- Joined
- Jan 5, 2020
- Messages
- 69
I make knives, but I also build grinders, so this is not my first build. I have made 5 grinders before, but all in the same, basic design, somewhat similar to a KMG. This time I decided to upgrade my personal grinder - I wanted a VFD, more speed, small wheels and the ability to tilt.
All of the above was successful - I managed to wire my own VFD and controller (so the VFD can sit in a drawer below the grinder, out of harms way). The tilting and attachments are great, but the tracking is entirely wrong. Is is backwards in most of the adjustment range - the belt goes left when It should be going right, and the other way around. That would not be an issue, but I have no idea what is causing, and making the belt track over the edge is difficult if not impossible, at least consistently. I also need to tilt the wheel pretty much to max adjustment to get any movement.
I have a few ideas as to what might be causing the issue:
- the tension could be too low (first time using a gas strut, but nothing changes when I apply pressure with my hand, and as far as I know, tension only changes tracking under load)
- all of the wheels are crowned (the guy making the wheels misunderstood on the platen wheels, but I figured it should be no big deal. I have tried replacing platen/tracking wheels for flat ones, but with no results)
- misalignment on the wheels (the motor mounts have a fair bit of adjustment in/out, and side to side, but I was not able to find a position better than parallel with the base. I measured and remeasured the wheels for alignment, but even changing it significantly makes zero difference)
- wheel bolts being crooked (I tried replacing the entire platen with a known square one, no difference, the tracking wheel checks out as square, the drive wheels runs with no vibratons or runout)
I have tried every combination of the above, but I just can not get this grinder to track well. Today I also tried removing some crown from the drive/tracking wheels with tape, with no success. I researched online quite a bit, and found a post about crowned wheels interfering if they are too close together, possibly making tracking adjustments work backwards.
This grinder has been a dream come true, but the tracking really has me lost. I would really appreciate and advice, experiences ... I added a few pictures of the setup below. Sorry about the long post, and thanks for any help!
Mark
All of the above was successful - I managed to wire my own VFD and controller (so the VFD can sit in a drawer below the grinder, out of harms way). The tilting and attachments are great, but the tracking is entirely wrong. Is is backwards in most of the adjustment range - the belt goes left when It should be going right, and the other way around. That would not be an issue, but I have no idea what is causing, and making the belt track over the edge is difficult if not impossible, at least consistently. I also need to tilt the wheel pretty much to max adjustment to get any movement.
I have a few ideas as to what might be causing the issue:
- the tension could be too low (first time using a gas strut, but nothing changes when I apply pressure with my hand, and as far as I know, tension only changes tracking under load)
- all of the wheels are crowned (the guy making the wheels misunderstood on the platen wheels, but I figured it should be no big deal. I have tried replacing platen/tracking wheels for flat ones, but with no results)
- misalignment on the wheels (the motor mounts have a fair bit of adjustment in/out, and side to side, but I was not able to find a position better than parallel with the base. I measured and remeasured the wheels for alignment, but even changing it significantly makes zero difference)
- wheel bolts being crooked (I tried replacing the entire platen with a known square one, no difference, the tracking wheel checks out as square, the drive wheels runs with no vibratons or runout)
I have tried every combination of the above, but I just can not get this grinder to track well. Today I also tried removing some crown from the drive/tracking wheels with tape, with no success. I researched online quite a bit, and found a post about crowned wheels interfering if they are too close together, possibly making tracking adjustments work backwards.
This grinder has been a dream come true, but the tracking really has me lost. I would really appreciate and advice, experiences ... I added a few pictures of the setup below. Sorry about the long post, and thanks for any help!
Mark


