Tricks for putting new sanding sleeves on my spindle sander?

[Joe Cowan]

I have a Jet floor model spindle sander. I am changing the sleeves on my 4" and 3" drums for the first time. I tried the 3" first and quit. There must be a trick to get it to slide all the way down. I got it about 1/3 the way on, and had trouble getting it back off again. I got the sleeves from Industrial Abrasives. I did take the nut and washer off the top end of the drum.

[Todd Burch]

What did they say when you told them their sleeves were too fat?

[glenn bradley]

Trying to guess at just how tight a fit we are talking about here. Cornstarch or baby powder can help with rubber that is a bit too grippy. I would rub it on the inside of the sleeve and then try to slid the sleeve on while turning it as you go. It is possible that the sleeves are not compatible . . that is; just a bit on the small side of the tolerances and the drum is a bit on the fat side of the tolerances.

[Thomas S Stockton]

Sometimes if they have been on a while they will kinda fuse together. I have a few tricks that work.
pull the spindle out of the machine and roll it on the workbench helps. So does lightly smacking it with a rubber mallet.
trying to blow compressed air down the side of the sleeve helps.
taking the rubber sleeve off of the shaft and using a good size dowel to try to press it out works also, hard to explain but grab the sleeve by the paper and push down on it while centered on the dowel.
If it is worn just cut it off.
I usually find that the mallet method works pretty well.
Tom

[Todd Burch]

I said fat sleeve above, I meant fat drum.

[Mike Metz]

i have the grizzly version of this sander and had the same problem for awhile. Then i thought of shrinking the rubber on the spindle. how?? i put the spindle in the refrigerator (my small garage beer fridge, the wife would not like to find that in the house one) leave it in over night if possible and the paper will just slide right off. it has worked every time for me.

[Joe Cowan]

Sorry, I did not explain myself. I tore the old paper off and am now trying to get the new sleeves on the drum. I will try put the rubber drum in the refrig and shrinking the size of the rubber drum. That may work, as I got the new sleeve on about 1/3 the way, realized that I was not going to get it all the way. Getting it off was difficult, but doable.

[Keith Westfall]

Have never tried anything like this, but, what would happen if you plugged one end of the drum and stuck the shop vac on the other end? Would it pull enough to help?

[ray hampton]

rubber drum need to grip the sanding sleeve, I use sanding machine at work when I were a welder the drum was inflate to keep the sleeve on , even when disinflate the sleeve were hard to install

[Joe Cowan]

I put the drum in the freezer for about 30 minutes and that did it. Great suggestion.

[glenn bradley]

I put the drum in the freezer for about 30 minutes and that did it. Great suggestion.

Excellent!

[Matthew Mollica]

Excellent!

The freezer method works like a charm. I did 15 minutes. Thanks for the tip!

[eugene thomas]

Freezer is the trick......

[Rick Moyer]

If he were going to continue to use these sleeves, could he not sand down the drum(s) a bit?
Seems like a pain to have to remove drums to chill every time before changing sleeves.

[Yonak Hawkins]

If he were going to continue to use these sleeves, could he not sand down the drum(s) a bit?

It would have to be a perfect sanding job. That's one of the things about spindle sanders : they lose a lot of effectiveness if the drums are not perfectly round or the spindles not true.

That's a great tip about putting them in the freezer. ..Very helpful.