WSktKO Blade grinder troubleshoot

B

Boston_Strong

Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
36
Alright so I unboxed the blade grinding attachment for my worksharp yesterday, and figured it out pretty quick and got right down to work practicing on some cheap knives. All was going great until about halfway through the progression on the second knife, the belt started wobbling, enough to where it was pretty hard to keep the blade steady on the pull across. I've never used a full size belt sander before, but from what I've read and watched about them, a little belt wobble is not uncommon, so I figured that I should just work through it. Well the wobble has continued to get worse, I have been endlessly adjusting the tensioner and the belt tracking knob but no luck.
I believe that the hub fastener (the knob that attaches the BGA to the actual worksharp) is causing the significant belt movement because the edge of the belt is making contact with the inside of that fastener, and that seems to be knocking the belt off track but I'm not sure if that's the problem. I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced a similar problem and if there is a solution? Feel free to ask any clarifying questions if I haven't described my problems clearly enough

Thanks a ton


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Boston_Strong said:
Alright so I unboxed the blade grinding attachment for my worksharp yesterday, and figured it out pretty quick and got right down to work practicing on some cheap knives. All was going great until about halfway through the progression on the second knife, the belt started wobbling, enough to where it was pretty hard to keep the blade steady on the pull across. I've never used a full size belt sander before, but from what I've read and watched about them, a little belt wobble is not uncommon, so I figured that I should just work through it. Well the wobble has continued to get worse, I have been endlessly adjusting the tensioner and the belt tracking knob but no luck.
I believe that the hub fastener (the knob that attaches the BGA to the actual worksharp) is causing the significant belt movement because the edge of the belt is making contact with the inside of that fastener, and that seems to be knocking the belt off track but I'm not sure if that's the problem. I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced a similar problem and if there is a solution? Feel free to ask any clarifying questions if I haven't described my problems clearly enough

Thanks a ton


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sounds like something came loose,,, although I'm not sure what. I'd start by checking everything... tension adjustment, the red lever on the opposite side of the tension adjustment, angle locking knob, various bolts, etc. You might also check the tracking setting on the WorkSharp itself (the gold switch/lever near the motor).

I'm not sure what you mean by "the knob that attaches the BGA to the actual WorkSharp".... the BGA attaches by rotating it until the slots on the BGA line up with slots on the WorkSharp... then rotated to lock it... so don't know what this means.
 
Last edited:
I was talking about the knob that screws into the worksharp motor, the one that says 'tighten' on it, it's what makes the belt spin


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Boston_Strong said:
I was talking about the knob that screws into the worksharp motor, the one that says 'tighten' on it, it's what makes the belt spin


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ah... well that shouldn't matter... that just basically holds the belt on - more like an additional safety feature, if that makes sense. (I actually forgot to put it on once... didn't notice until I saw it sitting on the table). The belt shouldn't be rubbing against it. (Maybe adjust the tracking "in" slightly?) There should be a little 'O' ring on that arm (the one that the knob screws into)... that still there?

Again, I'd go around the device, and check all the bolts, knobs, etc. to see if something came loose. Double check both tracking adjustments (on the BGA and the WorkSharp itself). Not sure what else it could be.
 
Ok, so that o ring is present, every bolt and screw has been tightened, no luck, I even tried running it without that knob and it didn't help... a few other things I neglected to mention are that when I adjust the tracking knob, the belt tends to adjust itself past what I set it to, i:e if I turn the knob counter clockwise to slide track the belt to the left just a little bit, it will keep sliding to the left until it rubs against the inside surface of the BGA. Secondly, the belt is flapping visibly and audibly as it goes around the platen, and there is a very hard to describe sound that seems to be coming from somewhere around the aforementioned knob (almost sounds like a sewing machine, but more high pitched) and lastly, when the belt goes around the tensioner arm, the inside edge of the belt curves around the end of the tensioning arm, and that has made a noticeable indent in the belt. I figured that was caused by too much tension, but it still does that even with the minimal tension position.

Sorry for rambling, I realize that it is difficult to diagnose and fix a problem when you can't see the machine in person, I'm just not that experienced with this type of tool and I'm pretty stumped.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
It does it with all of them, but it does it the worst with the one that has been used the most... Ill take some pictures of some different things, maybe it will make it easier to diagnose the problem


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Looking at mine, could it be one of the roller guides the belt rides on is bent/loose (not straight), resulting in this flapping?
 
Boston_Strong said:
Ok, so that o ring is present, every bolt and screw has been tightened, no luck, I even tried running it without that knob and it didn't help... a few other things I neglected to mention are that when I adjust the tracking knob, the belt tends to adjust itself past what I set it to, i:e if I turn the knob counter clockwise to slide track the belt to the left just a little bit, it will keep sliding to the left until it rubs against the inside surface of the BGA. Secondly, the belt is flapping visibly and audibly as it goes around the platen, and there is a very hard to describe sound that seems to be coming from somewhere around the aforementioned knob (almost sounds like a sewing machine, but more high pitched) and lastly, when the belt goes around the tensioner arm, the inside edge of the belt curves around the end of the tensioning arm, and that has made a noticeable indent in the belt. I figured that was caused by too much tension, but it still does that even with the minimal tension position.

Sorry for rambling, I realize that it is difficult to diagnose and fix a problem when you can't see the machine in person, I'm just not that experienced with this type of tool and I'm pretty stumped.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The only thing I can duplicate is the part in bold... by leaving the red lever that controls belt tension loose, so when I adjust the tracking, it does what you say.

The only other thing that seems to affect the belt... if I push the yellow tracking adjustment on the main unit... it can throw the tracking off to where even adjusting it with the tracking adjustment on the BGA is difficult. (It also puts a noticeable strain on the motor.)
 
Here's what I'm talking about with the tensioner indenting the belt (x22)
72d1fe82d948abaa536e43f4a2c48e02.jpg


Here you can see a more exaggerated indent in the thin 12k grit belt
2d6f96a519211fb41df6809296a61e33.jpg


7c2029e075588749292ba9414893d6d4.jpg


And here is where the belts have been scoring up the inside surface of the unit when I adjust the tracking
b0d92f7e62362563b34195ea3c61f743.jpg


Lastly here is where the belt contacts the inside of the knob, also you can see that the edge of the belt has been frayed on account of the knob
87325a9018cd2e3d7559d252f368b730.jpg



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Danketch said:
Looking at mine, could it be one of the roller guides the belt rides on is bent/loose (not straight), resulting in this flapping?
Click to expand...

That would make sense, but they're both nice and tight, and eyeballing them, they seem to be straight, however when I try to center the belt, I can get it centered on the lower roller, but when it's centered on that roller, it's off center on the top one


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Boston_Strong said:
Cbw, where do you have the belt tracker set? The one on the main unit I mean


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


It's in the center.

I don't think the belt indent in the pictures is the issue... mine looks like that.

Just to see if it makes a difference... try switching the position of the lower pulley (the one that determines the amount of convex)... just to see if anything changes.
 
I tried that a couple times. Well man, I don't wanna take up any more of your valuable time, I'll tell ya what, I'm just gonna mess with it a little bit more, and if I can't figure it out tonight then I'll check back tomorrow to get more help
Thanks so much man, you're definitely a more helpful guy than I am


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Don't know what else other than a call to WorkSharp. Hopefully someone will come along with the answer.
 
I had a couple of issues with my sharpener and they went above and beyond to help me. Give them a call or e-mail them the pictures and I bet they'll have it worked out in no time.

Joe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top