# More power for my 6 X 48 belt sander.



## John Conroy (Feb 26, 2021)

My belt sander is a very solid cast iron piece made by Crafstman in the 60's. The only complaint I have is the lack of power. The 1/2 HP motor can be stalled quite easily. Since I had the 1.5HP single phase motor left over from my drill press conversion I decided to install it on the belt sander. 





Pretty simple really as the motor just bolts under the stand on a mounting plate with horizontal slots to allow for lots of motor possibilities. I need to add the ability to adjust vertically so I sliced a 8" long piece of 1.5" square tubing in half lengthwise and milled some slotted holes.

























I bought a 4" OD aluminum pulley at PA. It had a 3/4" bore so I had to bore it slightly to match the 20mm shaft and widen the keyway slightly to fit the 5mm key. After I got it all installed and wired up I hit the switch and tried to sand a piece of steel and got a surprise. The motor turns the wrong direction! It turns CW and I need CCW rotation. I was pretty choked at myself for not thinking of that before I started. The motor has no provision for reversing the direction. I found a very good video on youtube and followed the instructions from it. Basically you need to reverse the polarity of the start windings only. I took the motor apart and found the start winding leads buried under a bunch of insulating sleeves and held in place by string. It was pretty easy to cut the 2 leads at their original solder joints and reverse and re-solder them. I used sail makers thread to replace the string ties holding it all together. I was quite surprised when it actually worked. I figured for sure I would be back to the old motor. Link to the video.














Any way the motor swap was a success and the sander has tons of power now.


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## DPittman (Feb 26, 2021)

Nice improvement.  I'm trying to figure out what I could use my single phase motors on from the drill press and milling machine...it would be easier to justify the vfd change for me.


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## John Conroy (Feb 26, 2021)

Yeah I was thinking of selling the motor but I realized it could be of use. The perfect belt sander would have a three phase motor/vfd but this will be a huge improvement.


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## CalgaryPT (Feb 26, 2021)

John Conroy said:


> My belt sander is a very solid cast iron piece made by Crafstman in the 60's. The only complaint I have is the lack of power. The 1/2 HP motor can be stalled quite easily. Since I had the 1.5HP single phase motor left over from my drill press conversion I decided to install it on the belt sander.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's some higher end electrical work and a killer save on your part. Great work John. Thanks for posting the vid too.


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## Tom Kitta (Feb 26, 2021)

My belt sander is powered by 2hp motor but I found out that single pulley is not enough and I need two belts. Also I recently burned out the switch with too much load. These things eat a lot of power.


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## Dabbler (Feb 26, 2021)

Nice work John!

My sanders have 3/4 HP and 1 HP, but both are a bit lame for hogging metal.  I have a 3PH 3HP motor waiting in the wings for a 3X79 belt sander build - probably 100 years from now...

Until then I'll cope.  

Really nice idea to get the most out of your sander!


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## Brent H (Feb 27, 2021)

I have the CAD plans for a 72x2 belt sander built up out of 1/2” plate I’d anyone is interested I can post in the plans section


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## John Conroy (Feb 27, 2021)

That's a project on my list of things to build. It would be great if you posted the plans.


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## YYCHM (Feb 27, 2021)

Brent H said:


> I have the CAD plans for a 72x2 belt sander built up out of 1/2” plate I’d anyone is interested I can post in the plans section



Please post the plans.


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## PeterT (Feb 27, 2021)

There's quite a bit of info on this link/forum for additional ideas/plans 
https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-belt-sander

There are also Ebay & kit sellers who offer some of the pita components if you are so inclined. Depends on what you want to make yourself.

One of my fav's from a features & functionality standpoint


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## Brent H (Feb 27, 2021)

I will dig them out and put them on the plan section. You will - or should use a CNC to cut out the patterns - I will put as much detail I can on the plan section


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## John Conroy (Feb 27, 2021)

PeterT said:


> There's quite a bit of info on this link/forum for additional ideas/plans
> https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-belt-sander
> 
> There are also Ebay & kit sellers who offer some of the pita components if you are so inclined. Depends on what you want to make yourself.
> ...



I like his method of holding the flat plate on the rotary table with the 3 jaw chuck. Never thought of doing it that way.


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