Newbie Grinder question!

[RMcClellan]

Ok guys, I have a newbie question about my KMG, when I'm running my contact wheel, the belt is "wobbling" side to side. It's buggering up my plunge lines, when I put my flat platen on the belt runs true, so whats the problem? It doesn't matter which belt I have on there, they all do it. Is something out of adjustment? Also, I noticed on my contact wheel, the outer edges are making all the contact while the inner 1/3 doesn't make any contact, I'm not sure if this is normal, but thought I would ask.
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Another question, does it matter if I'm trying to do a hollow grind on 1 1/4 width steel with a 10" contact wheel? Thanks for the help, these problems have been giving me fits!!! Rex

 

[tmickley]

almost always when you get wobble like that, the belt is too loose. Snug it tight.
On a new wheel you will see the edges slightly higher than the middle. You can take a large flat file and holding it flush on the back of the wheel (carefully) run the wheel and knock down the edges. Don't round over the corners.
Some belts just don't like to track well. Change the belt entirely to a new brand and see if that works. reverse the belt, try that.
hope that helps..

 

[rfrink]

"Belt wobble" is generally caused by wobbly belts. These are belts that may have skewed joints, or inconsistent width, exposed to drastic humidity changes...or that have been left on the machine under tension and have become distorted.

Belt wobble comes and goes in cycles from all of the belt manufacturers. There seems to be a lot of wobbly belts in the poplulation right now as I've had several conversations about it last week.

Like Tracy said, more tension can help to a point. Be sure to remove the tension when you are done. A belt that ran great last night, might wobble like crazy this morning if it's been left on the machine. Humidity will make your J-weight belts curl up. But J-weights have a softer more flexible backing and do not wobble near as much as the very stiff X-weights.

-Rob