Shaper maintenance - need a belt

[Willemjm]

Willem, I dont know the pulley diameters of your machine, thats why I asked about the calcs. It may be "ok", according to the calculation. I dont understand your last comment about belt tension versus joint fit though.... ?

Chris, thanks for your input.
I won’t put the time in to go into the belt drive design calculations and the belt manufacturer’s empirical data to prove a point. I did this 17 years ago when I purchased my G1026. In 17 years mine has done a lot of mileage and I replaced the belt three times. Each time was due to operator error.
As per your last question, on any shaper if you over tension the belt, with high quality cope and stick cutters, the joint will become too loose and you will have to shim. A 3hp is really entry level and it becomes more prevalent. Therefore not a good idea to change pulleys and belts on a G1026, as the spindle housing and bearings are light and will deflect more.

 

[chris_goris]

I guess I dont see the correlation between a wobbly spindle and shimming cutters to eliminate a sloppy fit. Maybe I missed something?. I run mainly freeborn cutters on my Powermatic PM2700 and Ive never had any issues with belts, fits or the like. Even when I used a Delta 3HP shaper I never saw anything like youre describing. But, I have little tolerance finnicky equipment.

 

[Willemjm]

I guess I dont see the correlation between a wobbly spindle and shimming cutters to eliminate a sloppy fit. Maybe I missed something?. I run mainly freeborn cutters on my Powermatic PM2700 and Ive never had any issues with belts, fits or the like. Even when I used a Delta 3HP shaper I never saw anything like youre describing. But, I have little tolerance finnicky equipment.

I run Freeborn as well, no shims no issues. But bearings have tolerances and steel deflects. I grew up in a woodworking factory with over 400 employees owned by my dad. When you cannot check everything personally sometimes people do the wrong things. That is where my experience comes from. Irrespective, even if you have a $15k European shaper, increase the drive tension and your cut tolerances will change. It may be negligible, but it will.