Rikon 10-325 14" bandsaw drive belt problem

[Curt Harms]

I’m having a problem with my Rikon 10-325. It’s been working well for years but the (skinny) drive belt disintegrated. When I removed the lower wheel to replace the poly V groove belt I spun the idler/tensioning pulley and the bearings sounded noisy so might as well replace them while I’m at it. I called the local bearing place and they had replacements in stock, sealed rather than the shielded originals. Picked up 2 @ $8 each and got the old ones out with a punch. Pressed the new bearings in and mounted the idler. I placed the new belt in the high speed position where I usually run it. The belt tracked as expected when turned by hand but when I powered it up the belt jumped the grooves and wanted to run against the outside slower RPM pulley. The belt does seem to track properly when run in the low speed position. I’ve included pictures, I hope my terms are understandable.

Everything was working as advertised until a couple days ago. I’m wondering now if the original belt disintegrated because it was running in sort of a vertical position against the larger driven pulley’s shoulder rather than flat in the grooves like it is supposed to. I haven’t done any resawing or cut anything thick to load the motor so if the belt were not seated properly I may not have noticed it. Does anyone have a thought as to what changed to cause the belt to no longer track properly?

[glenn bradley]

My first guess is that this is a matter of alignment. Is the wheel positioned so that the pairs of pulleys are aligned well? It is not clear from the pics what function holds the wheel in a specific horizontal position; grub screw, washers, other? My lower wheel is held "on" via a sort of shouldered cap screw. Horizontal positioning (like when you initially align the saw for co-planer operation) is done via various thickness washers that act as shims behind the wheel. If your line of sight is poor (a mirror helps), tieing a string or bit of elastic cord around the path can quickly reveal a poor alignment.

[Tom M King]

Sounds like a set screw on the cotter key may have backed out, and the pulley moved on the shaft.

[Curt Harms]

Thanks for the quick replies. The lower wheel is just held on with a hex head screw and washer. I did consider that the motor pulley may have moved but it seems tight. I did tap it lightly with a dead blow mallet just to see if it would move - it didn't that I saw. What I find a little curious is that the bearings on the lower wheel run right against a snap ring, no washer or anything. I downloaded the parts list and as far as I can see there's not supposed to be anything between the lower wheel's inner bearing and the snap ring. I was wondering if there is a spacer missing or something. The thing that bugs me is that the belt seems to behave itself when running in the low speed position. If there were an alignment problem would the belt not track properly in either position? I did call Rikon's tech support the past Friday but they weren't answering their phone, they "were catching up on pre-Christmas shipping."

[Curt Harms]

My first guess is that this is a matter of alignment. Is the wheel positioned so that the pairs of pulleys are aligned well? It is not clear from the pics what function holds the wheel in a specific horizontal position; grub screw, washers, other? My lower wheel is held "on" via a sort of shouldered cap screw. Horizontal positioning (like when you initially align the saw for co-planer operation) is done via various thickness washers that act as shims behind the wheel. If your line of sight is poor (a mirror helps), tieing a string or bit of elastic cord around the path can quickly reveal a poor alignment.

Checking the alignment is a bit of a trick. The larger diameter pulley on the lower is in front of the smaller diameter driven pulley on the wheel so it's difficult to check alignment. I guess I could check the alignment of the front pulleys. That may offer a clue, just because the belt doesn't jump doesn't necessarily mean the pulleys are properly aligned.

[Steve Demuth]

I had the same problem some years ago on my Rikon. In that case it was due to the lower wheel shaft having become misaligned enough that the skew between the motor shaft/pulley and the wheel shaft/pulley caused belt jump.

Note I am not saying that is necessarily true in your case, and as just discussed in another thread, trying to adjust the lower wheel to correct it if it is so can get you in all kinds of trouble. I wouldn't go there first, but it's probably worth a check at least to verify that the shafts are parallel.

[Frank Pratt]

I feel your pain Curt. My 325 had the upper & lower wheels so far out of coplanar that the blade was not even close to 90* to the table. After spending some time sorting that out, the motor & lower wheel pulleys were so far out that it shredded the belt in just minutes. Using spacers and some contortionistic measuring I was able to line the motor pulley up with the wheel. It was a nightmare, but worked very well in the end. Total time spent; probably a good 8 hours.

I risk opening up the argument of whether or not the wheels should be coplanar or not, but mine are & the thing tracks & cuts absolutely bang on. No drift as long as the blade is in good shape.

[Curt Harms]

Now that you guys mention it, when I got the saw the blade on the lower wheel tracked to the near side of the lower wheel when the band on the upper wheel was centered. Everything worked so I didn't mess with it. Recently I got a blade - Lenox DieMaster 2 - that wants to drift. I messed with the lower wheel so the band tracks centered on both wheels. I didn't move the lower wheel much but I wonder if it is enough to cause this problem. I haven't run the saw much at all since making that adjustment. Centering the blade on both wheels didn't help that blade's tendency to drift and other blades were not an issue. I'm pretty sure I can get the lower wheel back to where it was. I think I'll try that.

[Tom Bender]

When you have the lower wheel where you want it for blade tracking, leave it there and make the belt alignment adjustments to the motor position. BTW did your motor mount bolts slip? If you ever change the lower shaft position you may need to reposition the motor, or the position of the pulleys on the shafts.

[Frank Pratt]

When you have the lower wheel where you want it for blade tracking, leave it there and make the belt alignment adjustments to the motor position. BTW did your motor mount bolts slip? If you ever change the lower shaft position you may need to reposition the motor, or the position of the pulleys on the shafts.

There is no provision at all for motor adjustment on the 10-325. It is held in place with 4 bolts through the side of the lower housing into the end bell of the motor. The only way to do it is by removing the mounting bolts & using washers for shims. And to compound the difficulty, the bolt holes in the motor are not tapped very deep & the bolts only engage with a few threads. I had to get longer bolts & tap the threads deeper. Huge pain in the bottom, but I was eventually able to get everything lined up really well. I was so put off by the initial setup process that I just wanted to dump the thing in the trash. My tantrum eventually abated & the saw has been trouble free since.

[Curt Harms]

I haven't had a chance to mess with this yet. I only moved the bolts at 6 and 12 o'clock positions and maybe 1 1/2 turns so I should be able to restore to the original position (crosses fingers).

[Curt Harms]

Follow up to the original post. I had time to partially restore the tilt of the lower wheel to the when received position, with the band running somewhat (how's that for precise?) toward the front of center. The belt now stays in the grooves as expected having run for a couple minutes.