I bought a floor standing (as opposed to their bench model) jointer, jt360 I believe the model number is. One thing I noticed right off is how much it vibrates. The bearings seem fine on the blade cylindar and the motor is as smooth as silk without the V belt. It seems that the V belt vibrates a lot. I adjusted the tension and aligned the shafts, but it still produces vibration. I'm afraid it might transfer to larger workpieces. Thanks
Return it. I bought a Powermatic jointer and highly recommend it.
Make sure the knives are all at the same height: one knife markedly lower (or higher) than the others will unbalance the cutter head, creating vibration.
With the V-belt removed, rotate the cutter head by hand. Does it rotate smoothly, or do you feel some roughness in the bearings?
Also, switching from a V-belt to a link belt may help.
It sounds as if you have diagnosed the vibration to the v belt. Double check pulley alignment. If the machine sat a long while, the belt can develop some pulley humps, a bit like an old bias tire on a really cold morning.
Choices: If this is a new purchase, have the store tune it. Change the belt to a fresh one. Run the existing belt for an hour or more to see if it settles in. Look into using a link belt. I imagine it came with cast pulleys, you can change them out to machined pulleys.
I'd opine it's not _necessarily_ the belt, although possible (and maybe even probable). But, from OP's description, what appears eliminated is that it _isn't_ the motor and perhaps not the cutterhead. What is diagnosed is a one or a combination of belt/pulley(s)/cutterhead.
Don't know the exact machine by Delta # so don't know offhand which machine it is in the scale of entry- to high-end. But, as you note the pulleys are a high-suspicion item on the entry-level machines and the belt is certainly a possibility.
Someone else mentioned knives -- unless one is _way_ out of position it won't be sufficient on it's own to induce the imbalance OP mentioned although it would show up when actually jointing.
The suggestion of a run-in period for the belt is good as the "set" is possibility.
CAREFULLY check the bearings by the stethoscope or mechanics' screwdriver method to make sure you don't have dry or loose load. If they're good, it's probably the belt joint or belt set, as others have mentioned. If the motor's mounted on a free hinge, the link should take the bounce out, or you can devise something like bungee load or threaded tension for the hinge to smooth out what you've got.
Shouldn't affect the jointing unless your tension's so light you get belt slip.
Replacing the belt with perhaps a good quality automotive belt will eliminate the problem if it is the belt. That is a relative quick and cheap solution.
I put a link belt on one and it worked great. No vibration and smoother cuts was the result.
Try another belt. I replaced a motor on a joiner and was moving it to another stand. I got everything set and had a bad vibration. As you did, I pretty much eliminated the motor and the joiner bearings and spent about an hour playing with pulley alignment to no success. As kind of a last resort I took the belt to an auto parts store and asked for the best belt they had. As soon as I put the new belt on, everything was fine.
Mike O.
Those things are amazing. I've put them on my jointer, band saw and drill press, after seeing what they did for my old contractor's saw.
What's nice is that they don't take a set, which is very helpful on tools that don't get used every day.
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