This is my first post. It seems the county is in garage sale mode and I've picked up 3 shop smiths at low low prices. I have a machine shop and have been in the process of modifying all three for my metal work and my fledgling wood working hobby. I picked up an ER10 that was in a barn for decades, a Mark VII that had broken parts but the motor was good, and a relatively new (1980s) Mark V with all the attachments all in one weekend for under $500.
This thread will document some of my repairs and mods that I hope some of you find useful. First up is modifying the ER10 to accept the modern belt sander and sanding disc for use as a metal grinder and tool sharpener. I began by machining aluminum parts to hold the main tubes and the belt sander mount.
I welded a 1x2 steel base and used locking casters to eliminate half the space the old table used.
One problem was the table miter gauge was broken. I tried soldering it but the quality of the pot metal wouldn't accept solder and I didn't feel like buying the alloy that would fix it when I have a full machine shop.
SOOOOOO... I measured out the part and cut a new one on my CNC machine. I even matched the notches for the spring loaded pawl to stop at 90 and 45 degrees.
Once I had the new part I shimmed the new mount to have the table square and true within .001" to the sanding disk travel. You can do that when you have the machines I do.
Bolted the new aluminum frame to the new steel frame.
An overview of the new frame and mount which takes half the foot print of the old frame. The table, miter gauge, and rip fence are not shown.
Forgive the mess. But now I have a great roll around sander / grinder that is very flexible. All that is left now is to fashion a belt guard.
Prices:
ER10 used = $55
Aluminum = $55
Fasteners = $15
Steel = $40
Casters = $40
Time to complete = 24 hours (in my spare time)
A few notes:
I would have left more room for the quill travel. I doubt I will ever use the quill travel but upon completion it would have been a great feature. This may happen eventually as I may put a steel table on the disc sander side for extra rigidity.
I would have left about 3" of the original tube frame so I could re-use the existing end-plate mount as a grinding wheel mount.
The table stop thumb screw crashes in to the aluminum frame mounts. It is not a big deal since I can just mount it on the opposite table leg but something I should have seen.
I kept the original 3 stage sheaves even though I will not change the speeds. It is better to have it and not need it.
I used a lovejoy joint between the motor and the belt sander. McMaster Carr has them on the shelf.
Aligning the two shafts was the most difficult part of this entire project. I used bar clamps, my forklift, and a lot of C clamps to get everything aligned. This is where the quill really helped. I was able to get everything lined up and use the quill to push the motor in to the lovejoy couplers with no force. Any misalignment is absorbed in the coupler.
I hope you enjoy this and feel free to ask any questions.
