Shopsmith Forums

Just wanted to share a solution for belt sander tracking. I have a belt sander that had a crowned drive drum. I watched Scott Markwood's video and he said that the crowned drum makes tracking almost impossible, and to replace the drum. Not wanting to wait, I decided to try sanding the drum flat. I took the belt off, ran the motor at low speed, and used a piece of 40 grit sandpaper as if I were sanding on the lathe. Took about 8 minutes. Using speed "C" seemed to be the most effective. It tracks fine now.

What on earth was wrong with the Shopsmith crowned drums? I've seen other belt sanders with crowned drums and didn't hear any complaints about them. They weren't my machines, maybe there were problems I didn't hear about, but it seems to be a common concept with belt sanders. The uncoronated drum on my Shopsmith belt sander does work fine glad I didn't have to deal with the other type.

I had one with the crowned drive drum and solved it the same way as the OP. Definitely saves a few bucks. I don't know the mechanics of what is wrong, but it is well documented that they track better with only the idler drum crowned. Mine is circa early 80's.

- David

On the SS belt sander the tracking is controlled by the angular positioning of the idler drum.

Having a crowned belt ALSO being 'guided' by a crowned drive drum only introduces a conflict of who is the mother hen.