you can replace the pulley on your machine itself if it's not a special pulley that's unique to that machine you can find machined pulleys in a lot of hardware stores that sell machine parts or online be sure you don't change the outer diameter of any of the pulleys because that'll change the speed of your saw and your saw may not be set up for that another common cause of vibration is a wheel that's not perfectly round or balanced if a bandsaw's wheel is out of round it'll cause a cycle of increased or decreased blade tension and therefore it's going to flex the frame in and out as that oblong shape of the Wheel cycles around even small movements like that can become noticeable vibrations at high RPM a low-tech way to check for this problem is to fully tension the blade back off the guides then pluck it as you rotate the wheel and listen for a change in Pitch if it gets higher or lower as the wheel turns it's probably not perfectly round unfortunately there is little you can do to True up a wheel on your saw other than replace it but you can balance a bandsaw wheel and that's another thing that can help reduce vibration I'm not going to show you how to do it because there is a great video online already that shows how to balance a bandsaw wheel with a sharpie and some inexpensive lead weights and I'm just going to link to that below if you want to check it out an older lower end saw is never going to be as smooth and quiet as a new high-end saw but there are things you can do to significantly improve its performance and I hope these suggestions make a difference in your shop now check this out it's just a couple of cuts your ears will be fine right they will be if you have your isotunes Bluetooth earbuds in because you'd already have your ANSI certified hearing protection on because you're listening to your favorite music and podcasts and you're supporting a small 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