Getting A Drum Sander Back To Parallel With The Feed Bed

[Julie Moriarty]

I have a Ryobi 16-32 drum sander. It became difficult to raise and lower so I loosened the carriage bolts, cleaned up as best as I can and tightened it up again. Now it's a fraction out of parallel.

I'm considering dismantling the whole thing to clean and grease as necessary. Any cautionary tales with warnings I need to heed?

[Julie Moriarty]

I fiddled around with it all morning, making adjustments, installing washers for shims, etc. I realized the washers were all too thick. What worked was inserting shims made from sheet metal at the bottom, in the space between the drum frame and the adjustment carriage. For the first time in years, the drum is parallel with the table. Whoohooo!

[Julie Moriarty]

And then I went to start it up and....... nothing. I had to remove the bed to get to the electrical box. Turned out the neutral side of the DPST switch failed. Wired up all the neutrals together and we're back in business. :)