I was running drawer stock through my 26" Steel City drum sander today and blew a belt, changed the rear belt and blew it again. Finally noticed that the front drum wasn't doing any work, all was being done by the back drum. Changed both belts, still not working right,a nd the stock had a bevel to it. Yikes.
Dropped the feed table down to adjust the rear drum, and heard a loud "POP"! when I cranked the table up. Looked at the front of the sander and the left side was 1" higher than the right side. All the collapsible sheet metal had gotten fouled up somehow and now I have some tin knockin' to do.
I took the sander apart, down to just the frame and motor, and found that two things had broken, a bevel gear at the bottom of the adjustment shaft had torn out some teeth, and the two allen set screws that act as a stake for the threaded bushing/collar on the right side got torn out.
I managed to get everything fixed, but I'm going to have to find a a way to drill those set screws in place. The sander is realigned and within 4 thou' left to right across the table, and both drums are doing work.
I guess I'll be contacting Steel City tomorrow for replacement gears.
It could've been worse. At least the sander still works, just blew about 5 hours of a nice day.
Long frustrating day. Thanks for letting me whine.