To Crown, or not to Crown...

F

Fellhoelter

Joined
Dec 29, 2005
Messages
1,367
Ok, so I'm fixing to make myself a horizontal grinder.
A 3 wheel setup.

My Idler/Tracking wheel is one of Robs @ Beaumont, and is crowned.

I intend to make my own 6" drive wheel, and am curious if I should crown it, or leave it flat.

My gut tells me to leave it flat, but my gut is rather untrustworthy when I'm in a third world nation....

If it should be crowned, how much???
3 degrees per side? 5? 10?

Pros/cons/real world experiences are greatly appreciated.

I'm 8,000 miles away from my grinders at the moment, so I can't even go to the shop to see how my existing stuff looks...
 
Ahh... there's the rub...
My lathe that can cut this is also 8,000 miles from my shop.
And I will stop coming here VERY soon...

I wanna do it right the 1st time.
 
Hey Brian,
Don't know if this will be useful, but I've built several grinders with flat drive wheels, and they track perfectly. The thing is, I always use the Bader crowned idlers, which are 6-inch wheels. The KMG idler is a lot smaller, so the belt has less time on it.

Soooo ....

If a stock KMG drive wheel is flat, I'd run it flat. If it's crowned, I'd crown it. Why re-invent if you don't have to? (I don't have a KMG, so I can't tell you if the stock drive wheel is flat or crowned. Maybe someone with a KMG handy could take a look!)

Best of luck, Be safe!
 
So far, it looks like we're on the fence about it....
Leaning towards crowned.

Thanks for the feedback so far, Sam and Joe.
 
crown it Brian, its worth it...
i have seen the difference it makes tracking having it crowned verses flat
both my drive wheel and idler on the KMG are crowned,
and it tracks like a dream!
do it, you'll be glad you did
Joe
 
I'd say it like this. Who not crown it? it can't hurt, yeah maybe it might run good with out it being crowned but it WILL run good with it crowned. how much i don't know just a litle bit i think like 3-5 decrees to each side and if it is not enough you can always add a layer of slim tape to the centre of the wheel. :) cheers and good luck with it mate.
oh and turn it out on the lathe so that the angle meed in a tip at centre and then sand it "roundish" will make belts last longer.

DC
 
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