The Forestry Forum

I had a little trouble last weekend with a slipping belt on my belsaw.
I verified that I was running at or close to the proper speed. Got a can of belt sticky stuff. And still slowed the blade in the cut.
This time I slid the guard half way back past the drive pulley and watched how things worked when the belt slipped.
Wasn't a belt problem at all. The pulley was slipping on the shaft.
Its one of those sheetmetal 2 piece pulleys. I think its a factory piece from belsaw.
It uses a piece of belting on the shaft and then you bolt it together.
I just tightened it up and now it works great.
I sawed up a few timbers to put my engine for my planer on.
Thats my next project. I have a huge 4 side planer and a nice bit of lumber to put throught it.
Chris

Chris, It's so nice when it's an easy fix. Glad you found the problem.

Chris thanks for sharing that I will know where to look if I ever have that problem...........farmer  8) 8) 8)

Shoveler,those pressed steel pulleys usally come with replacable cast bushings for different sized shafts.If theirs much space to be taken up and you don't have the right bushing sections of pipe cut in half will work.Too soft a spacer can sometimes lead to wobble and vibration,pulsing of the belt.Suppose a fella could key it with a large roll pin. Frank C.

Thanks for the tip Frank
My pulley has a heavy piece of what looks like belting in the middle where it goes on the shaft.
It did look unusual to me. But it fit so I used it.
My brother works at a local foundry (they are rebuilding the Bluenose) and I should be able to get
cast bushings no problem. He needs a bit of lumber so he helps me a lot.
I bought a mandrel from a big mill and it has a similar sheetmetal pulley on it with the same type of belting material in it.
Must have been a local idea. Thats how I got the spare 48 inch blade.
Now that I can transmit all the power to the blade I will tune up the bigger balde and perhaps use it a bit if I need to
Although yesterday I had a pretty good sized red pine on the mill and had no trouble sawing it.
I find if I saw too big a log the mill will saw it but it is difficult handeling the slabs and lumber.
Those nice wide boards and beams might look nice but they will beat the crap out of you in no time.
Regards Chris