Problem With Performax Conveyor Belt

[Ken Krawford]

I finally had to change the conveyor belt on my Performax 16/32. I bought a Deerfos brand replacement from Woodworkers Supply and the joint quickly failed. They sent a replacement but I can't get it to track properly. It ends up on the left side of the rollers no matter how I adjust the tension. A call to Jet suggested that the problem was probably with the belt. They suggested that I reverse it but it still tracked the same way.
Any suggestions?

[John TenEyck]

If you reversed it and it still tracked the same way I'd say your machine is out of adjustment. Check the distance between the rollers at both sides. A belt that has the same perimeter at both edges (a perfect belt) will track towards the side with the shorter distance. My Delta would always track one way until I finally changed the belt. When I took the old belt off I found sawdust built up on both rollers. Apparently the guy who owned it before me ran it with no dust collection. No wonder he didn't like it. After I cleaned the rollers it tracks well now. I'm not so sure the old belt was the real problem.

John

[Kyle Iwamoto]

No offense intended, but did you follow the manual for the belt? If the joint failed, I would guess too much tension.....
My new belt requires CONSTANT tracking adjustment. Maybe a batch of non-perfect belts are out there. My old belt tracked true for years before it failed.....

[David Spurr]

Getting mine to track correctly was a nightmare. I did eventually get it though. Quadruple checked the instructions.

[Ken Krawford]

It's pretty difficult to make accurate measurements on the rollers due to the connection to the motor. As best I can tell, the rollers are equidistant.


If you reversed it and it still tracked the same way I'd say your machine is out of adjustment. Check the distance between the rollers at both sides. A belt that has the same perimeter at both edges (a perfect belt) will track towards the side with the shorter distance. My Delta would always track one way until I finally changed the belt. When I took the old belt off I found sawdust built up on both rollers. Apparently the guy who owned it before me ran it with no dust collection. No wonder he didn't like it. After I cleaned the rollers it tracks well now. I'm not so sure the old belt was the real problem.

John

[glenn bradley]

I agree that if the problem were the belt the shift would reverse when the belt was swapped end-for-end. Sometimes you don't know when the rowboat will filp until you rock it far enough. I would start with the side the belt is moving toward adjusted out far enough to get the belt snug. The other side I would leave loose enough to barely come into play. If the belt still moves toward the tight side, something else is in play here. Foreign object, bent part, etc.

[Ken Krawford]

Let me also add that the original belt lasted 12 yrs and after I set it initially, I never had to touch it again.

[Steve Mellott]

I also had a very difficult time to get a new belt to track. Once it tracked, though, I never had to make another adjustment. I fact, I think I'd be afraid to.

[Ken Krawford]

Update on tracking problem: I'm on belt # 3 - this one purchased from Woodcraft. This one consistently tracks to the right (the other 2 tracked left) and unable to adjust it otherwise. Another call to Jet suggested that I replace the infeed drive roller. The new ones have a knurled steel surface instead of rubber. I have a feeling I just wasted another $35 but stay tuned for another update when the part arrives.

[glenn bradley]

I know it is not much help but, I really feel for you going through this pain for what should be a simple feed belt replacement. My brother often says "nothing's ever simple" which I don't usually subscribe to but, boy there are times . . .

[Don Selke]

I purchased a rubber drive belt 8 years ago from Amazon and it is still like new. The belt was around $80.00 and was well worth the investment. It is a neoprene type belt. Had no problems adjusting it and have never had to adjust the tracking. I would purchase it again and will never go back to the old style belt.

[Ken Krawford]

I purchased a rubber drive belt 8 years ago from Amazon and it is still like new. The belt was around $80.00 and was well worth the investment. It is a neoprene type belt. Had no problems adjusting it and have never had to adjust the tracking. I would purchase it again and will never go back to the old style belt.

That's my next (and probably only other) option of the new roller doesn't work. Wish I'd done that first!

[Ken Krawford]

And the beat goes on. I received the new knurled infeed roller and got exactly the same results. I'm in the middle of a project and no sander for a week. Three belts and a new roller and the belt still won't track. I'm a bit torn about what to do now. I'm also concerned about throwing good money after bad. I've read some reviews about the neoprene belt having issues with work piece slippage.
What to do, what to do?

