Belt Tracking/Tension
NOTICE
It is best to adjust the tracking of the sanding belt before making any tension adjustments. If you have trouble maintaining proper track- ing after several attempts, you may need to adjust the belt tension. Improper tension can often times be the cause of tracking problems.
Belt tension and tracking are crucial to the per- formance of the belt sander. Too much tension will cause undue stress on the bearings and other parts. Too little tension will cause the sanding belt to not track properly and fall off the sanding belt frame. It is better to have the least amount of tension required to make the belt track properly while under load.
To adjust the tracking:
1.Unplug the combination sander!
2.Unlock the quick release lever on the side of the sanding unit by shifting it to the left.
3.Slide a 6" x 48" sanding belt onto the belt sanding frame as shown in Figure 18.
4.Shift the quick release lever to the right to tension the sanding belt.
5.To check the tracking, plug in and quickly turn the sander on and off, and watch the path of the belt. If it moves to either side, the tracking needs to be adjusted.
6.Turn the tracking knob 1⁄4 turn clockwise to adjust the sanding belt towards the tracking knob, and turn
7.Quickly turn the machine on and off again to see if the tracking has improved. If not, repeat the above steps.
8.If the tracking is fairly well maintained, leave the machine running and fine tune the sanding belt by further adjusting the track- ing knob.
Figure 18. Installing the sanding belt.
Figure 19. Knob for adjusting tracking.
Always install belt according to the arrow direction on the inside of the belt. Belts installed incorrectly can fall apart, causing serious personal injury.