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View Full Version : Epilog Helix X axis motor keep ripping the belt apart!!!



jordan djeu
09-04-2012, 1:36 PM
as the title say.. my engraver been ripping the belts recently, i think some alignment issue with the belt itself, i followed all the instruction on how to change the motors and belts on Epilog website, unless i am doing anything wrong (which i don't think i did, i am experience working on car changing belt etc... and they seems similar)

Brian was helpful, he send me 2 extra motors and 2 extra belt, but the belt is still ripping where the motos is :confused::confused: any idea where else i should look??


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_9SzU1sj1A

here is a video, you can see i am moving the belt by hand and the belt keep rubbing against the top of the motor...

and yes, i pull and tighten the left side pulley so the belt isn't lose at all

Thanks

Scott Shepherd
09-04-2012, 2:14 PM
The left and right hand pulleys need to be aligned. I don't know how to do that on your machine, but one side is lower than the other, which is causing this. If you shim or adjust it so they are aligned, the belt will not ride up like that. I have dealt with it before, after some preventive maintenance once before. One belt was tracking just like that. I had to take it all apart and adjust it so they were on the same plane.

Chuck Stone
09-04-2012, 5:01 PM
agree with Steve.. something's not aligned. Before installing a new belt, I'd use an old
one and move the motor/pulley by hand to watch the old belt track. If you have a bad
bearing it could cause it to stall, there could be a missing e-clip (aka dammit! clip) or
perhaps the bracket/screws that hold the motor or bearings in place have shifted. But
something isn't lined up right.

Scott Shepherd
09-04-2012, 6:29 PM
I used to build high speed machinery for a living. I went from the machine shop into the assembly area and worked on that stuff for years. I mean high speed stuff. Things you had to film on high speed cameras and then watch back just to see what was happening. We were making 12,000 cigarettes a minute when I left. That's one machine, making and cutting 12,000 cigarettes a minute.

When I look at lasers today, I get the impression no one building them came from precision backgrounds. It's like someone had an idea and then they built up around that idea until it evolved into a product.

For me, when I had the issue, I was getting great engraving except for one spot in the middle of my table. At that same spot, it would give a slight mismatch in the text I was engraving. I couldn't figure it out. Finally I started taking things apart and checking things and I found that the belt would ride up the flange on the pulley until it got as far as it could go and then it would "pop" back down onto the pulley. Since the belt is fixed at each end, it was happening at the same place each time. I was able to make some adjustments and got the pulleys right in alignment and the problem went away immediately.

I think they don't check things like that at the factory to the level I think they should.

To me, the machines should all have every pulley checked and aligned with measuring devices instead of eye balling it. A perfectly aligned machine, in the belts and pulley area can only benefit everyone. Less problems, less calls to tech support, less hassle all the way around.

I've often said at some point, I'm going to whip out my dial indicators and really go through my oldest machine and get it perfect. It might be happening soon, I have a bearing going bad on one drive pulley.