On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 20:09:02 -0500, Silvan
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>If you come up with anything good, be sure to share.
I have heard that those motors make a decent light power feeder....
"Mike G" <[email protected]> wrote in news:Z7mdnbvj-t8NRZTdRVn-
[email protected]:
> And you are going to get the belt for this sander where?
>
I was thinking of using a standard belt and replacing the rollers.
Naturally the whole mechanism would have to be gutted. Maybe use the
treadmill guts in a shop built frame. It is just a thought. I haven't a
clue what size motors are in the things bu it seems that all the basics are
there.
Silvan <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Joe Willmann wrote:
>
>> Anyone ever turn a treadmill indo a belt sander? You can pick up
>> used treadmills for $25 - $50. What do you think?
>
> Yes. It didn't work very well.
>
> I cut the frame down sort enough to fit the biggest belt I could get
> my hands on, and I think I removed the platten completely. (I was
> using it to sand round things, so I didn't want a platten.)
>
> My tensioning mechanism was just a piece of angle iron with some bolt
> holes tapped in it. The idler roller was (already) tapped to match
> the bolts, and I applied tension by tightening the bolts and thus
> pulling the roller further away from its counterpart. This was *very*
> fiddly.
>
> The rollers weren't crowned, and I wasn't able to crown them very well
> with anything I had at hand. They were also very small in diameter
> compared to the rollers on a real belt sander, which I don't think did
> anything good for belt life.
For rollers I was thinking of using plastic pipe slipped over a turned
wooded rod. For crowning I was thinking of just trying to wrap duct
tape - man's fix for everything. If I can get the profile right then I
would use fibreglass to duplicate it.
>
> With the very fiddly tensioner and the uncrowned rollers, tracking was
> a *serious* problem. This thing ate expensive belts for breakfast.
> Whirr, WHUMP, damn. It worked beautifully when it worked, but it
> spent more time down than up. It also took forever to change a belt,
> because I had to remove two long bolts to get one side of each roller
> unfastened.
>
> Adding to the other problems, it was unwieldy as hell. Too big to use
> horizontally, so I used it leaning against a leg of my workbench. It
> was always getting in my way.
>
> If I were going to do it over, I'd scrap the stock frame entirely and
> shop build something. Turn larger diameter, crowned rollers on the
> lathe, bored out for metal axles I guess. (I didn't have a lathe back
> then.) Rig it up for reasonable belt changes. Some kind of
> spring-loaded tensioner like the real belt sanders have. It could be
> done, but I'll probably never get around to it.
>
> If you happen to live near Christiansburg, VA (or want to pay for
> shipping), you can have this one for free. Make something out of it.
> I was going to make it into a lathe, but I wound up buying a real
> lathe. I thought about using it to drive a motorless bandsaw I have,
> but it would be so unwieldy. I'll probably find a use for it
> eventually, if I let it sit here long enough, but I'd just as soon
> give it to another tinkerer to cuss at and trip over.
>
I live in Oregon. I could probably buy a lage belt sander for what the
shipping would cost.
Bridger <[email protected]> wrote in news:4lgm00156shekqsfi6ilootdh6bbuu3264@
4ax.com:
> On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 20:09:02 -0500, Silvan
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>If you come up with anything good, be sure to share.
>
>
> I have heard that those motors make a decent light power feeder....
>
How about using the treadmill belt, gear down the motor so it runs slower
and use it as a poser feed from a 6 inch diameter drum sander about 24
inches wide? That way the drum is gust wrapped with an adheseve sand
paper.
And you are going to get the belt for this sander where?
--
Mike G.
[email protected]
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Joe Willmann" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Anyone ever turn a treadmill indo a belt sander? You can pick up used
> treadmills for $25 - $50. What do you think?
Joe Willmann wrote:
> For rollers I was thinking of using plastic pipe slipped over a turned
> wooded rod. For crowning I was thinking of just trying to wrap duct
> tape - man's fix for everything. If I can get the profile right then I
> would use fibreglass to duplicate it.
Tried duct tape. It was hard to get right. I think you'd have better luck
getting a crown profile on a lathe.
> I live in Oregon. I could probably buy a lage belt sander for what the
> shipping would cost.
Unfortunately, yes. I guess I'm stuck with mine then too. :)
If you come up with anything good, be sure to share.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Interesting idea, might work. However, plan on replacing the motor.
I don't see any way that one of the 1/2 or so HP motors will be
adequate. The commercial wide belt sanders have from 15HP on up. I
can easily trip the 1 HP motor on my Performax. It would be really
nice if Performax would make a 16/32 w/ a 5HP motor.....
--Rick
On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 21:34:17 GMT, Joe Willmann
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Anyone ever turn a treadmill indo a belt sander? You can pick up used
>treadmills for $25 - $50. What do you think?
Joe Willmann wrote:
> Anyone ever turn a treadmill indo a belt sander? You can pick up used
> treadmills for $25 - $50. What do you think?
Yes. It didn't work very well.
I cut the frame down sort enough to fit the biggest belt I could get my
hands on, and I think I removed the platten completely. (I was using it to
sand round things, so I didn't want a platten.)
My tensioning mechanism was just a piece of angle iron with some bolt holes
tapped in it. The idler roller was (already) tapped to match the bolts,
and I applied tension by tightening the bolts and thus pulling the roller
further away from its counterpart. This was *very* fiddly.
The rollers weren't crowned, and I wasn't able to crown them very well with
anything I had at hand. They were also very small in diameter compared to
the rollers on a real belt sander, which I don't think did anything good
for belt life.
With the very fiddly tensioner and the uncrowned rollers, tracking was a
*serious* problem. This thing ate expensive belts for breakfast. Whirr,
WHUMP, damn. It worked beautifully when it worked, but it spent more time
down than up. It also took forever to change a belt, because I had to
remove two long bolts to get one side of each roller unfastened.
Adding to the other problems, it was unwieldy as hell. Too big to use
horizontally, so I used it leaning against a leg of my workbench. It was
always getting in my way.
If I were going to do it over, I'd scrap the stock frame entirely and shop
build something. Turn larger diameter, crowned rollers on the lathe, bored
out for metal axles I guess. (I didn't have a lathe back then.) Rig it up
for reasonable belt changes. Some kind of spring-loaded tensioner like the
real belt sanders have. It could be done, but I'll probably never get
around to it.
If you happen to live near Christiansburg, VA (or want to pay for shipping),
you can have this one for free. Make something out of it. I was going to
make it into a lathe, but I wound up buying a real lathe. I thought about
using it to drive a motorless bandsaw I have, but it would be so unwieldy.
I'll probably find a use for it eventually, if I let it sit here long
enough, but I'd just as soon give it to another tinkerer to cuss at and
trip over.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/