Components

[Former Member]

I first started with a 1x36 Delta belt grinder (gift from a friend) and it did the job but quickly realized that a 2x72 was in order.

1-1/2 hp motor from PA on sale (not sealed and so far no issues), bearings, some steel, some Al round bar stock for wheels a spring and some MIG welding.

$300-400 total.

Use it a lot. No variable speed. Not needed. Does everything and more than I expected.

Buy new at the time 4 to 6 times the price.

Building one of these is easy compared to most of the projects on this site. If you are looking get/build one DO IT.

 

[Chris Cramer]

I came up with a new way to adjust both the angle and the tension of the tracking wheel on my grinder. I installed a ball screw on both sides of another square tube to drive an arm up both sides of the tube holding the axle for the tracking wheel. The way that each arm is adjusted separately gives me the ability to lift one slightly more than the other to tilt the tracking wheel. At the same time both can be lifted at the same time to adjust the tension on the belt.
The new tracking wheel I purchased did come with a crown, but didn't do a very good job of moving the belt over a slight change in the angle. Is the drive wheel also required to have a crown in order for the belt to move along the wheel only a fraction of the space instead of quickly sliding all the way to the other side?
The ball screws give me an infinite amount of adjustment to the angle of the wheel; but even when the tension was high, the belt only moved and quickly slid when it was tilted quite a bit.

 

[Crosche]

View attachment 32503

I came up with a new way to adjust both the angle and the tension of the tracking wheel on my grinder. I installed a ball screw on both sides of another square tube to drive an arm up both sides of the tube holding the axle for the tracking wheel. The way that each arm is adjusted separately gives me the ability to lift one slightly more than the other to tilt the tracking wheel. At the same time both can be lifted at the same time to adjust the tension on the belt.
The new tracking wheel I purchased did come with a crown, but didn't do a very good job of moving the belt over a slight change in the angle. Is the drive wheel also required to have a crown in order for the belt to move along the wheel only a fraction of the space instead of quickly sliding all the way to the other side?
The ball screws give me an infinite amount of adjustment to the angle of the wheel; but even when the tension was high, the belt only moved and quickly slid when it was tilted quite a bit.

The drive wheel needs to be crowned. I suspect that your wheels are slightly out of alignment and that is why your tracking is not working properly.