[Michael Weber]

I was hoping you had solved the problem because I have the same issue. Multiple belt changes made no difference. To me the physics is simple. The belt should run down hill if the tension on each side is not equal. But I can loosen the open side until the belt has no tension on it and the belt still moves to the closed side even when it's cranked tight.

[Charles Taylor]

And the beat goes on. I received the new knurled infeed roller and got exactly the same results. I'm in the middle of a project and no sander for a week. Three belts and a new roller and the belt still won't track. I'm a bit torn about what to do now. I'm also concerned about throwing good money after bad. I've read some reviews about the neoprene belt having issues with work piece slippage.
What to do, what to do?



The people who report frustration with these machines are legion, and include me--I have a 22/44 with the same unsolved problem. These things seem so finicky that a solution for one isn't a solution for another.

One owner's solution was to wrap a little tape around the center of the idler roller such that the roller is "crowned". He claimed it worked for him. I haven't tried it, but I probably will sooner or later. The neoprene belt doesn't seem to be an option for my machine, because I've never seen a 22" wide one for sale anywhere.

[Michael Weber]

I tried tape but not in the center. Wrapped some around both rollers on the closed side to try and make it more "uphill". No change. I'll try in the middle

[M Toupin]

I was hoping you had solved the problem because I have the same issue. Multiple belt changes made no difference. To me the physics is simple. The belt should run down hill if the tension on each side is not equal. But I can loosen the open side until the belt has no tension on it and the belt still moves to the closed side even when it's cranked tight.

The physics are simple but counter-intuitive, the belt will climb UPHILL towards the TIGHTER side in an effort to reach equilibrium. Instead of tightening the side the belt climbs to you need to LOOSEN it. It's the same principle that explains why a belt or blade self centers on a crowned wheel or pulley.

Mike

http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/crowned_pulleys.html

[Bradley Gray]

Not really a solution but if you need to get a project done you might try proceeding and keep a wrench in your pocket so you can tweak the tracking as you sand.
I do this with my supermax dual drum - about every hour I adjust a bit.

Something else on my mind: If you flip a belt end for end the run out would not change. If you flip side to side the run out would reverse.

[peter gagliardi]

The physics are simple but counter-intuitive, the belt will climb UPHILL towards the TIGHTER side in an effort to reach equilibrium. Instead of tightening the side the belt climbs to you need to LOOSEN it. It's the same principle that explains why a belt or blade self centers on a crowned wheel or pulley.

Mike

http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/crowned_pulleys.html

This ^^^^ x2

[Ken Krawford]

Problem finally solved! I'm tempted to put this in a separate thread so others won't have to wade through this entire post to find the answer.

Here's what worked for me. Several calls to Jet always started with the same question - what brand belt are you using? I'd struck out on 2 different (non-OEM brand) belts. This time I got the 3M brand belt that Jet sells specifically for this sander. It is much thinner with a finer grit than the others I tried. It tracked much better than the other belts initially but slowly had a tendency to drift right. Here's where it get interesting. Mike & Peter, you were absolutely right. The belt must be LOOSENED on the side it it drifting towards and TIGHTENED on the side where you want the belt to move to. Unless I'm completely nuts, this is totally opposite to what the manual says. I ran the conveyor for at least 45 mins. yesterday and made small tweaks to adjust the belt position.
Now I'm wondering if I could have accomplished the same thing with one of the previous belts if I had been adjusting it properly.
All's well that ends well I guess.

321317

[George Bokros]

Thanks for the update Ken. The manual for my Performax 16-32 also reads incorrectly I can now try to stop the tracking creep to the closed side.

[Michael Weber]

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Kenneth Porter]

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
I also bought conveyor belts from woodcraft and another mail order source and I was unable to get either one to track. I thought I had tried everything and still the belt tracks toward the motor. After reading your thread I ordered a belt form Jet and it tracked perfectly with little effort (5 minutes). Thank you all for the information.