Looking for a wide idler pulley for stroke sander

[DanR]

Hi Folks,
I am looking for an idler pulley for a six inch wide sanding belt. the top middle wheel in this picture is missing:



I bought this stroke sander on Sunday and when I put it together found that the belt is loose. I found the original plans (and this picture) in Fine Woodworking number 3 (Summer 1976). The seller is checking into it, but he got it from a friend in Florida, so shipping may be a killer if the wheel is down there.

The wheels were made by Mooradian Manufacturing Company (MMC) in Los Angeles and are 7 inches deep.

Thanks,
Dan

[jhreed]

Do you have the shaft & bracket, just missing the pulley? Take shaft & bracket plus one of the pulleys to Motion Industries in Raleigh and they should be able to identify & match it.

[junquecol]

Over the years, ShopNotes / Woodsmith have done a couple of belt sanders. For the pulleys, they stacked, and glued MDF circles, and added a ball bearing to each end. Somewhere here, I have the issues containing the articles.

[DanR]

Thanks James, I will check them out.

Thanks Bruce, there is a good article in Fine Woodworking number 6. My stroke sander is from number 3, and uses store bought wheels, but the one in number 6 uses pine glued and screwed to form a square and then turned to a wheel. I may give that a shot.

I spoke to the previous owner, and he called the guy who made it. It never had the third wheel, instead he had a platen with rounded edges sticking out from the beam across the top to slide the belt up and out of the way. Graphite coated (embedded I guess is a better term) in canvas (same as covers the hand platen) was wrapped over the platen to reduce the friction. I may give this a shot also.

Tracking and tension can then be handled with the right hand wheel as it has adjustments for these.

Thanks again,
Dan