belt sander is dying on me ...

[Skie_M]

My Harbor Freight 1x30" belt 5" disc combo sander is starting to give out on me ... the tension wheel in the back has bearings that are starting to make a bad grinding noise and the belt is tracking very far to the left, so yeah ... that bearing assembly is shot. I am thinking about getting a replacement bearing to press in there, but also thinking about just buying a new combo sander to replace this one ... HFT is currently offering a wider belt sander with a larger disc at around 60 dollars, and that would probably do a lot better for me. Larger bearings and wheels means it'll last longer, with proper maintenance, especially if I'm not overusing it like I used to.

Part of the reason why this one is failing after only a year and a half of use is ... I didn't have a band saw to cut down stock for projects .... I had to use an axe or chisels to get it close and then sand it to final dimensions. That's a LOT of sanding for just a 1 inch belt, and it put that poor little bearing on the back wheel through hell and back. That and I do a lot of little side projects!

There is nothing wrong with the motor assembly or circuitry ... in fact, I have plans to re-purpose this motor for an 8 to 10 inch disc sander that will be for dedicated woodworking use, though I may decide to use a belt drive with it rather than direct drive, so that I can use pulleys to change my disc speed. It's a single speed motor, so not suitable to try to use it for my lathe upgrade project, as I want variable speed on the fly when turning with my lathe.


LOL ... and just now while messing around with making a new bookend for a book shelf, I found out that the lower bladeguard bearing on my band saw needs replacement ... that stone dust is really leaving it's mark on my equipment. Really gonna have to put my shop together so I can get a proper dust collection system going!

 

[Skie_M]

Whoops ... hold on a minute ...

While rummaging through an old box of vacuum cleaner parts I chanced across whilst cleaning my tornado-disaster-zone of a room I call my Living Room .... I happened to find a bearing that fit the assembly for the rear wheel of my sander exactly! It's too bad the box didn't contain the bearing I had hoped to find, for my band saw guide, but perhaps I have another box or two of these parts hiding around here somewhere ....

Actually, I think the right sized bearings just might already be part of my wooden lathe project. I'ld hate to have to disassemble any part of that, though!

In any case, the lathe's little guide bearing will probably set me back around 3 - 5 dollars at Tractor Supply, though I'll probably buy a pair ... the top bearing is sounding a tiny bit rough too.


Still gonna buy the bigger sander ... more real estate on sandpaper makes sanding larger projects go sooooo much easier! :wink:

 

[jttheclockman]

I have a Delta that is 1" and 5" disc and it has been literately sitting under my work bench for many many years. At one time I needed for projects I use to make with my scroll saw. It will not see the light of day any time soon for sure.

Definitely not a HF fan of anything that has any kind of motor. Buy once and not many times from them.

Have a few disc/belt sanders but bench top this one gets alot of use because it is perfect for shaping the watch bands on my desk watches. Love that little sander.

 

[Skie_M]

Still working on a budget here, John ... but yes, I know and feel the pinch any time I see someone's tools die on them.

I've worked with my dad's tools for many years, and while he was no woodworker by any means, I still learned the value of caring for a tool and not pushing it past it's working capabilities.

I took a wood shop class, waaaay back in high school, and loved it! The instructor of that class was, quite appropriately, named Mr Woods. He taught us a great deal about proper care and maintenance for wood shop tools, as well as proper shop safety. I first learned about basic lathe tools and basic lathe working in that class ... I managed to turn a test piece to show my proficiency with the lathe, and my project for that year was to be a solid oak coffee table with glass inset top and matching turned legs for each corner, with a Roman Ogee on the table edges and apron. Unfortunately, my family, being in the military, moved just before I got to the turning part of my project, so I had to put off advancing my woodworking skills for a very long time. I completed the coffee table anyway, and I still own it ... glass inset top and all. It still has 3-inch square solid oak legs.

If my lathe were actually large enough, I'ld go ahead and disassemble the table and turn them!


Anyways ... the point of this post was to mention that Harbor Freight gets a bad rap because "their tools can't hold up to the same work load as other brands" .... this is true, you do get what you pay for ....

But what complete freaking IDIOT would try to force a 1/3 HP motor to try to keep up with the workload of a 1 HP motor by forcing the material through the blade faster than it can cut??? Well, yeah ... that 200-lb gorrilla reefing on the job!

If you keep the tool under proper maintenance and don't force it to do things it wasn't designed to do or work harder than it was designed to do, then the Harbor Freight tools are more than worth the money paid for them.

Do they need a little extra time to properly set up and fine tune?
yup. Especially the fine tuning.

Is it worth taking the time to do it?
yup. Nearly 2 years of work out of that little sander before a single bearing kinda wore out on me.

Why did that one little bearing wear out?
Probably because this here 200-lb gorrilla was reefing on the sander with a big piece of Italian blue alabaster, and this stuff is really hard with tiny quartzite particles that totally destroy a HSS tool edge like nobody's business.


This is the first time I've had a severe mechanical failure or a failure of ANY kind with a Harbor Freight tool. I've used this thing to shape and sharpen knife blades, lawn mower blades, fence boards, knife handles, tool handles, alabaster, glass (yes, plate glass window pieces), more glass (stained glass pieces), and half a dozen types of plastics.

