New belt grinder won't track

S

silverjay

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Any ideas are welcome. I just finished builded a grinder off the NWG plans and I can not get a belt to run on it. Every time I start the grinder it throws the belt left or right off the rollers. I check the drive shaft and it is square with the base. I pulled the tracking wheel and replaced with a 12" piece of all thread to verify it is parallel with the drive shaft. It is within 1/64" of parallel. I pulled the platen off and ran it slack belt with no change. The tracking wheel is from Beaumont so I know it is good. The drive wheel is from McMaster Carr and is fairly soft. I had it tracking for 30 seconds or so and when I restarted it i thrusts the belt away from the grinder on restart. I increased the spring tension and it seemed to get worse. I had a single spring 8" long and 1" in diameter. I changed it to a standard door spring with no change and tried both springs.
 
If you start it and it throws the belt off, one of the wheels isn't lined up right OR the tracking wheel isn't at the correct angle. The belt often will run partially off the tracking wheel.

If you start it and it tracks and then try to grind and it throws the belt off, the tension is not tight enough. The belt has to be really tight.

I'd bet it is belt it is belt tension and tracking wheel both.

I guarantee it will track for you. It just needs to be tuned up. At least a couple I built threw the belt immediately. It just takes some adjusting is all.
 
Are you loading the motor down? Check your belt width some are not the same width all the way around, try a different belts. Check all bolts and nuts making sure they are tight. Might pull your arm out a little more to check tension. This is all I can think of. Unless it is the spring.
 
Is there a "best" way to check if the wheels are lined up? I measured from both ends of the tracking wheel shaft to the drive shaft and adjusted to make it parallel. Do I need to check another dimension?
 
what happens if you move the belt by hand the belt should try to find the cnter of the wheel once you find center then you can adjust the wheels or drive shft . i hope that makes since...
 
Here are two pick. I welded rather than bolting.
 

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Sometimes a new brand new or recovered wheel isn't exact in the thickness across the face. I found one side slightly higher and used a piece of sanding belt to even it out.

It fixed the problem.
 
I see you used skatebord wheels. That is what I used on mine, and it works great! Did you notice skatebord wheels are tapered? Mine were, and had mine machined square. My tracking wheel and drive wheel are both tapered about one degree from center to outside edges. Dave
 
The problem turned out to be my drive wheel. Just for grins I pulled the wheel off and ran the belt arounf the shaft alone. Using the method recomended to hand roll the belt I find center it lined up pretty quick. Out of impatience and eagerness I wrapped the drive shaft with electrical tape and started the grinder on the lowest speed and it ran fine. It ran fine at the top speed (75% slower than with a drive wheel) and I profiled the blank I had layed out that way. Tracked awsome and I could not make the belt move when grinding.
 
silverjay said:
The problem turned out to be my drive wheel. Just for grins I pulled the wheel off and ran the belt arounf the shaft alone. Using the method recomended to hand roll the belt I find center it lined up pretty quick. Out of impatience and eagerness I wrapped the drive shaft with electrical tape and started the grinder on the lowest speed and it ran fine. It ran fine at the top speed (75% slower than with a drive wheel) and I profiled the blank I had layed out that way. Tracked awsome and I could not make the belt move when grinding.
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Glad to hear you got it figured out...
 
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