Help Request with band saw belt

[bill#1]

I have a Craftsman 14' band saw with the "80in blades and the drive belt came off about a month ago..several attempts to put the poly belt back on have been fruitless...Sears calls it a poly V-belt but its a flat grooved belt..I think thats what is making it difficult to get it back on...I did order a new one..and several attempts to get the new one on..again have been fruitless..the drive pulley is way smaller than the other pulley and slightly out of a straight line..and always have been ever since I have owned it for 15 years..I have never had so much replacing the belt before..any suggestions??? bill#1

[brent]

If you have had it for 15 yrs. I would try and find out why it is so hard to deal with now.
The two pulleys need to be in line for the belt to track and not ride up and out of the pulley.
There should be an adjustment screw in, on or near the motor and its bracket to make the alignment. If not, see if the pulley has any more room on the shank to adjust it.
If the pullies are v shaped, then they should need a v belt not a flat belt.
If I am off base here, I apologize, I have the old tilt head and don't have any belt problems usually. I can make adjustments to alignments and such.
Pullies are usually of different diameters....this is the way to get the speeds needed.

[btree50]

You may have to remove one pulley, possibly both, and install the belt. Then you should be able to slide pulley back on.
JimB

[Dicky]

I would be very surprised if there wasn't some means of adjusting belt tension and it is usually done by raising or lowering the drive motor and tightening a lock nut(s). As far as belt alignment , they should be in line. Normally you just loosen an allen screw and slide the pulley back and forth on its shaft.

[bill#1]

Thats probably what I will end up doing is removing a pulley.(yes this is the 14" tilt-head design..-nondigital model..) I have never done that before but,hey if that is what needs done..I will try it..thanks for all the responses....bill#1

[mark yundt]

I had the tilt head at one time. Threw the belt a couple of times. At first I thought it was just some sawdust buildup that made it slip off. Closer inspection showed the pulleys were out of alignment. The belts as I recall were flat ribbed belts. At least it was on mine. I found a small set screw on the drive pulley where I could use an Allen wrench and get it to slide into proper alignment to prevent throwing the belt. But for some reason, even with a flat on the drive shaft, the set screws always wanted to loosen up. A bit of Loctite solved the problem. As far as getting the belt on, yes, it was tough, was to get it to "hook" on one of the pulleys and by hand , with the electric unplugged, was to turn the saw by hand to get it to walk back on to the pulleys. Be sure , if it's these types of belts,that they are fully in the tracks and not overhanging the edges of the pulleys. It's simple to overlook but important to get right.
I didn't care for the tilthead feature and the saw seemed a bit flimsy,,but I sure did like the large table that saw had and the level it was at. Still, I got a lot of work done on that machine. I actually had locating holes drilled and tapped into the table for some work I did at the time creating a variety of large shells facilitating radiusing cuts for jigs I made for it.

[gene-messer]

Bill . I use to have a craftsman bandsaw and this happened .. It was the pulley sleeve that was worn out

Gene

[bill#1]

I am happy to report I got the belt back on..just as you fellas suggested..and I loosened the motor mounts abit..so it would take up what little slack was still in the belt..the drive pulley wont come off..its covered by a motor housing..and I dropped the soft key and got it back in to place..slid the belt on..and then put the drive pulley back and took the slight offset out of the belt, then tightened up the motor bolts ....problem solved...I am sorry this took so long but I have been putting some long hours at the discount store where I work..and finally got to it with so many interruptions...thanks again for all your help...bill#1