Fenner Drive Link Belt

  How many machines in your shop are run by a V-belt? In mine, there is a planner, a joiner, a sander, a small drill press, not my table saw and my large drill press uses flat belts.  I am pretty sure that my band saws use belt drive, though I bought them assembled so I don't know for sure.   What that means is lots of belts in various lengths that are wearing out in the heat and the dust.

Fenner Drive link belt

   The photo above shows my solution to replacing drive belts.  The Fenner Drive link belt is an easy solution to replacement belt blues.  These belts run very smoothly, are super easy to adjust for length and should last a very long time.  I'll keep you posted on the service life of these belts, that means you'll have to keep reading the blog for years to come.

   The first thing I replaced was the v-belt in my small drill press.  I use the drill press as a sander now and the smell of cooking drive belt was getting to be a real concern.  It looked as though the belt was soon going to give out part way through a project, so I did some preventative maintenance.

home made  disc sander with dead belt.

back in action

The home made sander/grinder has been laid up for a couple of years.  The belt was totally worn out, I couldn't use the sander because of the little bits of black rubber that were being thrown in my face. (hot black rubber)  My problem was that the bearings and shaft that the belt turned are a sealed one piece unit.  My Grandfather is not around to explain to me how me built it, where the parts came from or how to replace the belt.  Solution; Fenner drive link belt.   I cut the old belt off and threaded the Fenner belt though and put it together.  Now I have my rough grinding stone and 8in. rough disc sander back in business.

   I know the belting is more expensive than standard belts, but I felt it was worth it for the ease of adjustment, smoothness and durability and in the case of the sander it was the only solution.

A Fein Solution

   I have a Fein shop vacuum that I have used for several years and think is an excellent tool.  I like that it is quiet (as shop vacs go) and that it has a switch that allows the tool being used to turn  the vac off and on.  A great feature when doing a bunch of sanding.


  I don't think it is possible to over estimate how important dust collection and shop vacuums are to a wood worker.  If you don't vacuum the shop regularly a layer of dust gets on everything. If the dust is there just walking through the shop stirs it up and the dust gets on your finishes as they dry.  As well, fine dust has a long term negative effect on breathing and lungs, something not to be ignored.


  The only short-coming I ever found with my shop-vac was the small diameter of the vacuum hose meant that when I was cleaning up my shop I would often have a splinter or a curl of wood from planning jam the hose.  Then I would have to figure out how to clear the obstruction, for a time I had an eight foot piece of quarter round that I used as a cleaning rod, but then I got creative.

Fein-en-stein

   I replaced the standard hose with 2 1/2in dust collection hose.  It needed an adapter to fit so I made one from M.D.F. using my hole saws to cut out the sections. 

  The shop vac doesn't have nearly as powerful a vacuum force since the hose is so much larger but it is still strong enough to pick up saw dust and shavings.  I feel that the trade off has been worth it, since it doesn't get plugged any more when I am cleaning up.


   By nature I am not patient, so having the vacuum hose get plugged up in use was a real pain in the neck.  This simple modification, though long over due has been a real time saver.  I still have the other hose available to use though I haven't gone back for it once, the extra vacuum pressure the smaller  hose supplies hasn't been missed.