Belt length causing tensioning problem?

printone2 · Post by **printone2** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:38 am

Is my belt too short to work properly? I have a 1991 belt sander and I cannot seem to get the tension right. I just bought this and the previous owner said the tension spring was bad. I walked though the sawdust sessions on the sander and took it apart and waxed and lubed the idler assembly, etc. and made the suggested adjustments to put it back in normal service. When I go about setting the tension on this non-shopsmith belt it seems that I cannot get four turns of tension in the spring and still get the belt on. It seems that the belt is just too short to slide on the platen. If I release the tension in the idler then the belt will fit, but it will not keep proper tension and slides toward the headstock.

Do I have a belt problem or is the idler assembly really the root problem? I am considering getting a Sears belt, which I see some have success with, but wanted to check and see if I needed to get an OEM belt or if I should just buy another sander.

billmayo · Post by **billmayo** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:52 am

printone2 wrote:Is my belt too short to work properly? I have a 1991 belt sander and I cannot seem to get the tension right. I just bought this and the previous owner said the tension spring was bad. I walked though the sawdust sessions on the sander and took it apart and waxed and lubed the idler assembly, etc. and made the suggested adjustments to put it back in normal service. When I go about setting the tension on this non-shopsmith belt it seems that I cannot get four turns of tension in the spring and still get the belt on. It seems that the belt is just too short to slide on the platen. If I release the tension in the idler then the belt will fit, but it will not keep proper tension and slides toward the headstock.

Do I have a belt problem or is the idler assembly really the root problem? I am considering getting a Sears belt, which I see some have success with, but wanted to check and see if I needed to get an OEM belt or if I should just buy another sander.

There is an adjustment on each side of the upper roller to change the distance between the rollers for the length of the belt. Most non-shopsmith belts are shorter than the Shopsmith ones. On the back side, there is square nut on each side that by lifting the upper roller you can adjust for the belt length. It may take a few tries to get the proper tension and tracking. I have used many different 6 X 48 belts from different sellers by doing this adjustment. Send me your Email address and I will send you the instructions for doing the belt sander adjustments.