Belt falls off flywheel of DR splitter

[Patrick62]

An annoying feature of the DR splitter, is that when it stalls against a block the odds are that one of the V belts will come off the flywheel. It gets a little anemic after that with only one belt driving...

I am going to try something. How about a spring loaded back side idler? That will take up the extra slack when it stalls out the flywheels, and most likely will stall the engine.

Now I understand why Super Split puts a centrifugal clutch on their machine. The flywheels slow or stall, and the clutch slips keeping the engine going, but more importantly it keeps it from slacking the belts. A nice design.

 

[Little Al]

A guy I know must have had a similar problem on a piece of kit as he made up a bracket & used an auto cam belt tensioner running on the outer flat face of the belt

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Sounds like one belt is stretched a bit more than the other.

 

[Patrick62]

The belts run around the outside of that flywheel on the pictures left. They don't run in grooves.
The pulley on engine is quite small, and probably the reason they run a double belt system. So, my thinking is that a idler would help to take up the slack and keep the belts on long enough that the engine will stall.

Another idea to think about is cutting double grooves into the flywheel. I was just sitting here thinking about that idea. create a holder for the 8 inch grinder... It would be better to commission a machinest to machine them. But grooved and the problem goes away!

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Try switching the belts, like rotating tires.
Or, are the belts directional?

 

[dancan]

Check the motor to flywheel alignment , something may be askew .
You could get a clutch setup for the motor , cheaper than machining 2 groves .

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You could get a clutch setup for the motor , cheaper than machining 2 groves .

Not to mention, cutting groves "lightens" the fly wheels, something I wouldn't want...

Lighter fly wheels = less splitting power...

SR

 

[Patrick62]

Well rigging up a back side idler is gonna be a pain in the...
Machining in a pair of grooves would take some time and I don't thing the amount of metal would significantly reduce the force. it's still a option tho... I think I am going to create a couple of belt guides to hopefully reduce the tendency for it to fall off.

The cool part is that it has survived 3 rentals thus far. One gentleman said "he is never gonna rent a hydraulic splitter again". Today I was told it is "fantastic". Golly... imagine that.

I am going to upgrade the tires as it seems to be getting some miles up/down the road now, and I have one that leaks a bit

 

[TimothyG]

Since only one belt falls off, you might consider using a 2 rib banded belt instead. The 2 belts together are more likely to remain on the pulley. Plus, you won't need to worry about finding two belts that are close size matches.

 

[lknchoppers]

Maybe you can make a guard that would keep the belts on.