I have an old Delta Unisaw from 1955.
The belts have seen better days.
I got around to replacing them today - three of them.
I just bought replacements from an auto parts store - regular V belts - all the same belts supposedly (same part #.)
I put them on and fired it up tonight.
Sounds good, seems to run smooth - I did the nickel test (nickel on edge) and it gets very little noticeable vibration.
Tried a few cuts - no noticeable problems on how those looked.
But…
One belt, the one closest to the motor, seems like tension is about right.
The other two belts seem like they are flapping around a lot more, and not so great on the tension compared to the first belt.
I know the belts haven't been replaced in a very long time.
Here's a picture of the belts that came out -
While they all are pretty hard and crusty, the top one with the cracks that is the worst is also the one that was closest of the three to the motor.
I don't know why that would have anything to do with the belt in that position now being the only one tight, though. If the bad belt wore down the pully over time, then the first belt position would seem like it would be the loose one instead.
Does it make sense to just use one belt that is tensioned good, and leave off two that are not tensioned good?
I hadn't thought of this before, but just did now… maybe makes sense to swap the belts around and see what happens with the tension of all three then - problem stays with the position, or stays with the belt?
If there were some kind of bearing, bushing, arbor, trunion misalignment or problem, I'd assume that would result in a lot of vibration, which I'm not seeing?
Might it just take a bit of running time, and then re-adjustment?
Greg
The belts have seen better days.
I got around to replacing them today - three of them.
I just bought replacements from an auto parts store - regular V belts - all the same belts supposedly (same part #.)
I put them on and fired it up tonight.
Sounds good, seems to run smooth - I did the nickel test (nickel on edge) and it gets very little noticeable vibration.
Tried a few cuts - no noticeable problems on how those looked.
But…
One belt, the one closest to the motor, seems like tension is about right.
The other two belts seem like they are flapping around a lot more, and not so great on the tension compared to the first belt.
I know the belts haven't been replaced in a very long time.
Here's a picture of the belts that came out -
While they all are pretty hard and crusty, the top one with the cracks that is the worst is also the one that was closest of the three to the motor.
I don't know why that would have anything to do with the belt in that position now being the only one tight, though. If the bad belt wore down the pully over time, then the first belt position would seem like it would be the loose one instead.
Does it make sense to just use one belt that is tensioned good, and leave off two that are not tensioned good?
I hadn't thought of this before, but just did now… maybe makes sense to swap the belts around and see what happens with the tension of all three then - problem stays with the position, or stays with the belt?
If there were some kind of bearing, bushing, arbor, trunion misalignment or problem, I'd assume that would result in a lot of vibration, which I'm not seeing?
Might it just take a bit of running time, and then re-adjustment?
Greg