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Thread: Delta 31-255x drum sander repair.

  1. #1

    Delta 31-255x drum sander repair.

    I have been trying to get a Delta 31-255x 18x36 drum sander working again. It is a machine at our community college where I volunteer. One of the students destroyed the nylon gears which I removed and replaced in about 3 hours with a set from boston gear. The modifications of those gears included a sleeve bearing to reduce for one of the gears and drilling some holes. All straight forward. The gears perform fine under no load. However with the belt installed, tensioned and the table leveled with blocks of wood as per the manual and several calls to a Delta Tech and having been through the leveling table shaking flange freeing prices numerous times the table will not raise and lower without binding. The table is flat, not bent . I checked that. The front right elevation screw either separates from its hex screw or if it doesn't the gears eventually bind. The rear left washers under the flange nut are not as free as the other two as well. It seems like there are so many variables that can be out of adjustment that going to some staring point is in order. Does anyone know more than what is published in the manual about how to get the table to raise and lower without the gears binding? I got it to crank all the way up level and then the gears would bind if i tried to lower it. To do that I had to reset the outboard front elevation screw about 3 times. But it went all the way up.

    Any help appreciated. I Have invested many many hours in this repair to no avail.
    Last edited by Joe Tuminello; 05-12-2016 at 1:10 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    East Rochester, NY
    Posts
    179
    I had one of these and had nothing but trouble. It is now down the road. Others have said they like it....I have heard from many more that they don't. Delta is no help either. I wish I could help you though.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    I picked up a used one several years ago. Mine works fine as long as you baby the table raiser. As to your specific problem, I don't really have any advice except to repeat the previous sentence: baby the table raiser. It just can't handle someone cranking on it hard and having that poor design in a community shop, it is bound to pretty much always be broken.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  4. Quote Originally Posted by Joe Tuminello View Post
    I have been trying to get a Delta 31-255x 18x36 drum sander working again. It is a machine at our community college where I volunteer. One of the students destroyed the nylon gears which I removed and replaced in about 3 hours with a set from boston gear. The modifications of those gears included a sleeve bearing to reduce for one of the gears and drilling some holes. All straight forward. The gears perform fine under no load. However with the belt installed, tensioned and the table leveled with blocks of wood as per the manual and several calls to a Delta Tech and having been through the leveling table shaking flange freeing prices numerous times the table will not raise and lower without binding. The table is flat, not bent . I checked that. The front right elevation screw either separates from its hex screw or if it doesn't the gears eventually bind. The rear left washers under the flange nut are not as free as the other two as well. It seems like there are so many variables that can be out of adjustment that going to some staring point is in order. Does anyone know more than what is published in the manual about how to get the table to raise and lower without the gears binding? I got it to crank all the way up level and then the gears would bind if i tried to lower it. To do that I had to reset the outboard front elevation screw about 3 times. But it went all the way up.

    Any help appreciated. I Have invested many many hours in this repair to no avail.
    I recently had this very problem and discovered the reason for it on my machine. Like everyone else, the plastic gears were broken. I believe this was due to the poor design of the bracket that supports the 3/8" diameter shaft. I resolved this problem by purchasing the plastic gears that others have sited, but instead of replacing the 3/8 shaft with 3/8" I used a piece of 1/2" stainless steel and turned the crank handle end down to 3/8" to fit in the origial bearing. In addition to this, I drilled out the metal bracket to 13/16" and made a top hat type bushing to give it a bit more surface contact. After reassembling the miter gear mechanism, I got a little frustrated as the mechanism was still binding up. On further inspection I noticed that the front right lift mechanism was not moving correctly. After disassembly, I discovered that the threaded section of the timing gear (part 69 in the Delta parts list) had broken. Since this part is also not available, I repaired this buy putting the threaded shaft into the broken pieces, carefully lined up the broken threaded sections, chamfered the edges of the break and silver brazed the parts back together. After chasing the threads and a little clean up. I reassembled the machine and leveled the table. All is working smoothly now, but I sure would love to have a parts machine to canabalize the parts I may need in the future. So, If you have a metal lathe or know a machinist that can repair or remake the parts, you can get this thing going again. If my words were confusing, I have some pictures I can upload later. Hope this helps.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,648
    A fellow Creeker developed a robust solution for this problem several years ago. I have the 31-250 model and was so impressed that I saved his post. Here is a link: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...rs-A-Must-Read

    FWIW, my machine does a great job and has never given me trouble, and I've run many thousands of feet through it, far more than a typical hobbiest. You can't move the table elevation wheel when it's under load. Simple as that. As long as you obey that rule, the plastic gears should be fine. My machine must be at least 12 years old (I got it second hand) and I've never had an issue.


    John

  6. Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    A fellow Creeker developed a robust solution for this problem several years ago. I have the 31-250 model and was so impressed that I saved his post. Here is a link: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...rs-A-Must-Read

    FWIW, my machine does a great job and has never given me trouble, and I've run many thousands of feet through it, far more than a typical hobbiest. You can't move the table elevation wheel when it's under load. Simple as that. As long as you obey that rule, the plastic gears should be fine. My machine must be at least 12 years old (I got it second hand) and I've never had an issue.


    John
    John,I did what was essentially in your link,except I made a new 1/2" diameter driveshaft. In addition to that problem, there was also aproblem that others seem to be experiencing which is the threaded section of the timing gear is broken.These are the metal gears that are linked together by the long timing belt.

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