The belt seems short

steve4447 · Post by **steve4447** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:44 pm

I installed a new poly belt today it was one from Band Saw Tire Warehouse..It seems that they were highly recommended ..

The belt seems short ...I have it installed with the eccentric bushing adjusted in the slackest position the belt is already tight...

It was a bear to install but it should work..

This was my first Shopsmith tear down and rebuild..1983 Mark V....Now that I have torn it down and cleaned it it looks to me like it's barely been used...Mostly just dried up grease and very little sawdust inside..

I only replaced one bearing and the poly belt..The V belt doesn't look worn at all..

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:41 am

steve4447 wrote:I installed a new poly belt today it was one from Band Saw Tire Warehouse..It seems that they were highly recommended ..

The belt seems short ...I have it installed with the eccentric bushing adjusted in the slackest position the belt is already tight...

It was a bear to install but it should work..

This was my first Shopsmith tear down and rebuild..1983 Mark V....Now that I have torn it down and cleaned it it looks to me like it's barely been used...Mostly just dried up grease and very little sawdust inside..

I only replaced one bearing and the poly belt..The V belt doesn't look worn at all..

Which pulley grooves did you install it on?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:57 am

JPG40504 wrote:Which pulley grooves did you install it on?

Is this just a question in passing or do you believe which grooves make a difference when dealing with belt tightness?

As for the belt being too tight, this would concern me. First of all, it is not a Shopsmith belt and may not meet Shopsmith specifications. I don't know that. I have never used anything other than a belt from Shopsmith and won't for what I believe are obvious reasons.

Good luck with this. Be on the lookout for unusual bearing noises.

steve4447 · Post by **steve4447** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:01 am

Gary's response

I have installed over 50 and sold hundreds and I have never hear this before. Be sure its in the grooves on both pulleys. One thing for sure is new belts stretch so you will have plenty of room to re tighten. Chech the tentsion in a few weeks.

Gary

- bandsaw-tire-warehouse

Reply

Gary,

Inasmuch as I feel sure that all of the Shopsmiths are built on the same castings I feel sure that mine is the same as all of the others..I feel that there should be some slack in the belt in it's loosest position ..but it is working and I am satisfied ...

But you may want to check your latest stock of belts against your older stock an see if they match???....Unfortunately Shopsmith provides no specifications for parts and choses to keep all such information priority..

Thank you

Steve Bell

steve4447 · Post by **steve4447** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:06 am

dusty wrote:Is this just a question in passing or do you believe which grooves make a difference when dealing with belt tightness?

As for the belt being too tight, this would concern me. First of all, it is not a Shopsmith belt and may not meet Shopsmith specifications. I don't know that. I have never used anything other than a belt from Shopsmith and won't for what I believe are obvious reasons.

Good luck with this. Be on the lookout for unusual bearing noises.

I don't think that the belt is too tight now... but rather that there should be some slack before I tighten it...and that if there was ...it would have been easier to install....and that my instalation doesn't match any of yours..

steve4447 · Post by **steve4447** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:15 am

JPG40504 wrote:Which pulley grooves did you install it on?

I have tried two configurations and feel the the one that I settled on has the belt best configured directly in line and Perpendicular with the idler pulley ......However I can't see how my choice of grove positions would make the belt appear too short...And yes the belt does appear to be parallel and aligned ....Perpendicular to it's pulleys...like shown in

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/attachm ... entid=4590

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:37 am

steve4447 wrote:I have tried two configurations and feel the the one that I settled on has the belt best configured directly in line and Perpendicular with the idler pulley ......However I can't see how my choice of grove positions would make the belt appear too short...And yes the belt does appear to be parallel and aligned ....Perpendicular to it's pulleys...like shown in

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/attachment.htm?attachmentid=4590

The 'front' "V" of the belt should be in the third groove from the front.(opinions vary there)(they have varied from SS over the years). The reason I asked has since been already mentioned, parallelism and 'in the grooves'.

Perhaps your 'tight' is 'tighter' than Gary's.

steve4447 · Post by **steve4447** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:44 am

JPG40504 wrote:The 'front' "V" of the belt should be in the third groove from the front.(opinions vary there)(they have varied from SS over the years). The reason I asked has since been already mentioned, parallelism and 'in the grooves'.

Perhaps your 'tight' is 'tighter' than Gary's.

What I was wondering was if Gary's supplier has changed the belts??...And of course if anyone else had used these belts...and had the same results of not???

I'm still hopeful that my instalation will be fine...Wait and see I guess???

billmayo · Post by **billmayo** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 1:03 pm

steve4447 wrote:What I was wondering was if Gary's supplier has changed the belts??...And of course if anyone else had used these belts...and had the same results of not???

I'm still hopeful that my instalation will be fine...Wait and see I guess???

I have used about a dozen of Gary's Poly-V belts in the past year and have been very happy with them. Yes, I only have to rotate the eccentric bushing 5 to 10 deg to tighten the belt. This leaves me the ability to tighten the belt quite a few times in the future. A 1 groove off alignment does some what tighten the Poly-V belt. I am finding some times I have to leave the front 3 grooves empty to get a good alignment. I find the best way to check, as my eyeball is weak, before any tightening is to hand rotate the quill in the turning direction and check if the belt edge appears to bulge slightly as it rotates over the idler sheave pulley. It should lay flat all the time. This only applies for new belts, not used belts.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 1:06 pm

steve4447 wrote:What I was wondering was if Gary's supplier has changed the belts??...And of course if anyone else had used these belts...and had the same results of not???

I'm still hopeful that my instalation will be fine...Wait and see I guess???

It is quite possible that 'Gary'(BTW) considered the SS belts too loose when new. Would not be the first time he has 'improved' upon SS 'design'.

I just wish he made a poly-v belt 4 ribs wider.

Shopsmith Forums

The belt seems short

The belt seems short

Gary's response and my reply