Sedgwick MB Vee belt

[Doug71]

My old Sedgwick MB planer recently started throwing off it's Vee belt, when I checked it had a split in it so I went to get a new one. The chap where I get them from laughed at it and said it was about 40 years old so I presume the original belt. When I was fitting it I noticed that the pulleys are about 12mm out of line, they are parallel just not in line. I can't see that anything has moved and everything looks original, could it have left the factory like this? The person who owned it before me had it about 15 years and he never changed anything but he bought it second hand so don't know it's history before then.

I understand the pulleys should be in line or it can cause damage but as far as I can see it's always being like this. If the bottom pulley did go across 12mm the belt would be almost catching the chain.

Some photos




Only thing I see strange is a second hole drilled in the bar that carries the motor which would move it back but then the other bolts wouldn't line up like the one that moves the motor to tension the belt

Am hoping that @deema picks up on this because I would be interested in if the one he is refurbishing is the same.

Thanks, Doug

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Could the pulley be reversed? That would line the belt up, assuming the belt clears the chain, of course.

 

[Sideways]

It's not uncommon to find multiple holes in the bar mounting the motor. My guess is that was to accommodate different motors with a different hole spacing on the feet.

Deema and I took this apart just yesterday, so your timing is lucky. We took photos as insurance on the reassembly as we don't have a manufacturers manual for this one.

Pulleys should be in line as a general rule but I don't have a photo side on of the belt and chain. The upper pulley clamps hard onto the spindle. No alignment options there. The motor pulley looks to be a little off the end of the motor spindle.
This machine had been "meddled with" by a previous owner as many bolts were not torqued up, but I think the spindle motor and feed motor + gearbox were untouched / crusted with years of sawdust
It's a very solid beast. The castings are impressive !

HTH

 

[deema]

@Doug71 I believe that the issue is not the position of the pulleys on the shafts rather than angle of the lower pulley. Looking at your photo with the level against the lower pulley, it might be an optical illusion, but it appears that the gap coming up is a triangle, rather than just being a consistent distance. This is a common problem, and one that is easy to fix. As Sideways has said, the motor is fastened on to a bar that is bolted through either end onto the chassis of the machine. The holes through which the bolts pass are enlarged, this allows you to tip the motor up and down and align it vertically As well as tighten the belt. I think you will find that if you undo the bolt holding the bar that’s located on the side with the raise lower handle, push down on the back of the motor and retighten the bolt you will get it properly aligned. Ithappens when people change belts and tighten up the belt just with the front bolt. It’s a fiddly thing to get right, and easier with two people. This isn’t the best of designs unfortunately for setting up.

 

[Fitzroy]

I'd expect that the chain would be much less happy operating non-planer than the belt, so it must be in a common plane. So if the belt avoids the chain at the top it must be able to operate without fouling the chain at the bottom.

I was also struggling with your photos as the belt does seem parallel with the chain, and I couldn't workout what the spirit level was showing. However having looked at it and reread deema's last post I think he has nailed it.