I have an old Rockwell 1 X 42" belt sander that has been sitting in my garage for 20 years because the surface material on some of the wheels has broken off. I researched it several years ago, and there was one guy who had some wheels made, and was selling them, but when I checked, he had already disappeared.
I was looking at a 1" Rikon belt sander at Rockler the other day, and it looked like a toy compared to mine. I have been bouncing ideas around, like using skate board wheels or using wheels off of casters, and found places on the web that sell wheels with bearings and flat surfaces. Problem is, they were all about an inch too large, as well as being 2" wide rather than the 1" I have. I think the spring adjustment would allow for the larger diameter wheels, but wonder about problems with the wider aspect. At about $10 per wheel I think I might be willing to play with it and see what I could do.
Any thoughts?
Rick
PS: I can see that the larger drive wheel would cause me to modify the table or its mount to bring the belt opening out farther. That seems feasible.
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