Hand Tool Rescue

1950s Chain-driven Belt Sander [Rescue] (1x14)

Air date: Apr 28, 2017

This 1950 Skil 525 chain-driven belt sander was running a slow, probably due to the hardened grease around the gears. These are also known as "locomotive" sanders. I completely tore it down except for the area where the worm-drive is. I didn't want to risk breaking anything trying to access that area. I ended up just adding new grease to the worm-drive gears. Power cord should probably be replaced, but I wanted to keep all the parts original as this tool is going to AvE. The sander takes a 2 1/4" belt, which is not very common currently. The sander works fine now and it is back to near original condition. Interestingly, this sander was ~$65 in 1950, which would make the cost around $650 currently!