Workbench Retractable Casters

[CreekWood]

Oh, just in case anyone else ever finds themselves in a loosing battle with the feed belt on one of these old drum sanders, here's the radical adjustment needed to make that belt track correctly:

PXL_20231107_000440281.jpg (187.22 KiB) Viewed 5995 times

Get rid of the outermost adjustment screw on the side the belt insists on wandering towards, and force that end of the out feed roller down. I was so ready to kick this thing to the curb before I found this fix.

[JPG]

I am curious WHY this worked.

This Is a feed conveyer belt?(slow)

[CreekWood]

JPG, I can't figure out why a band saw blade will ride on the crown of the wheel instead of flying off in the first revolution! And I tried that too-I applied electrical tape on the middle section of the drive roller, but that didn't help. I can't take credit for this fix; someone described it in another forum. Unfortunately I didn't keep the reference, because I'd sure like to thank the guy. I guess that in some conveyer belt situations, a tech will put a slight twist in the belt by canting an end roller. The standard fix gets argued-- some say tighten, others say loosen the tension on the side that the belt drifts to.
Oh, and a shocking story-- together with the shop vac, this drum sander puts a lot of static in the air. I wasn't all that surprised when the hairs on my arm stood up, or when it zapped my finger, but when the nose pads on my reading glasses started arcing I about went cross-eyed!

[JPG]

I wonder it it riding on the lip has anything to do with it.

It IS a conveyer belt?





Ever heard of a Van De Graf generator?

[CreekWood]

Yes, essentially the drive belt is a conveyer belt made up as a loop of cloth-backed 16" wide sandpaper. Feels about 220-320 grit.

Had to look up Van De Graf; yep-I've seen those but didn't know the internal workings.

[roy_okc]

@CreekWood,

Thanks for the link to the casters. The heavy duty ratcheting look like just the ticket for one of my CNCs when I redesign/enlarge/rebuild it and maybe also for a metal table I recently bought.