Belt Sander project

[cathead]

When over at the new Harbor Freight in town, I saw they had some 6x48 sanding belts so bought one for a basis
for my own version of a belt sander. There was a thick aluminum tube a little over 12 inches long that ended
up being used for the rollers. I tapered them a little to help keep the thing tracking correctly. A piece of stainless 3/4 inch
rod was used to fit up some used bearings I had laying around. That wasn't the best choice but it is what I had at hand.
It's hard to machine features and get the diameter right for the bearings but that is all done so no need to change it I guess.
There is still a lot of work and configuring to do but it looks like it will be fine in the end. It tracks nicely with the micro adjusters
on the top of the sander so happy about that. I need to rig up the mounting plate and make a pulley with a 5/8 diameter hole in it
with a slot of a key way.
This could possibly be the idea of the setup but not sure. I will become more apparent as I work on it. I had no plans, just
started making parts.


Above is one of the fine adjusters, one on each side. The top screw holds the shaft and the one on the bottom is the fine adjustment.
The two screws in the center need to be loose when making an adjustment, then tightened in place.


Below is the motor tag, a 3/4 horse Homecraft from an old table saw I think. It was a scrapyard find several years ago. It has adjustable
sheaves on it so will be able to change the speed.


Above is the coarse adjustment that allows for changing belts when needed.



So far I have less than $25 in the project. I will need a smallish belt to drive the belt and a piece of flat stainless behind the
belt would probably be the best to use. Maybe a small rest would be in order too. So far that's all bouncing around in the gray matter
at present. So the shop is a mess with chips everywhere and tools laying about. I'm done for today so will tidy up the shop and
get ready for another session.

I will make another post when it is up and running. I don't have a surface grinder so this will be an inexpensive way to take machining
marks off parts and I'm sure lots of other things as well.

 

[cathead]

After studying the build so far, it is apparent that in order to replace the belt, it will require that I
will have to mount the sander to the flat plate from only the drive side of the sander. Today I will take
apart the motor and be sure the bearings are lubricated properly and then work on the mounting
part. It will be easy to trim/round off the non-driven side making belt replacement relatively simple.
The side with the pulley will have to be beefed up a little as it will have to support the weight
of the sander and be stiff enough to be stable.

 

[cathead]

The motor bearings were dry so pressed some grease into them and put the motor back together, running more quietly now.
On to the mounting project. I Made up a plate out of 1/4 inch steel and bored a 2.5 inch hole it it to fit on the drive side of
the sander. Then I welded another plate at 90 degrees and mounted the angle to the sander. Then I bolted the angle to the
bottom plate and made a hinged bracket to hold the motor. It's up and running now and has a lot of pizzaz I think.
About all that is left to do now is to fit in a backing plate for the back of the belt to slide on. Here's a couple more photos
of the progress.

 

[cathead]

We are in the middle of a major snow event here in Minnesota so was able to make my way at least as far as the shop this morning
for some more work on the belt sander. I made some knurled knobs to make the belt replacement easier and also added some legs
so the unit could be either vertical or horizontal or somewhat in between. Some of the square pipe I was using was thin walled
to I was challenged a bit using stick welding with 7018. Also, I added a rest to hold material in the sander, nothing big, just enough
to hold something while sanding. About all that is left to do is to install a plate for the sandpaper to run against and possibly some
paint. Here's a couple photos of the work.

 

[FOMOGO]

Looking good. I too am of the design as you go camp, and just enjoy the process. Seems to keep the brain from further corrosion/erosion, and encourages on the fly modification. Cheers, Mike