How to adjust Ryobi Grinder and sander belt going sideways?

Bought a Ryobi 250w Bench grinder and sander.

Very little in the way of instructions and when I started the machine the belt went sideways and started to chew the belt up. No matter what I with the belt instructions the belt went off centre. Checked for more product information on Ryobi and just the same, nothing on how to setup the belt.

Ryobi Grinder and sander.png

I want to return this and want something better and suggestions

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MikeTNZ

Hi @Kvic,

That's not a good start.

Did you line the belt up around it's travel before you started the machine?

I'm not trying to say you are wrong here, but I have the same machine at home here and I've never had an issue with it.

One other thing is the belt tension, if it is too loose, it will ride all over the place, too tight and it will ride to the left or the right.

There is a mark on the rollers that the belt is meant to be aligned with before tensioning and start-up.

Could you please post pictures of where your belt is?.

Cheers,

Mike T.

Kvic

Hi Mike, yes I did try as you said and thought about it later and maybe I was just over adjusting. It seem to be very flimsy. I will try again today.

MitchellMc

It's great to see that @MikeTNZ has been assisting, @Kvic. Since he owns the machine, he might be able to assess my thoughts on the situation.

I don't own this machine, but I have a Ryobi belt sander that uses a similar tensioning system, albeit slightly different. I presume those two knobs are major and minor adjustments for belt tracking/tension. The larger knob gets loosened, which drops the top roller on the right-hand side, allowing you to slide on the belt. You then move the belt to the middle of the roller and tighten the large knob until it is snug. If you tighten this larger knob too much, it will cause the belt to track to the left and run into the chassis. If it's too loose the belt will track to the right and all off the roller. Adjust the larger knob until the belt is snug, run the machine for a second, and check the tracking. If the belt tracks immediately off to one side instead of sitting in the middle, then the large knob needs to be adjusted. Once you have the belt running in the middle of the roller, the smaller knob is used to fine-tune the belt, so it sits exactly in the middle.

If the belt went sideways immediately, then it sounds to me like you have the large knob adjusted too tightly, back it off a little and try again.

My belt sander only has the larger adjustment knob, and when I first got the machine, it took me a little while to get used to the adjustment, now it's just second nature. I loosen the knob, pop the belt on, tighten the knob until it's snug and run the machine. As it's running, I check the see if the belt is running in the middle and, if not, I adjust the knob to push it to the centre.

Please let us know how you go.

Mitchell

Kvic

Hi Mitchell, I spent some time trying to adjust this belt with the larger knob, the smaller is just the tensioner.

It seems to me that small increments of adjusting sees the belt running one-side or the other and I was unable to get is to stay in the middle.

MitchellMc

The larger knob adjusts the belt tracking with tension @Kvic. That's why I presume they are major and minor adjustment knobs.

There's a relatively small margin of knob adjustment that allows the belt to track centrally. Half a turn left or right from that will cause it to track in either direction. Can you at least get the belt to run on the roller for a few seconds before it tracks off to one side, or does it just zip straight off? If it slowly drifts off to one side, you are very close to the correct location. If it just zips off, you are far from it.

It sounds like you have a good grasp of what needs to be done, and there's always a possibility that the machine is faulty, but here's a short video I put together of me adjusting the belt tension on the belt sander. I would expect it to be a similar process to this. Note that when the belt was tracking heavily off to the side, I had to rotate the knob several times to change its direction.

If you see small increments of adjusting the large knob, send the belt running one side or another, try getting it as close as possible to running true and then try the small knob to see if it makes finer adjustments.

Mitchell

Kvic

It seems the roller when tightened was not sitting square, on closer inspection I had to release the knob, push up the roller and got it to sit square after tightening the knob, the adjustment worked as it should and I was able to centre the belt.

I am now covered in wood dust, thank you for your guidance and support.

MitchellMc

That's correct, @Kvic. The adjustment knob tilts the roller. It's this tilting action that both tightens the belt and centres it.

Glad to hear you're now covered in wood dust! 🤣 Please remember that dust mask. 👍

Mitchell

MikeTNZ

Hi @Kvic,

Glad to see you got this sorted, things like this are very hard to explain over a Forum, even with as much information as you gave us.

The belt tensioning and postioning controls on this tool aren't that great and the instructions are to be fair, pretty poor with just pictures

with just ticks and crosses.

A lot of power tools use descriptions like this these days, if you've never used a given power tool before, I reckon this could be a safety

hazard to new users.

Kvic

Sometimes a closer look can reveal the problem and I think the top roller was just not sitting in place.

The roller was still not level on the fully tighten position.

Releasing the knob and positioning the roller then tightening the knob seem to fix the problem.

Yes, the instructions could have been better, took much legal stuff!

MikeTNZ

Hi @Kvic, just be patient with this.

When using a brand new belt on a new tool like this, until the belt "wears" into the rollers, expect certain adjustment.

To be fair, the belt tensioning controls can be pretty finicky, a small amount of movement can give un-expected results.

This is also the case when you try to use it for what it was designed for, putting too much pressure on the belt can cause it to go all wonky

when things haven't quite settled down yet.

If you need further advice, by all means, let me know.

Cheers,

Mike T.

Dragzy68

Nope I’m having the same problem ? I put the new belt on and now the tension is loose it’s newish and it’s the first belt since new? The only reason I had to buy a new one was because I ripped it trying to sharpen something.

Noyade

Morning @Dragzy68

Here's my 5c thought after looking at the PDF on the Bunnings site.

Two knobs - A and B.

Take the starboard cover off.

Unlock A and pull the roller down against the spring (assumption).

Re-lock A.

This now allows you to fit the belt without fighting the spring/roller.

Fit the belt. Correct direction.

Release A.

The belt automatically tensions with the spring rebounding.

Now, the question is - do you re-tighten A - really tight? Or just enough for knob B to be able to adjust the tracking?

I think the latter.

Hard to tell from the instructions.

But based on you saying "the tension is loose" - is your spring not providing enough upward thrust?

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Dragzy68. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about adjusting a sander.

Since installing the new belt, did you turn the knobs to adjust the tension? Have you confirmed that the belt is the correct length and size?

I would think both A and B adjust tension. B is likely the major tension and A the minor and tracking. A governs the roller at the top and typically when un-tightened allows the roller to dip to the right. When tight it brings the roller perpendicular to the left of the machine. It's this dipping of the roller that causes the belt to track to the right or left.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

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