Need help making special drive belt installation tool for 371 Porter Cable belt sander

Loosen the belt a bit: You have too much tension on it.

wrote: (clip) The I'm betting it is a loose set screw securing the motor pulley. Can you see/reach it without disassembly?

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The belt probably comes off easy enough when you loosen the driven pulley #25 and finagle the belt off the side of the pulley facing the case, putting it on is going to involve sliding the pulley back on the shaft while teasing each groove of the belt onto the next pulley groove, one by one.
Dave
Dave

I'm guessing that the tool has two pins, one goes down the hole of each pulley. One pin is fixed and the other has an adjustment to allow you to start with the belt loose and then move the pins apart to their final dimension. You would then slip both pulleys off and onto the shafts simultaneously.
Probably not too hard to build.

(...)
The cork and platen assembly is a wear item. How does it look?
--Winston

Put a flat screwdriver between the belt and pulley. Rotate the drive and allow the screwdriver to guide the belt into the groove. JR Dweller in thwe cellar
and an assembly diagram for the sander: Belt Sander.pdf . -------------------------------------------------------------- Home Page: If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses -------------------------------------------------------------- Dependence is Vulnerability: -------------------------------------------------------------- "Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal" "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

I use a heavy shank screw Gun bit holder with the correct size hex head bit to fit the small pulley. Install the belt partially on the large pulley and then put the bit holder through the other end of the belt and start the hex bit into the pulley. Straighten up the bit holder and start the belt down on the small pulley as you turn the bit holder with a wrench. Work both ends of the belt onto the pulleys as you turn the bit holder. It wasn't as bad as I first thought it was going to be. Once I came up with using the bit holder trick now it is easy.

I used a 5mm Allen in the small pulley. Slip the belt on the large pulley about 2 ribs. Put the small end of the Allen inside the belt and into the small pulley. Start to turn the wrench while putting pressure on the belt with your fingers and work the belt onto the small pulley ribs. As it starts to climb onto the small pulley, it wants to come off the large pulley, so you have to keep pressure on that end also. I did it by myself, so it took a couple tries but I got it! Just take your time and it'll go! Madmax26

I had the same experience. The problem was the worm gear from the motor became disengaged from the drive gear that turns the drive belt pulley. So the motor ran, but the pulley didn't move. I had to take the sander apart to find that out -- accidentally pressed in the right place, and the gears slid back together. Of course, it happened again after some additional use, so I took it apart again to push the gear back. It appears there is too much slack in the mounts for the gears. Wish I could tell you how I took the sander apart to reach the gears, but I can't detail it accurately for you. However, an exploded parts view (online) helped me visualize how the sander is assembled, and so how to take it apart and put it back together. One cautionary note: If you disassemble the plate assembly, with its springs and levers for releasing and adjusting the sanding belt, you will have a very hard time lining everything up again and holding the spring-tension in place while you try to re-install and re-attach the plate assembly. If it is possible to reach the gearing without taking the plate assembly out, I haven't figured out how. All the internal parts are attached to one half of the body or the other half, so I pretty much took everything out to reach the gears.

I had the same experience. The problem was the worm gear from the motor became disengaged from the drive gear that turns the drive belt pulley. So the motor ran, but the pulley didn't move. I had to take the sander apart to find that out -- accidentally pressed in the right place, and the gears slid back together. Of course, it happened again after some additional use, so I took it apart again to push the gear back. It appears there is too much slack in the mounts for the gears. Wish I could tell you how I took the sander apart to reach the gears, but I can't detail it accurately for you. However, an exploded parts view (online) helped me visualize how the sander is assembled, and so how to take it apart and put it back together. One cautionary note: If you disassemble the plate assembly, with its springs and levers for releasing and adjusting the sanding belt, you will have a very hard time lining everything up again and holding the spring-tension in place while you try to re-install and re-attach the plate assembly. If it is possible to reach the gearing without taking the plate assembly out, I haven't figured out how. All the internal parts are attached to one half of the body or the other half, so I pretty much took everything out to reach the gears.

Excellent advice. Took a couple of try?s.
But once I understood the principal,,,,,,
You made me look real smart!!!
BTW. 4mm Allen key