4x6 bandsaw pulleys messed up

ttabbal

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They don't run true and don't stay put. I can only assume the wobbling is causing enough vibration to loosen the set screws. If I try to use the belts in other than the middle speed, they fly off. :) Otherwise the thing cuts fine, if a bit noisy. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and how they fixed it. I figure I'll be replacing the pulleys after I ensure the shafts are reasonably straight.

No warranty, so I'm on my own to fix it.
 
If the shafts are not bent the easiest is to purchase the pulley(s) from Grizzly. Motor pulley is $8.00 and the gearbox pulley is $9.00.

Roy
 
I had a similar issue with my motor pulley- I finally fixed it by drilling and tapping for a second setscrew on an adjacent groove.
On my gearbox pulley I put two setscrews in the same hole, one on top of the other. No more loosening.
mark
 
I've struck crappy castings a few times plus bed machining e.g. off-center holes, tapered bores etc. If the shafts are O.K. sometimes it's worth boring the pulley out true, making and fitting a sleeve. At least then you know everything is square to the world.
 
I'll check those out thanks for the tips!
 
Well, I received pulleys from Grizzly today. Took the old ones off and started examining things more closely. The shafts are as straight as one would expect from HF, +/-0.002ish. Good enough. The replacement pulleys are a fair bit smaller and for a different belt. pfftttt... The worm gear one doesn't even have a slot cut for the key. On the up side, I did order a matching belt, figuring the old one was probably due for replacement anyway, so at least I have one that will work.

With the new pulleys and belt, I think it will run. But I'll have to bore out the holes about 1mm each, and cut a keyway in the one. I can probably get a good enough keyway cut with the mill.

The current pulleys are REALLY bad. Suitable for being melted down, not much else. Cathartic smashing with a large hammer might be in order. I had to use a gear puller to get one of them off, it was mangled pretty badly.
 
Got it going. The keyway I cut isn't great, but it's good enough. And it's much quieter without those pulleys rattling around.
 
Weird that the pulleys didn't match. I bought a set of replacement pulleys from Grizzly for my HF 4x6 and they were a perfect match.
 
Weird that the pulleys didn't match. I bought a set of replacement pulleys from Grizzly for my HF 4x6 and they were a perfect match.


Probably the age of machines. The older ones probably had larger shafts. HF probably figured they could get away with a smaller shaft saving cost upping profits seems pretty standard these days unfortunately.
 
I just made a new pulley for mine as it came broken. It was a good project.
 
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