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

Red / Yellow Tag
1

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.

Report generated from a filing. This report has also been sent to Asmbly staff, leadership, and space leads with any contact info that was provided. Provide additional photos or resources here to help. When the problem is resolved, ensure it is marked.

2

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 .

3

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
4

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 .