Broken Pulley - fix or replace?

PurpLev

PurpLev

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hi,

I have a broken spindle pulley on my bandsaw (restoring it). it is the top 'disk' that has a broken part missing. the bandsaw is operational, but I am just worried about using that 1 (out of 4) speed setting in fear of the edges of that broken part tearing/wearing out the belt prematurely.

is my fear justified? or am I worrying too much?

Is this something that can be fixed with Bondo/resin and machining it to match? or am I better off just replacing the entire pulley?

Thanks in advance
 
LOL: I haven't changed the belt speed on my HF bandsaw in over 3 years -matter of fact, I forgot it was capable of that.

Thanks for reminding me.


(and BTW, the above is not only entirely true, it's an indirect response to your question)
 
Ray C said:
LOL: I haven't changed the belt speed on my HF bandsaw in over 3 years -matter of fact, I forgot it was capable of that.

Thanks for reminding me.
Click to expand...

LOL, well I am glad I could be of service ;)

that's a good valid point, and in fact I believe that setting is for the slower speed which I may not be using all that much (then again, I could have it wrong and it is the highest speed in which case for ALUM I will be using it the most). I think at this point since I'm putting effort in cleaning and bringing this saw back to it's good'ole'days I'd rather tackle all that I can in 1 go as opposed to leave some things half done (not a fan of that).

so yeah, not the end of the world, but would be nice to have it resolved.

thanks!
 
PurpLev said:
hi,

I have a broken spindle pulley on my bandsaw (restoring it). it is the top 'disk' that has a broken part missing. the bandsaw is operational, but I am just worried about using that 1 (out of 4) speed setting in fear of the edges of that broken part tearing/wearing out the belt prematurely.

is my fear justified? or am I worrying too much?

Is this something that can be fixed with Bondo/resin and machining it to match? or am I better off just replacing the entire pulley?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
It really depends on how badly it's broken and how the belt tracks on it. Too bad you don't have the piece that broke off, It could probably be welded back and remachined. If its not broken badly you might just file off the sharp edges inside where the belt runs so it doesn't catch on the edges. I'll say like Ray, I haven't changed the speed of the bandsaw in a dogs age. :))
 
heh, not quite. knowing my luck, I will probably need this speed TOMORROW :rofl:

As for replacement, they are running around $60, so definitely rather avoid if possible.

I can probably round off the broken edges, but if I could fill it with something that would be preferable. just not sure if this is something that will hold over time or not. any takes on this?
 
Is it a repair that you can use JB Weld? In the right application it is just the trick. Or grind and weld? Show us your problem.
 
JB weld is a great idea. Prep it real good. rough it up, angle the broken area so that the force area is against the angle of the break. It should hold pretty well. I've seen some tough fixes done with JB weld. Give it lots of time to harden before machining to shape. If it doesn't have to be pretty on the back side, leave a nice bridge of JB on the back side to give it more strength.
 
We're all guessing till we see the scale & extent of the damage. My guess, without seeing a pic? It's probably OK to run it as-is. I've got one machine with a broken pulley, the break's nearly like you describe, and it's got quite a lot of belt tension against it. I've been running it that way for prob'ly ten years now, and the belt's doing fine on it. Sometime in the middle I DID switch to a link-belt-type belt, but that was just because the old V-belt had gotten so old & stiff that it had taken a bad set and vibrated the machine pretty badly.
 
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