Thread: Drill Press Vibration

Well, the new belts made little difference. I am now looking at the mounting of the idler pulley. Whilst it is seated via a pin into the head casting it actually sits on the sheet metal pulley housing. I might try to create a spacer (tube)to fit around the locating pin so the assembly is up off the bottom of the pulley housing.

Originally Posted by mat

Well, the new belts made little difference. I am now looking at the mounting of the idler pulley. Whilst it is seated via a pin into the head casting it actually sits on the sheet metal pulley housing. I might try to create a spacer (tube)to fit around the locating pin so the assembly is up off the bottom of the pulley housing.

Mat, did you try running it with the drive and idler only (take off the front belt)? That isolates the site a bit. MIne is dead smooth with motor and idler only but grinds a bit otherwise. No big deal...

Murray

I can't get enough tension on without the two belts. The idler needs to be pulled from both directions to get the two belts taught.

Originally Posted by mat

Murray

I can't get enough tension on without the two belts. The idler needs to be pulled from both directions to get the two belts taught.

OK, I know what you mean. My one takes a bit of shoving on its pivot arm so it drives OK. Bit of wood as a lever to keep it tight just to see what happens? Careful now, don't want you dragged into the machine....

Originally Posted by mat

Well, the new belts made little difference. I am now looking at the mounting of the idler pulley. Whilst it is seated via a pin into the head casting it actually sits on the sheet metal pulley housing. I might try to create a spacer (tube)to fit around the locating pin so the assembly is up off the bottom of the pulley housing.

Make sure the pin for the idler pulley is free in the hole.
Check that the hole is actually drilled at 90deg to the casting, I have seen these quite a bit out causing the idler pulley to run at an angle to the other two.
When the belts are tensioned the idler pulley should self align with the front/rear pulleys. You should have a straight line through all three pulleys, near enough is not good enough in pulley alignment.
If the idler pulley is sitting on the housing see if you can slightly raise the front and rear pulleys, the pulleys are usually located with a grub screw and are easily adjusted up and down.

My drill press from HAFCO (20B) vibrates a lot.
After checking the pulleys, the idler pulley is not perfectly mounted.
It's running at an angle to the other two, although it's a small angle but with a straight edge I'm able to see it clearly.

What can I do to solve this problem? I guess I can redrill the mounting hole.

Thanks,
Simon

Originally Posted by arose62

Mat,


OTOH, I'm watching to see if anyone has a recommended supplier of those new-fangled "link belts" here in Aust. They are supposed to be far superior to the standard V-belts, and you can make them up to whatever size you need.

Cheers,
Andrew

The link belt (Power Twist)is available at Blackwoods (Motion Industries).Blackwoods in Darwin actually had some in stock.
I bought some to replace the head drive belt on my lathe so I didnt have to dis-assemble the head stock to replace the belt .So far it has worked very well and saved me some major work .
Dont get Brammer belt its much too difficult to work with.
This stuff looks like its made from old tyres and has steel pins in it.The steel pins are a PITA.
It's three time more expensive as well.

Heres alink to what you want.
http://www.motionind.com.au/DisplayProducts.aspx?search_term=((link%20NEAR%20belt)%20OR%20((link%20NEAR%20belt)))&product_group_id=818&product_sub_group_id=12&parts=6&search_category=1&searchType=0

Kev

Originally Posted by simonhang

My drill press from HAFCO (20B) vibrates a lot.
After checking the pulleys, the idler pulley is not perfectly mounted.
It's running at an angle to the other two, although it's a small angle but with a straight edge I'm able to see it clearly.

What can I do to solve this problem? I guess I can redrill the mounting hole.

Thanks,
Simon

Simon,

I have the exact same model
Get some Link Belts mate. They work a treat. I dont think my pulleys are perfectly aligned either... Never really checked but I am sure I notice the belts are not always perfectly horizontal. After adding the link belts the vibration was reduced a fair amount.

Dean,

Thanks for the advice. I will get link belts for my drill press and table saw.

1/2" for tablesaw and 3/8" for drill press.

Sweet, looks like I gonna solve the problem.

Simon

Originally Posted by simonhang

Dean,

Thanks for the advice. I will get link belts for my drill press and table saw.

1/2" for tablesaw and 3/8" for drill press.

Sweet, looks like I gonna solve the problem.

Simon

I have a Rexon bench pedestal drill , I was using it today and this discussio9n popped in to my head as the drill was vibrating away .
Mine has always vibrated I thoiught it was just because it was cheap .(probably a very good reason)
I checked the drive pulleys and found the idler has a lot of play in it.
I removed the idler and shaft and found it has only one bearing at the top of the pulley rather than two one at each end .So the pully runs with a bit of a wobble .This will also cause the bearing to sh*t itself prematurely,probably when Im in the middle of something important
I will be boring out the lower side of the pulley and adding a bearing.Also the idler shaft just drops into a hole in the head casting ,It is not a very good fit so a bit of play there also ,not much I can do about that .


Kev.

New or better belts won't do much to help if the pulleys aren't in alignment.

Run a straight edge over the pulleys, and check. If there is only a height difference, then obviously adjust the pulleys.
If they are in wind (twisted in relation to each other), you may have to bore out the pulley hubs in a lathe, and then make up some bushes to fit, so the assemblies run true. Tip.... If you have a belt with a dodgy join, which is sometimes the case with cheapo belts, you can sand down the inconsistency with 100 grit paper while still mounted on the machine. This is not the optimum in fix, but it works, and it will help to at least rule out belt issues in a vibration situation.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by simonhang

Dean,

Thanks for the advice. I will get link belts for my drill press and table saw.

1/2" for tablesaw and 3/8" for drill press.

Sweet, looks like I gonna solve the problem.

Simon

Out of interest, did you end up getting some link belts, and if so, have they helped?

Dean

Originally Posted by Dean

Out of interest, did you end up getting some link belts, and if so, have they helped?

Dean

Just ordered from US, it's on the way now. Hopefully it will fix my problem.

Simon

ok good luck