Drive wheel question

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
835
Hi Guys, need advice again,
I have a home made grinder which works pretty well except I have a problem with the belt running off to the right when I apply a bit of pressure when grinding.
My drive wheel is perfectly flat, could that be the problem?
Is it better to have a convex radius on the drive wheel?
Tracking is very easy and true but as soon as I grind the belt runs off.

Thanks in advance,

Mike
 
Hi, Mike,

Assuming your contact wheel is not the drive, try this: put a number of winds of electrical tape around the center to build it up and try it. If that helps, you can try crowning it. I'm not certain, but IIRC correctly, the crown on a drive is about 3deg.

Idlers on a 3-wheel grinder and often drive wheels, too, as on a KMG, are crowned.

If it IS the contact wheel, check for flat and square. They can be trued carefully on a lathe with a toolpost grinder. Sometimes radiusing the corners mildly may help, too, if the wheel's gone slightly convex.

If that's not it, then there may be a very slight difference in the parallel of the faces of the two wheels, if I can call it that. (Bader 2 grinders swing the contact wheel on a pivot side to side for tracking.)

Hope that helps. If it's not clear, tell me and I'll try again.
 
I'm pretty new here and not as experienced as some, so my input may not be worth a whole lot, but.....:)

I had the same problem with my Bader BIII a couple of months back. After a lot of tinkering, I found that the problem was the belt tension. The tension was too loose and the belt ran off in one direction. (in my case it was the left side). Tightened the tension a bit and now it tracks very well. If your belt tension is adjustable, perhaps look there as well. Hope it is something simple. -Matt-
 
It's an excellent suggestion, grease-man, and a good idea is just that regardless of experience level. :)

KISS Principle, Mike....try his idea first if you haven't.

Sometimes a whole batch of belts can be cockeyed, too, so eliminate that, too.
 
Hey Fitzo,
Good to see you. Actually, there is nothing wrong with my grinder, just did the post to see if I could lure you out.;) ;)
No, seriously, I do have this problem.

The contact wheel is not the driver, I drive off the motor which is situated at the back of the machine.
I think you may onto something regarding the parallel between the 2 wheels, as I said, the machine is home made and maybe I did not pay enough attention to the basic principles.

Matt, thank you too, I have a spring tension system so it is not adjustable, maybe the spring is just not up to scratch, I did strengthen that a while ago but it may need more.

Thank you both, I will try some mods and let you know.:thumbup:

Mike
 
Hi Fitzo and Grease-man,
just a quick report back.
Turns out my alignment was out just a tad.
When I built this machine I painted everything to make it look pretty and it seems my painting was not very even.
The plate that my contact wheel is connected to is bolted onto another plate on the body of the machine.
I scraped the paint off the mating surfaces and voila, alignment was good! No more running off.
Stupid basic mistake.:o Thanks for the brain jump-start.

Mike
 
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