Shopsmith Forums

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: 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.

I am curious WHY this worked.

This Is a feed conveyer belt?(slow)

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!

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?

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.

@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.