Strip sander idler wheels

[Beave2012]

I picked up an extra step sander with a recent purchase. My prior one I believe is newer and has plastic wheels (I had to replace them once), the most recent one has metal wheels. Does anyone know of a reason they changed them out? Are the metal ones more reliable? Any input would be nice.

Or also seems they have a different wheel design... trying to figure out what one to keep.

[wa2crk]

Beaver
The steel wheels are the older ones and IMHO are better. I had one with the plastic wheels and during a lengthy sanding session the bushings in the wheels overheated and the sanding belt cut through the metal retainer and then the machine's cover. I made replacement wheels from some hard maple and used ball bearing inserts. These replacements worked OK.
Bill V

[JPG]

The plastic idlers with the bushing bearing are not reliable. I would only use them when doing interior sanding. However I do not like using the metal idlers for interior sanding(the abrasive riding on the metal pulley face).

[rpd]

Or also seems they have a different wheel design... trying to figure out what one to keep.

I would go with the metal idler wheels.

If by "different wheel design" you mean the position of the idler wheel.

The upper/rear idler wheel can mount in two different positions.
- the normal position near the back like in your second picture.
- or under the top wheel like in your first picture, this configuration allows the belt to be threaded through a hole in the work piece for internal sanding.
see page 9 of the manual. http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=6079

[ChrisNeilan]

Mine has the metal wheels and I couldn’t be happier!