I recently bought an older used Performax 16-32 Drum Sander. It was well used by the previous owner, but seems to still have some life left in it for a few more years. I, like many have minor conveyor tracking issues, and for the most part have gotten the machine to "almost" track with no issue. Today, I found out that when Jet purchased Performax, they added some accessories to help this tracking issue. They offer a pair of magnetic ceramic inserts that install to the bottom of the platen to help improve belt tracking. They offer this kit as an alignment kit. Can this be used on my older machine to improve belt tracking?
They will work, as I have them on an older Performax myself. When I bought the machine used, I ordered a new belt and the ceramic inserts to refurb my sander. As it turned out, it already had a set of the trackers on it. One of them looked like it had been dropped on the floor as there is a chip on the corner. I went ahead a put on the new ones and kept the old ones for spares. If you are interested in them, PM me your address and I'll mail them to you.
(01-21-2019, 09:39 AM)Eric Commarato Wrote: They offer this kit as an alignment kit. Can this be used on my older machine to improve belt tracking?
Thanks for any input, Eric
I bought a used Jet 10/20 drum sander and it came with the ceramic things but I still had trouble with the tracking.
What I finally figured out was the previous owner had applied too much force to one (or both) of the bolts that tighten the conveyor and it caused the belt to stretch unevenly.
The symptom was I could painstakingly adjust the tracking and the machine would run perfectly as long as I didn't put any wood through it. Once I did, the belt would creep sideways.
The solution was a new conveyor belt and to install it with only as much tension as absolutely necessary.
Jet Tracker Kit part number 98-0080. Just searching on 98-0080 should find plenty of places online that sells the kit, including Amazon. Here's a link to a manual that Jet published for the kit:
(01-21-2019, 11:13 PM)Ohio Mike Wrote: I bought a used Jet 10/20 drum sander and it came with the ceramic things but I still had trouble with the tracking.
What I finally figured out was the previous owner had applied too much force to one (or both) of the bolts that tighten the conveyor and it caused the belt to stretch unevenly.
The symptom was I could painstakingly adjust the tracking and the machine would run perfectly as long as I didn't put any wood through it. Once I did, the belt would creep sideways.
The solution was a new conveyor belt and to install it with only as much tension as absolutely necessary.
It has tracked perfectly for years now.
Mike
I wonder if that's the issue that I'm having getting it aligned (belt has stretched). I purchased a new belt for my 22-44 as the previous owner had some water damage to the belt and I can't for the life of me get it to track correctly.
(03-04-2019, 05:29 PM)greatscott Wrote: I wonder if that's the issue that I'm having getting it aligned (belt has stretched). I purchased a new belt for my 22-44 as the previous owner had some water damage to the belt and I can't for the life of me get it to track correctly.
When I first got my Jet I could not for the life of me get the belt to track. I called Jet and the first thing the rep said was forget about what the owner's manual says. He had me loosen the adjusters on both sides and move the belt to the center. Then I took a magic marker (are they still called that?) and blackened the roller on both sides of the belt. Then with it running at a relatively slow speed, making minute adjustments, we eventually got it to track.
The guy stayed on the phone for over an hour asking me what happened after each adjustment. Tighten one side, loosen the other, back and forth. It has been good for years with just a couple of tiny adjustments.
Trying to do too much from one side seemed to be the biggest mistake I was making.
After buying a used 16-32 I was going nuts trying to keep the belt alligned. Actually wrecked one belt when I wasn't payiny eneough attention while running some doors. Called the ompany and also had a great rep who helped me get it right. With the known tracking problem, I don't understand why Jet hasn't put something on their website as to how to fix the problem.
(03-04-2019, 11:37 PM)Bill_de Wrote: When I first got my Jet I could not for the life of me get the belt to track. I called Jet and the first thing the rep said was forget about what the owner's manual says. He had me loosen the adjusters on both sides and move the belt to the center. Then I took a magic marker (are they still called that?) and blackened the roller on both sides of the belt. Then with it running at a relatively slow speed, making minute adjustments, we eventually got it to track.
The guy stayed on the phone for over an hour asking me what happened after each adjustment. Tighten one side, loosen the other, back and forth. It has been good for years with just a couple of tiny adjustments.
Trying to do too much from one side seemed to be the biggest mistake I was making.
This may not be any help to you at all but I’ll share my experiences on the used 37x2 Supermax I bought. When I went to look at it the seller couldn’t get it to track for more than a minute with the belt wandering. It was pretty much a lightly used homeowner machine. I piddled with it for a few minutes and couldn’t get it to track either. Hard to plunk down that pile of cash for a machine that won’t track but you know is well made and rightfully should. I still bought it.
Fist thing I did was order 2 new brass bushings for the front rollers. After disassembling it, I could see the excessive wear in the bushings from the track adjustments being overtightened. I installed the two new bushings (easy job) and I had itvtravking straight in less than a minute of fiddling. I haven’t had to touch it since and it runs continuously with no problems.
There are lots of threads on various forums of my 37x2 notvtracking right and I can’t help but wonder if their problems would be as easily and quickly solved as mine were with $15 and less than 30 minutes worth of time. This is one of the first things I’d check on your machine if it’s a similar conveyor belt design. I should actually order 2-4 more of these bushings in case they ever quit making parts for my machine.
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