To owners of the Delta 18"-36" thickness sander.

[george wilson]

I am communicating with a member whose Delta sander's cogged belt is slipping on its nylon gears. I have 1 of these sanders,but since I have mostly used it for sanding guitar tops and backs,and maybe a table,I haven't had it slip yet.

Apparently the nylon gears(timing belt pulleys) get worn and slip.

I am sure that these gears are a standard part that some company like Boston Gear stocks. Therefore,I am going to try and identify these gears,and find them in metal if I can. I will keep you posted of any progress.

I am not affiliated with Delta in any way. Just trying to help all of us owners.

P.S. McMaster Carr sells these timing belt pulleys. I am waiting on the guy to give me the specs on his timing belt pulleys,and I'll try to find them in metal. I have had too much neck and back surgery to look up under my machine,or tip it over by myself.

[Wes Grass]

I have one of these too, and while the pulleys may be a stock spec item, the way they're integrated with the elevation nuts may not be. It'd be interesting to get one apart and have a look. I thought briefly about redoing mine with 'proper' 10tpi ACME *left hand* screws so the handle would turn in the direction a machinist would expect to change thickness. But that looked like a bunch more work than I have time for any time soon. Maybe when (if?) I have trouble with it down the road.

I find it a bit hard to believe the pulleys have worn out. Belt stretched, maybe. There are tension adjustments on the 'front' idlers. If those are maxed out I think I'd try replacing the belt first.

I have read enough about these to expect the miter gears to wear out though. So I'd make real sure it's the timing belt before going any further.

[mickey cassiba]

I have read enough about these to expect the miter gears to wear out though. So I'd make real sure it's the timing belt before going any further. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/quote.gif (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1353470)
True enough Wes. We replaced lots of the bevel gears, and not too many of the pulleys. Oddly enough, we did not have many belt issues. Number one problem was the tensioners coming loose and allowing the whole thing to get out of time. Nothing worn or broken, just loose.
Mickey

[Matt Meiser]

I used to have one of these and mine jumped as you described. The problem turned out to be a combination of the elevation bearing being a little to tight and a little out of alignment where it mounted to the body of the sander. You might check that before replacing anything.

[george wilson]

I'll inform the guy with the problem. Thanks

[Bruce Page]

I had one of the early Delta drum sanders and it had 4 metal sprockets and a chain to raise & lower the table.
Maybe the newer ones could be retro fitted?

[george wilson]

You have inspired me to find a mirror and check my Delta. I was hoping it was early enough to have the chain drive,but no,it has the timing belt. I couldn't see the nylon bevel gears. The motor was in the way. I am sure Boston Gear would have metal ones to refit those. I may have a pair as I have a LOT of gears laying around.

A few years ago I saw an old Delta overhead router whose nylon bevel gears had broken. I am sure I had a steel pair the size of those.

[Jim Falsetti]

I am the guy that George has been talking with regarding the Delta 31-250, a.k.a. 18-36, table problem. When I called the local delta repair center, they had two more Delta 18-36 in the shop with the same problem. We discussed replacing the bevel gears (parts 55 and 61 in the OEM parts diagram, about $24 each) and the service tech advised the bevel gears were nylon and subject to failure. He also suggested replacing the timing belt (part 64 in the OEM diagram, ~$20 part) as the fix for the bevel gears requires removing the motor; perhaps most of the cost is labor. Anyway, I posted in another thread, read the Amazon reviews, searched SMC and emailed George.

The 18-36 was purchased used and is out of warranty.

Perhaps other members that own this machine would be interested in replacing the nylon bevel gears with metal ones. One of the other Delta drum sander threads stated the 31-250, 31-255 and 31-255x were all using the same parts. In checking the Delta online parts listing, several of these models appear to have the same part number for the bevel gears. Also interesting that the early models had a chain instead of a belt.

We will be chasing this down and will post the result.

Jim

[Ryan Baker]

I'll be very interested to see how this comes out. When I got mine, I had a huge amount of trouble with the belt slipping on the timing gears. After a lot of tweaking, it hasn't caused much trouble since, but I do baby it to avoid going through that trouble again. It's a horrible design. I'd love to replace it with metal gears and a chain like it should have been from the beginning (though a chain may have too much slop). I can't speak for the bevel gears, as I haven't had any problems yet, but I would like to know if there are suitable replacements available.

[Krams Ram]

Looking at this very old thread. I have one of these and was wondering if anyone found metal gears/sprockets for this. Or did just cleaning and tightening everything made it work like it should?

[John TenEyck]

Here is a link to how one member solved the problem: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?203150-Delta-18-36-Sander-Owners-A-Must-Read


John