BS belt tension questions

[Justin Cavender]

I was cutting some curves on my ridgid bandsaw and the motor kept bogging so I started investigating and found the belt to be slacked bad. What is the best way to tension the belt? or how much tension on the belt?

[Josiah Bartlett]

You should look in your manual for proper belt tension, but I'm guessing it should be about 1/4" to 1/2" of deflection with about 5 pounds pull on the mid span of the belt. Too much tension is worse than too loose because it will destroy your bearings. Tension should be adjusted by loosening the motor mounting bolts and sliding it until the belt is taut. If you ran it too much with the belt loose, it may be glazed and needing replacement.

[Dell Littlefield]

This doesn't directly answer your question but I installed a link belt on my Ridgid bandsaw and added a stiffening shelf underneath. This greatly reduced vibrations.

[Lee Schierer]

Usually there are either slots in the motor mounting base or a more elaborate adjustment system for tensioning the belt. There should be instruction in your saw manual for doing this.

[Justin Cavender]

I bought the saw used So I dont have a manual THe motor is mounted on slots and it moves. I have that much figured out but the amount of tension on the belt has me stumped Is the deflection method earlier the way to check?

[Lee Schierer]

The belt should deflect about 1/8-1/4 inch with moderate pressure finger tip pressure. If you finger hurts to deflect it 1/8" or it hits any note on a piano keyboard when plucked, then it is probably too tight. Basically, unless you have a really big hp motor, the motor should stall before the belt slips.

Make sure you don't twist the motor when you tighten it. Place a straight edge across the rim of the motor pulley. The edge of the straight edge should touch and be parallel with the rim of the saw pulley.