I'm trying to make my own tracking wheel for my KMG clone. now, my question is about how to crown it. I thought about three kind of shapes (please take a look at the pic).
I presume the angle and square shapes would stress more the belt... so my choise would be the round shape.
in your view, which is the best shape for our purposes? and do you agree on the angles I would use?

I also made my own 2x72 belt grinder and my tracking wheel is like #1 because it's easy to do on the lathe. I also tried #2 and saw no improvement. #3 looks interesting but you'd need a form tool or radius attachment to do it correctly.

I'd also add that anything above 3-4 degrees tends to throw belts. I started with 5 degrees and that simply didn't work so I kept decreasing the angle until it tracked properly (which, IIRC is two degrees on the current wheel).

I have only made a flat belt wheel (2 3/4" wide). I just copied the profile of the other one, only smaller. So I can only speek from that and the others I have seen over the years. Your first drawing is the way to go. There is something about the "peak" that causes tention in the middle of the belt to help it track right. Thats why old belts that have been streched with use start to fly off with increasing regularity.

Thank you everybody for your precious suggestions! probably this sunday or the next I'll try to work on it. I'm gonna use 2

For a tracking wheel all you need is 1 deg taper max max 3 deg left to centre right to centre, hope this helps
Land of OZ anya mate

I do not have a lathe and I have made a crown on a sleeve that goes over the motor shaft(sleeve is 1.5" O.D.). This is done by just putting a few wraps of masking tape around the center of were I want the belt to run. I used 3/4" wide tape and IIRC maybe 3-4 wraps - been like that for almost 10 yrs - doesn't have to be complicated to work - oh and I use 4" belts. It doesn't take much to keep the belt tracking in the center. - JK

That is a very good tip...and as you stated, doesn't have to be complicated to work.

I'll try to keep it as simple as I can. thank you so much!

:cool:

here it is the result. seems good to me but I'll know if it works fine only at the run test (don't know when...) :confused: