18x36 Delta drum sander need help

[James Eberly]

I inherited a Delta 18x36 drum sander 31-250 from my father in-law, during the move an unfortunate accident caused the sander to be dropped on its side knocking the feed table off of it. Reviewing the original paperwork that came with the sander really doesn’t show me how the feed table was mounted. From the parts list I believe there where cap screws the thread into the end of the elevating screw, if this is so mine are sheared off. I believe that the elevating screws are a discontinued item, would anyone know where you can get these.

[Steve Demuth]

Sorry about the mishap, but if it was damaged badly enough to sheer those cap screws, I doubt it can be repaired cost effectively. If that's all that's wrong, you should be able to extract the stubs pretty easily and salvage the jack screws, but that's unlikely to be the end of it in my opinion. Otherwise, the parts you need are only available if you can find another device that is beyond repair or have them machined for you. And, to be honest, that may be a blessing. My Delta 31-255x is the only woodworking machine I've owned that could never be made to perform well. It's a poorly designed machine with so many things wrong or in need of constant adjustment that it deserves the scrap heap. If a $200 repair were required on mine, I'd junk it and put the dough toward a quality replacement.

[John TenEyck]

E-replacement Parts will show you a schematic of how it all fits together. They sell some replacement parts at outrageous prices, too. I'd see if you can source parts from McMaster Carr, etc. that would only require minor modification to make work for you. FWIW, I had an 18x36 for about 10 years and it always served me well.

https://www.ereplacementparts.com/de...3512_3539.html


John