Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Jul 24, 2010 09:13am | #1

   I'm not John White but I can answer your question. The belt is more like a clear O ring than a belt, they frequently break, particularly if pressure has been put on the sander while using it or debris has built up under the pad. Remove the sanding pad by removing the three screws. You should see a post with a top lip, held on with a Phillips head screw, in line with the joint that holds the shroud. Sometimes this has come loose and disappeared. The O ring belt fits over this post and goes around the circular "arbor" that the pad is attached to, there is a groove the belt fits in. I keep a few extra belts handy. Make sure the post is lubed and rotates freely.

   
2. 
   Quickstep | Jul 24, 2010 09:54am | #2

   Thanks, that's extremely helpful. Is that little pulley that's held in place by the left hand thread phillips screw supposed to turn freely? Mine appears to be held fast by the screw and has nothing that looks like a bearing. If I loosen the screw a bit to make the little pulley able to turn, the rotation of the belt is just going to tighten it again.

1. 
   hammer1 | Jul 24, 2010 11:01am | #3

   Personally, I think the engineering on this tool is rinkydink. I also think RO sanders should never touch a woodworking project but that's another discussion. The post/bearing needs to turn freely, back off a touch. As long as the bearing is free to move, it won't tighen the screw.

1. 
   Quickstep | Jul 24, 2010 11:30am | #4

   "Personally, I think the

   "Personally, I think the engineering on this tool is rinkydink"

   I can't deny that this tool has given me years of faithful service. It completely trashed the piece I was working on which was fortunately a test. This belt arrangement does seem rinkydink. Knowing what happened on my test piece, I'll be reluctant to trust it on a real project. 

2. 
   bduffin104 | Jul 24, 2010 01:04pm | #5

   I also think RO sanders should never touch a woodworking project

   Hammer1,

   Am I to understand that when you use the ROS you are doing so under protest? Ha Ha

   I've been fitting some rounded front drawers into a cabinet this morning and was trying to do it all with hand planes. I quickly became frustrated trying to clamp  an  assembled drawer well enough to use a plane on it. Then after umpteen times clamping, fitting, clamping, fitting,  I gave up and completed the fitting with a belt sander and cleaned it up with a ROS and was quickly done.

   Proper use of power sanders is not an unskilled task. I like to think I'm pretty good with them.

   Bret