leather wheel wobble

[mschw04]

On my system the leather strop has a fair amount of wobble in it.  Since it runs at such a low speed it has not been a problem, but I wonder if it may progress to be a problem in the future.  Has anybody experienced this and should I be worried?  How is it fixed or what is causing it?  My system is almost a year old.

Thanks,
Mike  

[Jeff Farris]

Ensure that the index pins in the wheel are engaged in the holes in the drive wheel.

[KevMel]

I've just started using my new Tormek.  After being referred to this site by a fellow WoodNet user and viewing some of your videos I discovered that I must not have tightened the stone enough when I set it up.  The stone stopped turning.  So before tightening the stone, I thought I would perform a suggestion recalled from one of the videos on your web site to lubricate the bearings.  I did so by removing the stone and the leather strop.  When I reinstalled the stone and strop I noticed a much greater degree of runout on the strop than before I took it apart.  I checked to see if the pins were aligned in the drive wheel and they were.  It appears as though its the drive wheel that has some runout and since the strop is a larger diameter it has a more exagerated degree of runout.  Is there anything else that I can do to fix the strop runout?  Thanks in advance.  

[Jeff Farris]

Some runout of the leather wheel is inevitable and does not affect performance of your TORMEK.  How much do you have?  The tolerances are in the Owner's Handbook.

[KevMel]

Thanks Jeff, but how do I measure the runout?  The only dial indicator that I have is my Oneway Multi-Gauge.  It is quite noticable by my eye and I'd have to say it's somewhere between 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch.

[Jeff Farris]

It sounds like it is possible that one of your bearings is unseated from the frame -- or your estimator is a little out of whack.

Hold a straight edge on top of the machine frame and turn the wheel by hand, allowing the wheel to push the straight edge. Once the straight edge has moved as much as it will, find the point where the wheel is furthest from the now stationary end of the straight edge and measure the gap.

[KevMel]

Thanks Jeff.  I measured the runout as you described and it appears to be about 1/8 - 1/16 of an inch.  Is this within the level of acceptable tolerance or does it validate that one of my bearings is not seated properly?  If it's the latter, can I reseat the bearing by removing the stone, shaft and strop then reinstalling them?

[Jeff Farris]

1/16" is within tolerance.  If your bearing was unseated, it would be 1/4" or more and would make quite a racket.