I think it was probably the stone dust that got into the bearing that killed it ... I figure that's exactly what happened to the lower blade guide on the bandsaw too, and it's working it's way into the upper guide as well.

That just means that when I get my wood shop together, I'll want to have dedicated tools just for stone working that are water cooled and made for taking that type of abuse.

 

[jttheclockman]

Understand about the budget thing. I grew up in a house with 4 kids and Dad was only income and we made it work and he was a woodworker on the side. But I learned early on in my life to buy quality. I know back in those days quality meant more than it does today but i still will stick with brand name tools. HF could care less about reputation of their tools. I wish you and anyone else who buys their tools that have any kind of motors on them good luck. Any tool of any brand needs to be used as intended and anything will break down and needs maintenance. Good luck with your projects and keep those tools humming and enjoy the hobby.

 

[Skie_M]

Oh yes ... I am totally understanding on the quality standpoint ... but at this point in my life, just getting the RIGHT tool for the job so that I can do the job safely is a higher priority than getting the LAST tool I'll ever buy for that job, because it'll last me the rest of my life...


Now ... once I have this shed built (the wood shop) and get my shop organized, I'll be looking into shelling out the coin to get the nicer brand name stuff!

Right now I just don't have the moolah.

 

[Skie_M]

Designed a basic thickness sander attachment and jig for a drill press ... picture is a quick and dirty sketchup model.

You can see the sanding drum in the center, positioned over the base board of the jig. The drill press table is not shown, but the base board will be clamped directly to the table for stability and support, allowing the operator to utilize both hands.

There are 2 fences shown ... the larger rear fence doesn't have to be any larger than the front fence, just larger than the stock being sanded down. The front fence is intended to be adjustable for different thicknesses of material, but the fence really should be replaced with a pair of featherboards that pin to the base board with wingnuts through slotted holes for adjustability ... one before the sanding drum and one after. This will help to prevent kickbacks by keeping the stock from going backwards.

There is a piece of stock being shown (the long stick hanging off the front of the jig) being guided between the fences and into the tangent point of the sanding drum. A push stick should be used to help feed the stock through the jig to avoid injury.

Thickness of the final end product will be adjusted by the position in which the base board is clamped to the drill press table ... It may be advisable to keep the thickness a little large for a first pass, and then flip the stock around to sand the other side on the second pass, after adjusting the thickness.

Various grits are available on the sanding drum if the operator makes them in the shop ... exact size replication is not a large concern, as the jig will be adjusted for proper thickness each time it is used. Use scrap stock to ensure that the thickness desired will result.

By creating sanding drums of approximately the same size and incorporating a hole to accommodate the sanding drum as well as a thicker base, one could feed the stock through while moving the drum up and down, replicating the movement of an oscillating sanding drum, thereby increasing the overall life of the sandpaper in use. An alternative would also be to just change the depth of the sanding drum to an acceptable height in order to present fresh paper when it starts to wear out.


Building one of these to test my concept will be my next small shop project ...

I'll have to build the jig itself, some sanding drums with various grits of paper, my first featherboards, and my first push stick...


But ... I currently don't really have a use for it!

 

[Curly]

There have been various drill press sander attachments, both home and commercially made, around since before I got into woodworking in the late 70s. Do a search and look at the images and you'll see. Fine Woodworking had an article back in the black and white printed days of a conversion of a bench drill press into an oscillating drum sander. They also had info on making a drum thickness sander for the lathe. Something that I would make before doing one for the drill press if I didn't already have a Performax drum sander, now made by Jet, that was originally a drum sander conversion for a radial arm saw. Good luck with your version. I would suggest buying the drums rather than making them. lee Vally among many sell them.

 

[Drewboy22]

Skie, reach out to flyitfast, he has a craftsman combo he wants to get rid of. Might work out for you...

 

[Skie_M]

There have been various drill press sander attachments, both home and commercially made, around since before I got into woodworking in the late 70s. Do a search and look at the images and you'll see. Fine Woodworking had an article back in the black and white printed days of a conversion of a bench drill press into an oscillating drum sander. They also had info on making a drum thickness sander for the lathe. Something that I would make before doing one for the drill press if I didn't already have a Performax drum sander, now made by Jet, that was originally a drum sander conversion for a radial arm saw. Good luck with your version. I would suggest buying the drums rather than making them. lee Vally among many sell them.

Making the drums myself is actually quite easy ... I've got an assortment of steel rods laying about in 3/8ths and 1/2 inch or so... I can cut a few pieces of the same size for my needs (not that I have an actual need yet ... I've only ever done ONE segmented pen).

The best part about the drums is that I can go ahead and mount those on my lathe so that they can be spinning horizontally, and I can use them to polish and hone my knife and chisel edges on a variable speed system...

Plus, I highly doubt Lee Valley will sell me a drum with 12,000 grit paper on it. I can get micromesh sheets from Hobby Lobby ... full pack for 12 bucks. I'll size my drums to use the same size that comes out of that pack ... it's close to a 1/3 sheet size, I think.

 

[Curly]

We'll ya gots me to there. LV doesn't have the MM sheets but they do have 5" hook and loop discs.