Jet JDP-17 inch woodworking drill press

[Joel Christensen]

I recently bought a brand new Jet 17 inch drill press and I am loving it but I do have a slight issue with it and it could be user error as I am not 100% used to this new drill press yet as I only bought it brand new a week ago but I noticed the belts are getting torn up pretty fast and the wear on the belts is terrible on the edge where there is no black material left on the belt anymore and if anyone has any thoughts about this please let me know.

[pat warner]

Pulleys are not lined up. Study the set up manual for this.

[Joel Christensen]

I checked the manual about that and all it says is to contact a certified JET technician

[Tim Bueler]

Hi Joel,
I'm new to posting on this forum.
Your post made me go check my own drill press, a JDP-17DX, and I found that the belt between the idler pulley and the spindle pulley was running a rib off. These are the flat, multi-rib belts. I laid a straight edge across the tops and found the spindle pulley was a bit high. Not sure why I didn't see it before...over 50 eyes maybe. Here's what I did to fix it.

-The idler is not adjustable so I used that as my starting point. The pulley on the motor can be adjusted easily enough by either moving the motor on it's mounts or just the pulley on the keyed shaft by loosening the set screw.

-The pulley on the spindle end, my problem pulley, wasn't obviously adjustable. First I removed the large nut holding the pulley on the shaft. I used a 1-1/4" socket on an impact wrench. NOTE: this is a left-hand thread! I used a large channel lock pliers (didn't have a heel bar larger enough) as a lever and was able to gently pry the pulley off the shaft, spinning to a new spot on the pulley for every gentle pry. I found the pulley has a tapered hub that matches the tapered shaft. If there is any adjustment here it's still not obvious.

My first fix was to put three small pieces of aluminum foil on the spindle, held in place with a little grease, spaced equally around the shaft. Another NOTE: I've used this method a number of times on low speed, low stress shafts but I wouldn't try it on something that has a lot of stress/speed. Replaced the spindle, tightened it down. Worked great! Moved the pulley close to 1/64"...in the wrong direction...duh!

My second fix I removed the pulley, wiped up the grease and used some emery cloth to clean up both the shaft and inside the hub. I actually had to emery cloth the parts twice to remove enough mat'l. Reinstalled with the slightest amount of anti-sieze and retightened. Not super tight, just good and snug (that's the technical term). Laid a straight edge across the tops and wa-la!

Now, after all that work, and stewing on it all night... The idler pulley is free floating. I'm not sure simply raising the motor pulley slightly wouldn't have pulled everything into alignment. Gravity is working against you but the motion and vibration might be enough to "suspend" the idler in position. It would sure be worth a try and way (WAY) easier than what I did. A little slow on the uptake, my best educations come from the school of trial and error.

Make sure your belts are tensioned when checking for alignment as tensioning changes the alignment. Through this process I noticed that the closer the belts are to each other on the idler pulley the closer everything is to aligning perfectly so, as you change speeds, the precision of alignment will change a bit. One thing I am going to do is get a spare set of belts. Thanks for the heads up!

Hope this helps. And Hi! to everyone on this forum. I've been reading for quite some time, just now, finally, have enough time to participate. Hope I can contribute usefully.
Tim

[Joel Christensen]

Thank you Tim and I have to say that I will keep that in mind but I actually contacted the local place I bought my drill press from and they can repair all the tools they sell and I am new to this forum as well but I am trying a fix that is working so far and I will be getting a new belt for this drill press and the fix got told to try first was clean the pulleys really well then take some industrial lubricant that has Teflon in it and put a very little amount on the tension bearing. Step 3 was take both belts and your usually told not to do this but you put belt dressing on the groove side of the belts and let it dry and sure enough I found that has been staying in the grooves so far and if the issue I have been having returns I am supposed to bring the drill press back to the shop and they will find the issue and I don't even have to pay a dime for whatever they have to do thanks to the 5 year warranty and I will let everyone know how this goes.

By the way to anyone considering buying this drill press I want to say that for the little time I had this drill press, I have found the operation of this drill press like bringing the quill down was as stiff as a board in the first few days I used it but it got smoother after drilling at the very least 25 holes and so far I can only say that you have to be cautious about is the belt slipping but other than I have nothing bad to say about it.

[Tim Bueler]

You're in Graham... did you possibly buy that drill press from Equipment Sales & Service in Auburn? Great guys! And the Dad is guru on all things Jet and Powermatic. Super good prices too, especially on cosmetically challenged pieces they often get in.

Tim

[Joel Christensen]

I never heard of that place and I hardly ever go to auburn. But I get all my tools and supplies from the sumner woodworking store and I know it may cost a little more for some things but I know the guys quite well and even if my tools go out of warranty they will still fix the tools for free and hey I got $200 off my jet drill press plus I got scroll saw there at Sumner woodworking and I had to take my scroll saw in a few months ago because of a manufacturer's defect and it took 2 days for the guys to figure out the problem because not even I could not figure out what was wrong but my Excalibur scroll saw would not hold a blade anymore and come to find out the threadings on a part was wrong and required the guys at sumner to order a whole new lower blade assembly. Now every time I go into sumner woodworker I am always greeted and the repair guys always asks me how my scroll saw is doing to and in fact I have to go there soon and get new blade clamps for it as they are a normal wear and tear part.