Widebelt Sander Drum Dressing
Advice on returning a damaged wide-belt sander drum to uniform smoothness. May 15, 2014
Question
Our Timesavers WBS rubber drum has some light damage (less than 1/16" deep) in it. Are there any solutions on dressing the drum so that it remains parallel to the feed belt and is consistent over the entire width?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor D:
You mean like take a sheet of MDF just big enough to fit inside a 120 grit wide-belt, lay on the feed bed and gently raise into the roller? Tack a long stick to one end of the MDF so it overhangs both sides of the feed bed and won't allow the roller to grab the whole thing and shoot it across the shop. Or just cut the MDF with 4" hanging long right and left on one end instead of the stick thingy. Does that make any sense?
You wouldn't have to tack the stick, just slide it in the end, and slide the MDF and belt up to where there is some tension on the stick. Turn the belt so you don't sand on the seam. Have I lost you yet?
From the original questioner:
This is what we had thought of but didn't know if anyone had tried it and it worked or if we were going to mess up the machine doing it.
From contributor G:
Take a piece of the particle board and a strip of sandpaper that is about 4" wide and glue it on the PB going diagonally across the PB. Obviously take the belt off the sander and run the PB with the sanding strip glued to it. Take very light passes and check the drum each pass. Take off only what you need.
From Contributor S:
Important question before you get to grinding - is your conveyor flat? Is your head level to the conveyor? If your belt isn't flat, and your head isn't level, you are in for some disappointing results. Your drum was ground and balanced with the existing rubber. Removing rubber changes the balance of the drum and will often cause chatter. Add in the fact that you will be basing your grinding on a conveyor that will be thinner in the middle from normal wear and the fact that you may be grinding the drum into a taper. The best way is to find a local shop that can grind it on a lathe and spin balance it for you. In the huge numbers of machines I have worked on I have only ground a few drums in emergency situations. Having it done right will pay for itself dozens of times over.
