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Heath Robinson alive and well


impala59
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My trusty old Clarke belt sander gave up the ghost recently and stripping it down it seems that the dead motor is non serviceable/repairable. Enquiries confirmed this and the price of a motor was more than buying a replacement sander. As the hardware of the machine is still 100% i looked to buy an alternative motor with no luck at all.

I probably use this tool more than any other sander so pondered what to do before just buying a new one.

My answer was to strip the unit down and connect an old power drill (I have several) directly to the bottom roller shaft. I temporarily wedged the drill handle in the frame of my wood lathe to prevent the whole thing rotating (it doesn't ) and will eventually make a wooden frame for the drill handle. With variable speed I now have my belt sander back. I dispensed with the disc part of the sander to reduce the load and it works fine.

A bit of a bodge of course, Heath Robinson no doubt. Frankentool lives!

sander.jpg.92f2664d3d2ba9bf962209e05a7af22b.jpg

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Loads of great ideas there, thank you gentlemen. I have been meaning to get a bench grinder so that would probably be the best long term solution. Having said that, I've been in the garage today and have been shaping wood and brass parts for my guitar builds, the old drill did not even get warm and was running for the best part of 2 hours solid.

Mel, if you have the same bench sander I would be happy to send you my now unused belt if that's any help, probably got your address in an old PM somewhere

 

Thinks...............

Maybe I could scale this down

1543559366_Line_shaft_and_power_looms_at_Boott_Mills_Lowell_Massachusetts.JPG.48536bb606ccc6cb5b5a0d0414b4b3fe.JPG

Edited by impala59
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5 hours ago, impala59 said:

Loads of great ideas there, thank you gentlemen. I have been meaning to get a bench grinder so that would probably be the best long term solution. Having said that, I've been in the garage today and have been shaping wood and brass parts for my guitar builds, the old drill did not even get warm and was running for the best part of 2 hours solid.

Mel, if you have the same bench sander I would be happy to send you my now unused belt if that's any help, probably got your address in an old PM somewhere

 

Thinks...............

Maybe I could scale this down

1543559366_Line_shaft_and_power_looms_at_Boott_Mills_Lowell_Massachusetts.JPG.48536bb606ccc6cb5b5a0d0414b4b3fe.JPG

That would be very generous of you , Thankyou very much 👍

I have two of the same belt sander , one is used for wood , and the other is used for metal ,  I found that sanding dust and metal sparks are best kept apart 😊.

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Chinese, I think, was cheapie no name drill bought 15 years ago in a hardware shop in Aberdeen on a job away from home when I had forgotten mine. The hammer function broke the first time I used it, but it had a good low speed suitable as a power screwdriver when the battery one was charging. Still going strong, had another day in the garage and just left it running while shaping, measuring and try-fitting. Absolutely stone cold!!!

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