Bridgewood 15" WBS Belt Replacement

[Jay Houghton]

I have a used 15" wide belt sander that was branded under a lot of names, Grizzly, Powermatic, etc. They are all the same. This one is probably 10 years old. I had a belt break last week and upon investigating how to replace it (them), the upper sheave is landlocked...so to speak. In other words it's on the end of the sandpaper drum but supported on the outside by a casting and bearing. So there's literally no way of slipping a belt onto it without taking one end of it out of the bearing race. I'm totally amazed by that and when I downloaded the manual from Grizzly on the newer ones, which look almost identical, I see they redesigned it so the pulley on the end of the drum is open ended.

I do have a manual for mine but it says nothing about belt replacement. I ended up getting a set of Fenner Twist Belts, at great expense, but at least you can wrap those around the pulleys and then connect the belt. Still not an ideal solution but better than the work of a major disassembly. Unless I'm missing something this is a terrible design!

Anyone do a belt change on this machine or one similar?

Jay

[Bill Dufour]

South bend lathes, and others, used a flat leather drive belt. it was designed to be installed and laced in place. later models used a synthetic rubber belt. They make alligator clips to make the splicing faster. Home shop types today use a serpentine auto motive belt smooth side in as a replacement . But they still lace them together.
Bill D

[Jay Houghton]

South bend lathes, and others, used a flat leather drive belt. it was designed to be installed and laced in place. later models used a synthetic rubber belt. They make alligator clips to make the splicing faster. Home shop types today use a serpentine auto motive belt smooth side in as a replacement . But they still lace them together.
Bill D

I've seen those on machines built in the 19th Century! But this one had two 71" V-belts on it and I'm not seeing how to get them on there without removing the end support. I also don't think flat belts ran at about 5000 rpm!
Jay