Grinder Metamorphosis!

Well, Pad and Ken - I know see why mine wouldn't work when I tried to tilt the tracking wheel like yours do - it's because mine isn't crowned. Yours has a center line and by shifting it's axis, causes the belt to 'move' (track) to where you want it. Since my wheel isn't crowned, I have to 'move' the two outer edges to get the same affect. It works OK on the square wheel because the square wheel is big enough to compensate for being pushed in two slightly different directions by the two edges. The small wheel is too small the 'win' the battle, so, the dominate edge of the wheel forces the belt to go too far. A picture is worth a thousand words - Ken, I have saved a bunch of your pics to my pc. When I get my mill, I will rebuild my tracking mechanism. I will either buy a crowned wheel from Rob, or, will try to fix mine when I get my lathe.
Thanks for sharing
Jacque
 
There is a product called "rescue tape" that you can use to make a crown on your tracking wheel. I have used this to make a tire on a very old band saw thats been holding up for over a year now. I have used it to crown my grizzly grinder and from what I have read I have the only grizzly that tracks smoothly:)
http://www.rescuetape.com/
 
I am glad you found the problem Jacque. The wheels are a good learning project on the lathe. I've made 4 and they still look like crap. ;)

Thanks for the info on the small wheels.

Pad
 
bikermikearchery said:
There is a product called "rescue tape" that you can use to make a crown on your tracking wheel. - - - - I have used it to crown my grizzly grinder and from what I have read I have the only grizzly that tracks smoothly:)
http://www.rescuetape.com/
Click to expand...

So, you just wrap a layer or two around the middle of the wheel to form a 'crown'? A picture would be worth a thousand words. Or, a description of what you did. Thanks for the pointer to the product. My wife and I do a lot of RV'ing and it sounds like a companion for duct tape and bailing wire for emergencies as well.
Jacque
 
this stuff is great but they dont give it away...
go to ace hardware (maybe others)and look for "flexible friction tape" or "insulating friction tape" acts the same way.....
 
jacqueeagonsr said:
So, you just wrap a layer or two around the middle of the wheel to form a 'crown'? A picture would be worth a thousand words. Or, a description of what you did. Thanks for the pointer to the product. My wife and I do a lot of RV'ing and it sounds like a companion for duct tape and bailing wire for emergencies as well.
Jacque
Click to expand...

About 3 wraps around the center for the crown on the grizzly did it. Just built it up in layers to make the tire on the bandsaw. Rescue tape is a silicone tape that doesn't use glue, it sticks to its self, so there is no glue to get hot and fail. You need to stretch it good when you wrap something with it to make it bind with its self. It is a little pricey but compared to the price of a tracking wheel I thought it was a bargain.
 
Plain old electrical tape works for me. 3 wraps on my Grizzly. Might have to replace it more often, but not a big deal. Tracks fine.
 
Well, I tried a few wraps of elec.tape to crown my tracking wheel - had no effect on the square wheel or the small wheel. But, remember, my device tilts the wheel horizontally where the KMG and clone tilt perpendicularlly. Mike, can you provide us with pics of the Grizzly tracking device?? I'd like to see how they engineered the problem.

Jacque
 
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