Traction Belts

[Spanglerg@hotmail.com]

Anyone out there have any feedback on the new rubber traction belts. I had them installed when my machine was back at LHR for repair. I have not had an opportunity to test drive them yet, just wondering if anyone has any comments.

[Jeff_Birt]

They work great. The tracking is much improved. When they get dusty just wipe them off with a clean rag, do not use any chemicals.

Be sure to check the gap between the O-ring on the tracking roller and the right hand belt (notice the o-ring is smaller with the rubber belts.) I suspect the CW did this already when they put your belts on. But I'm mentioning it for anyone putting them on at home. If you position an inspection mirror at an angle you can see the gap. Even with the smaller O-ring mine was rubbing and I had to slightly elongate the tracking sensor mounting holes to get enough clearance. From talking to CarveWright I found out that only a very few machines have had this problem. If anyone else runs into the problem give CW a call.

[JLT]

Went to use my new rubber belts for the first time today, and the board length that it was measuring was way off. (For instance, it was coming back with erratic results between ~12" and ~16" for my 23.75" board). After a number of attempts, I was about to go through the calibration routine, but suspected that something else was amiss given how far off the results were.

Moving the belts by hand, it appeared that there was sufficient clearance between the front belt and the tracking roller, but when pressing down on the roller arm (see image), akin to a board being in place, there was clearly contact.

Am not too keen on having to elongate the tracking sensor holes, per Jeff's prior note. Would rather take a utility knife, and cut ~0.5" strip away from the left half of the front belt. Of course this assumes that the belt won't crab over...

In any event, will give CW a buzz before taking any further measures...

[Icutone2]

Hello All,
Changed belts to blue zirconium belts. always hearing to use blue painters tape to make the board show up to the sensor, this seemed to be a good idea to me as hence changing that error has yet to repeat it self. And the board is tracking great! Sorry can't see the cost of the new belts. Just my solution to a problem.

[swhitney]

gee, kinda neat looking in blue!!! "designer" belts might be next.....

[Jeff_Birt]

Went to use my new rubber belts for the first time today, and the board length that it was measuring was way off...but when pressing down on the roller arm (see image), akin to a board being in place, there was clearly contact.

Yep that is the sign, really erratic readings. I completely forgot to mention that you need to push the roller down to its normal 'running' position. I used a small piece of trim that was just long enough to go from belt-to-belt.


Am not too keen on having to elongate the tracking sensor holes,

I understand how you feel, definitely give CW a call first. I'm not one to jump in a start hacking away at things if there is another solution. Elongating the holes is not too bad though. You just need to removed the squaring plate (mark/tape the cam adjustment like you did when installing the belts. Then remove the two screws holding the tracking sensor in place. As I recall I used a small round file to make the holes about 1~2mm longer.


Sorry can't see the cost of the new belts
The board sensor actually looks at the difference between the reflection from the board and background. Since the board sensor is over the channel in the middle the belt color should not matter. The blue tape on the baord increases the amount of light reflected from the boards edge. I can understand the hesitation due to the price of the belts, but once you use them your hooked. In fact I put all my extra belts up for sale in the 'garage sale' section of my website. I do like the snazzy blue color of the belts though!

[Icutone2]

Morning Jeff,
I also purchased a set of black belts to see if the sensor reads better, but with the results from the blue ones I have yet to try then. thay were less than the cost of the belts from LHR. Like I said it works for me.

[Jeff_Birt]

As I mentioned the belts won't have nay effect on the board sensor (one mounted on Y-truck) as it looks down right over the slot between the belts. The new rubber/Kevlar belts improve the tracking of the board through the machine.

[Icutone2]

OK OK But at least thay look cool and I feel that thay helped with my problem
even if it is only cosmetic. Thay do move the wood smooth and that is a good thing. Thanks

[JLT]

Per Jeff's recommendation, called LHR tech support, the tech indicated that he believed that filing the pin holes of the x-axis tracking roller was the tact to take. (He couldn't confirm with the engineers but seemed to recall that was the procedure). So, within 20 minutes, I was able to remove the squaring plate, elongate the pin and screw holes 1-2mm, and then put the squaring plate back on. This extra fraction was sufficient to allow the x-axis tracking roller clear the new rubber belts.

(Also, see related issue to raising the sliding plate at http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?t=10581).