- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,552
I'm finally getting back to working on the idler assembly of my Rockwell/Delta 31-710 sander. Unfortunately my drum and shaft assembly has been "repaired" in the past, and is no longer standard. The shaft was built up and turned to the proper dimension. Apparently there was damage to the threaded bearing retaining ring and spacers. The threaded retainer was replaced with an unthreaded version that has a tight slip fit into the housing. It's held in place by a plate with 2 flat head screws tapped into the main housing. Also a spacer was brazed to the shaft.
When I disassembled the unit the drums were what I would also consider a tight slip fit to the shaft. A question for those who have done this in the past is how tight were the drum sections on the shaft itself. I'm trying to determine if the drums should actually be a tight fit to the shaft, or whether the side pressure from the spacers and retaining nuts is sufficient to keep the drum halves properly oriented for balance, and prevent them from rotating on the shaft.
As an FYI this assembly was apparently repaired long before I got the sander (I've had it around 20 years). The machine was working fine until a few weeks ago when one of the idler shaft bearings started making noise.
When I disassembled the unit the drums were what I would also consider a tight slip fit to the shaft. A question for those who have done this in the past is how tight were the drum sections on the shaft itself. I'm trying to determine if the drums should actually be a tight fit to the shaft, or whether the side pressure from the spacers and retaining nuts is sufficient to keep the drum halves properly oriented for balance, and prevent them from rotating on the shaft.
As an FYI this assembly was apparently repaired long before I got the sander (I've had it around 20 years). The machine was working fine until a few weeks ago when one of the idler shaft bearings started making noise.
