Parkside belt sander - sandpaper belt sliding off

[David]

Just got the new drive belt for my Parkside belt sander. I haven't used the sander since 2013 (I know because when ordering a new drive belt I found the previous order for a new drive belt - but not the drive belt itself).

The sander now runs again, but the sand paper just runs off the sander as soon as I turn it on.

Google suggests that this may be due to adjustment, and there is a screw at the front with a spring loading which seems to move the front roller about, but I don't seem to be able to change the behaviour using this.

Anyone else have experience of the Parkside sanders?

Any idea how to cure this?

Cheers

Dave R

[newshound]

Not explicitly, but my (bench) sander has a simple adjustment (nut/stud/spring) to get the rollers parallel and that works fine.

[Roger Mills]

I've got a belt sander which I bought at Lidl - which I think is branded Parkside, but I'm not at home at the moment, and so can't check.

Mine has got some sort of knob on the side which has to be turned to align the sanding belt. When you turn it with the sander running, the belt moves from side to side quite a lot - so you just adjust it to be central.

The belts have a arrow on them showing which way they need to rotate and ISTR that the book of words has dire warnings about not fitting the belt the wrong way round. I don't know whether it won't run straight the wrong way round, or whether it's more prone to break at the joint - but it might be worth checking the arrow on yours.

[John Rumm]

I once had a Ferm belt sander - big ugly noisy thing it was. It had an adjustment knob as described, but after a few months of storage the plastic frame had "crept" enough under the tension of the belt, that there was no longer enough adjustment available to get the belt to run properly - rendering it useless.

[F Murtz]

Some belts have an arrow, a lot of modern ones go either way(depends on the method used to join ends).

[meow2222]

You could probably make it work by packing the roller with epoxy or thread, though I might not spend much time on a cashew shaped Ferm sander.

NT

[David]

Belt direction matches the arrow in the plastic body - and it seems to rotate in the correct direction.

There is no knob on the side - just a Posi screw with a damper spring.

I'll have another go at adjustment but it is not looking hopeful :-(

Aldidl kit is usually fairly reliable, as well.

Cheers

Dave R

[John Rumm]

I made it work far far better by slinging it in the bin and replacing it with a Makita ;-)

[Windmill]

I have a belt sander bought surplus long ago in the U.S.A. whose belts tended to run partly off while sanding - but when I bought presumably higher quality Bosch 'made in Switzerland' belts, this no longer happened. So I conclude that belt quality is also a factor.

[David]

Update - I took it all apart and worked out that the tensioner lever wasn't located correctly in the body.

Presumably I took the whole thing apart when it stopped working yea those many years ago.

After fiddling the thing back together and checking, the belt stays on.

Adjusting screw seems to work as expected now as well.

Which is a considerable relief.

Cheers

Dave R

[adamross561]

[adamross561]

[michael adams]

Because the front wheel isn't running parallel to the back wheel.

When you changed the belt you will have slackened off the tension. However in addition to the tension adjuster there should also be an adjustment for the angle of the front wheel. Take the belt off and have a good hunt around for a screw or knob which changes the angle of the wheel. There should be one there somewhere only not very prominent maybe as this isn't something you should need to adjust very often except maybe when changing belts.

Try it again with the belt off. See what effect it has on the angle of the roller. And mark down on a piece of paper what happens. Clockwise does what, counter clockswise does what. etc.

michael adams

...

[Brian Gaff]

date date... Brian

[David]

Sorry, don't fancy you.....

[David]

Noting first that the poster adamross561 didn't seem to add any content, and secondly that the original post at the start of a thread was from

2015, this is all a bit of a waste of time.

However I will add my original response for clarity:

"Update - I took it all apart and worked out that the tensioner lever wasn't located correctly in the body.

Presumably I took the whole thing apart when it stopped working yea those many years ago.

After fiddling the thing back together and checking, the belt stays on.

Adjusting screw seems to work as expected now as well.

Which is a considerable relief. "

So the problem was solved on or before 21/03/2015.

Cheers

Dave R