Ritter 6 x 64 belt sander

[Seth Poorman]

Hey Guys I got a question on my Ritter 6x64 belt sander : Ive had this big sander for awhile and havent used it much cause Ive been useing a smaller one, but I sold the smaller one to save room, now that ive been using it I cant get the belt to stay in one spot, it either drifts to high or it wants to drift down.. When I do get it set it only stays there for a couple minuts before it drifts back down or up..Do you think that its to tight or to loose??? Ive been working on it for several hours and cant seem to get a happy medium.. :<(
Thanks for any input Seth...

[Stephen Cherry]

Do you have any extra belts to see if it has the same problem with a different belt?

[Keith Bohn]

We had a Ritter with the same problem. I hated it. The problem most likely is in the crown, of lack of it in/on the drums.

Try wrapping tape around the center line of the drums. Start with a couple of wraps, see if that tames it a little. Try a couple more to see if it gets better(er).

Wrap the tape (counter-clockwise I think) when looking down on the drum(s) (wrap in the direction that won't unwind the tape).

[Seth Poorman]

Ok -Ill try a new belt first and see what happens , and then Ill move on to Keiths Idea...Thanks guys for the help, I may call
Ritter in the AM and speak with them as well..

[John McClanahan]

I have a hand held belt sander that had the same problem. I wrapped tape around the idler (front) drum and it hepled. In the end, it was the belts that were the cause of the problem.

John