04/15/25 04:19PM Woodshop - Belt Sander - Large 36" Powermatic

Issue Type: Equipment Problem
Area: Woodshop
Equipment: Belt Sander - Large 36" Powermatic
Summary: Belt and feed stopped working suddenly.
Additional Info: The power to the belt and the feed belt on the 36-in powermatic sander suddenly stopped while I was using it.

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I just checked this out and ran it for a few minutes no issue .
Any other info on this ?
I’ll be onsite for the next few hours and will check again .

I believe I got it repaired last night but it still needs a few things.

The limit switch on the right side of the belt (if youbare facing the control panel) isn’t stopping the belt from walking off if the tracking is off. I also believe the original problem was dust in the airline going to the the tracking actuator. The filter bowl to that system was full, but I couldn’t get the bowl off to clean it.

Thanks for taking a look @Jeffmc

1 Like

I removed the dust from the filter bowl.
It did produce the same issue as reported above this morning with someone .

  • belt and conveyor stopped and no limit switch was thrown . It started again by pressing the green power buttons on conveyor and belt.
  • Ran again with no issue
  • This was almost the same issue I reported last week - only difference was the conveyor only stopped.

I called powermatic support and walked through the issue with them. They suggested it sounded like a small bad connection that was dropping power and causing the shutoff but not big enough stay open ( thats why it can restart) .
There was a similar issue a couple of years ago at the power cutoff button in front causing sporadic shut downs. That was caused by a bad connection there .
I removed the control panel and checked the connections - there weren’t any as bad as before but I did re-tighten the connection that was loose last time.
Used the sander with no issues.
no recommendation on what status it should be left in . I don’t see an impact to the machine if used - but someone could damage their work if the conveyor were to stop and belt continued .