General 50-185 belt guard interference??

[David Cardin]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum - just joined 2 minutes ago. I recently bought a
General 50-185 TS - the reviews on it were good. I figured I'd buy a
saw I'm not likely to outgrow. Well anyway, I'm having trouble
getting the belt guard to fit without interference. I've assembled it
according to the manual - checked it many times. When the blade is
all the way up everything's fine. As you lower the blade the angle
of the belt changes (naturally), and when the blade gets to about
1/2" above the table the belt comes in contact with one of the bolts
that holds the belt guard on! As the blade continues down it interferes
more. Also the bottom of the belt interferes with the belt cover itself
You can see manual pictures at:
http://www.general.ca/manuel/50175185_ang.pdf (pg 9, and 10(g)).

It seems that if the belt was 1" shorter this problem would'nt exist.

Can anyone offer some suggestions??

Thanks very much.

[scott spencer]

The stock belt on my GI wasn't real good so I replaced it with a link belt which improved vibration. The link belt is also easy to vary the length on and should help your situation. Or you could always go to a radiator shop and get a belt that will fit, but that is about 1" shorter.

[Tom Drake]

I have the same saw and did not encounter the problem you are having using the standard belt. For a quick fix I would go with the link belt as Scott suggested. The link belt is much better than a standard V belt. I added the link belt to mine shortly after getting my saw. You may also want to contact General and discuss this problem with them as well. You might have the wrong belt or something else is amiss.

[Jim Hager]

I just looked at the pdf manual you supplied the link to and the 185 model saw you have shows that you only use one of the belt guard bolts. It is showing to use the one closest to the motor. Maybe they supplied you with a belt guard for a 175 instead. In either case you could obviously use just one bolt to hold it together.\

By the way, welcome to the sawmill creek web forum. We are glad you are here.

[David Cardin]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll contact General tomorrow and
see what their service dept has to say. I spoke to someone at my
local woodcraft store and he said hi son had the same saw and it
had the same problem. The manual is really very vauge in a lot of
areas, and the manual I have is not the same manual that is online.
The online version looks like it's been improved. The easiest fix is definitely using the link belt.

I have to say, I'm a bit dissapointed in this saw and I haven't turned
it on yet. I mean for $730.00, shouldn't the pieces all fit together?

[Joe Mioux]

Hi David,

welcome to SMC. I have this same saw and do not have any problems with the beltguard.

I used both bolts. You need to to that to keep the guard from pivoting.

I will try to post a pic of my saw this afternoon. I am at work right now. Hopefully that will help.

With out looking at mine and not having my instructions with me, do you have your motor mounted incorrectly? I seem to recall that GI's instructions were backwards. You needed to reverse or flip the motor mount over or something. Again, I am doing this from memory from more than two years ago when I assembled mine.

Joe

[Joe Mioux]

Here are the pictures....

After looking at mine, I noticed my belt rubs as well. I have had the saw for 2 years, and have used it this way (not knowing) without any problems.

Go ahead and use it.

Here are the pics

[craig smith]

The solution is to slide the motor back all the way on the adjustable mounts. This will in effect shorten the belt and solve the belt hitting the second stud or the belt hitting the bottom of the belt cover.
Craig,