Grizzly 1015 - roaming belt

[Toddv]

I just got my new Grizzly belt grinder and thought that I would shelve my Delta 1"x42" grinder, but after my first experience with the Grizzly I'm thinking maybe I better keep the Delta on the bench. Please tell me I've done something wrong so I'm not so dissapointed in my new machine. Here's the problem. The belt roams from side to side. I can adjust the belt, and while I'm standing there looking at it, the belt will start to roam. While I'm grinding the belt will roam. I've got it about as tight as I can get it. I can grind all day on my Delta($119.99) and the belt will stay put. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[GHNorfleet]

I just recently finished building myself a grinder and I bought 2 Grizzly 10 inch contact wheels. I custom turned my own shafts and I knew they were true. I found the same thing with my grinder as you are experiencing with yours. I did find the problem though and the problem is this: While Grizzly contact wheels are supposedly balanced at the factory (China) they are not trued up. The aluminum body is cast and the rubber applied and then balanced but never trued. I did a little work on mine by trueing up the sides and the face of the rubber and have practically elimated the belt wobble from side to side. With a little more fine tuning I will be able to completely eliminate it altogether. For the most part it is practically hard to detect unless you stare at running for a while. So your problem is that the wheels are not trued so if you have a local machine shop they can probably true them up for you. Hope this helps.

Gilbert Norfleet, Jr.

[TexasJack]

I can honestly say I haven't had that problem with the Grizzly. The instructions (such as they are) do specifically say to true up the wheel. It really sounds like you don't have enough tension on the belt. I'd try tightening it up.

[TJ Smith]

I never had to true up the wheel on my Griz. I did add a tension adjustment to increase belt tension.
Also take some 3/4 inch electrical tape and wrap some around the small wheel on top. About 3-4 wraps. Helps the belt stay centered.
For the tension adjuster take a 1x10x1/4 inch bar and bend a 90 at 8 inches. drill a hole in the long end. The 90 will fit in between the nuts and bolts on the adjustment head so as to extend out the back. Add a clutch spring and a turnbuckle and an eye bolt in your bench for the lower end and you can adjust tension.

???
TJ

[Phydeaux]

I recently got a Grizzly and had the same problem. I'd adjust the tracking and 2 seconds later it would be wandering. If you look twards the back of the manual, there is a section that shows you how to put a slight bevel (basically making a crown in the center) on the drive wheel. In a nutshell, you run the grider with out a belt and use a rasp or coarse file to bevel the outside edges so the middle has a slight crown. It didn't take much for me to fix mine. To err on the cautious side, I 'd take a little off, then try a belt on it and repeat until it worked like I wanted it to. If you can't find your manual, you can download it from the Grizzly web site.

I hope this helped.

Ric

[gb6491]

Hi,
In addition to the good advice you've receieved here,
I posted some info about this in another thread.

Tracking issues:

Here are several things that I looked at:

1. Some belts just won't track well, see if your problem is related to just several belts or all of them.

2. Add a few turns of electrical tape (or something of similar width) to the crown of the tracking wheel.

3. Make sure the faces of the tracking wheel and contact wheel are parallel. There is a small set screw on the tracking assy. that will allow some adjustment.

4. Check to see if the contact wheel surface is flat. If not there are several to correct this (with having it done on a lathe probably being the safest, but it can be done on the machine with a file. BE CAREFUL!).

5. If you have to chase the belt while flat grinding, try adjusting the platen out a little further to put more pressure on the belt.

6. Add a brace as TJ shows earlier in the thread. I use one on my machine.

7. Try a stronger tension spring, again see TJ's earlier post. I also use one on my machine

My machine tracks well, however I still run across a belt now and then that just refuses to track.

Hope this helps some.

Regards,
Greg