Craftsman 2x42 defective?

T

trailrunner531

Joined
Sep 16, 2013
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13
Dear Craftsman 2x42 owners,

I just unboxed a brand new Craftsman 2x42. It's my first stationary belt sander so I'm hoping I am missing something obvious here.

After assembling the sander (followed instructions) the last step was to install the belt. I did so and noticed some difficulty getting the belt to slide between the drive wheel and the metal housing the surrounds it. The belt tensioner works perfectly and I am using it correctly. It's not tension that's preventing the belt from sliding over the drive wheel, rather it appears that the gap between the wheel and the metal housing is too narrow. I worked it back and forth a few times and finally got it on there. It is extremely tight and I was barely able to turn the belt with my hands. When I turn the grinder on it just stalls and hums. If I remove the belt entirely the grinder runs with no problem.

Do I have a defective tool here? I can't find any adjustments that would widen the gap between the drive wheel and the metal housing, so I'm assuming it is either bent or just flat out defective.

Thanks for your help.
 
Sounds like the guard is bent . Yes, it should work right out of the box. I can say that without hesitation and I don't even have one. Frank
 
What belt is causing the issue? You will have to modify it (cut off portions of the guard) to use thicker belts like leather, cork or 3m surface conditioning belts. Normal thickness grit belts should work without modification.
 
I had the same problem with 60 & 40 grit belts. I almost cut the guard off however found that, first I hand turn the 60 grit belt until enough guard metal removed for the motor to turn by itself. Then adjusting the tracking to cleanly cut more room for this belt. Did the same for 40 grit. Sure, sparks fly but now it handles 40 grit ceramic belt just fine.
 
I can use 30 grit and have not problems.. not even close to touching anywhere.
 
I had the same problem and just cut about a third of the guard off from the bottom. It makes it much easier on belt changes now and you dont need it anyway. Use an angle grinder and go slow and safely.
 
Thanks for all the tips. I spent some time trying to grind a little material off the guard. By the way this is all with the included belt whatever grit it is. After a bit of manual grinding using the belt and elbow greese I managed to grind off enough material so the belt would slip around the drive wheel without too much effort. I flipped the switch and it went around about one half revolution of the belt and then stalled. I did a bit more manual grinding and tried again. In the end I ground enough that it wants to run indefinitely but now there is a new problem keeping it from doing so. The belt wants to walk itself into the inner guard in about two seconds from flipping the switch. Once it does that it stalls again. No amount of tracking adjustment will keep is from doing this. Ive tried. I believe the drive axel is bent which explains both issies. It was bent enough to put the drive wheel too close to the guard and also enough the the belt cannot run true. It just walks off the wheel every time.

Its going back to Sears for an exchange. I'm annoyed at the wasted time and delay in getting to start grinding my first knife, but I'm going to stay optimistic that its worth trying another craftsman 2x42. This model has a great rep among knife makers and I simply cannot justify a pheer or kmg for my first attempt.
 
redd1981 said:
the bad news is that you may have voided any warranty by grinding on the machine.
Click to expand...

He's exactly right, I would not mention it to the people at sears. They are just going to send the machine back to the factory anyways, so no harm done.
 
Just tell them you put the belt on, it was snug and when it rotated it went around a couple of times slowly and stalled out. It explains everything and you're going to have to tell them that much to even explain the problem. Don't try to give them suggestions as to what you think may be wrong just, "I tried and it won't work." Ignorance in these circumstances usually goes farther then displaying that you have a "fix it yourself" attitude.
 
egally08 said:
He's exactly right, I would not mention it to the people at sears. They are just going to send the machine back to the factory anyways, so no harm done.
Click to expand...

Mass manufactured products do not go back to the manufacturer for rework.
They hit the dumpster.
The factories are setup for new manufacturer and they ship goods by the container load.

There was a story in our local news, at the end of the bicycle selling season all the new unsold bicycles at one retailer get picked up by a scrap yard who has an exclusive deal on pickup
- on the condition that they destroy all the goods.




If you can find a retailer like sears walmart ace, lowes, home depot...
all those and get into their dumpsters just before they get picked up you may find some useful returned or end of season goods.
 
Yeah agreed and that is my planned approach. I already called ahead and I'm taking it to my local Sears so they can order another one drop shipped to me. I doubt the person working customer service will even open the box to inspect. The bottom line is they sold me a detective product. I won't muddy the waters with any more information than that.

So hopefully sometime next week I'll receive a functional 2x42 and I can get going on my first knife.
 
I had the exact same problem. I returned it, got back my $$ and soon found a used on on cl.
Once it's working, it is a good machine.
 
Just as an aside, take the included platen and throw it in the garbage. Find a piece of 2x3 angle iron and order a ceramic platen liner and use jb weld to attach it to that. Don't mess around with using a ceramic tile jb welded on the stock platen. The 2x42 is hard enough to learn on due to the speed without using a crappy platen.
 
The new grinder arrived yesterday and it appears to be ok. Included belt went on very easily and it runs.

Coincidentally I was about to ask about the platten when I saw medicevans post. The only trouble I will have with using a piece of angle iron is milling a groove for the mounting bolt to slide in so it can be adjusted. Instead I'm thinking about attaching the ceramic liner to the stock platten and adjusting it backward so it fits. Why can't I do that?
 
k
trailrunner531 said:
The new grinder arrived yesterday and it appears to be ok. Included belt went on very easily and it runs.

Coincidentally I was about to ask about the platten when I saw medicevans post. The only trouble I will have with using a piece of angle iron is milling a groove for the mounting bolt to slide in so it can be adjusted. Instead I'm thinking about attaching the ceramic liner to the stock platten and adjusting it backward so it fits. Why can't I do that?
Click to expand...


does the stock platen have enough adjustment with the added thickness off the glass? is it rigid enough so it won't flex.
 
It should have enough room to adjust. Mine has enough room with the ceramic on to still go back far enough it's not touching the belt. Mine is also rigid enough. I did have to shim mine out with washers to get it straight with the belt. My biggest issue with the stock platen is that when I'm using the file guide with my bubble jig the platen sticks out farther then the glass and so I can't always get in as tight as I should be able to. Using the stock paten there's really no fix for this unless you custom cut a section of glass but it's going to be wider then the belt.
 
TLR said:
(snip)My biggest issue with the stock platen is that when I'm using the file guide with my bubble jig the platen sticks out farther then the glass and so I can't always get in as tight as I should be able to. Using the stock paten there's really no fix for this unless you custom cut a section of glass but it's going to be wider then the belt.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I bought the awesome Bruce Bump carbide faced file guide to use on my slipjoint fitting and to help improve my plunges, but the stock platen sticking out past the edge of the ceramic tile makes it impossible to use. Just get some angle and a piece of glass from Tracy and go to town. Life's too short to grind on a crappy platen.
 
I have never used this grinder before, but I did make my own No Wled Grinder and assuming that the platen works the same way and can be slid back and forth (in and out), you don't need a mill to make the slots. All I did on my NWG for the platen was drill 2 holes about as far inward on the angle iron as you can (so you have those most in/out adjustability as possible), then just use an angle grinder to make a cut to the top and bottom of each whole, thus making a slot. I hope that makes sense, if not let me know and ill post a picture of what I mean. Hope that helps a bit :)

-Paul
www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
Yeah I gotcha, that method makes sense.

Which ceramic platten do you guys recommend for my grinder? Link?

Thanks again for all your help!
 
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