Startrite sd310 help

[Ollie H]

The belt on my startrite planer Thicknesser has broken and I am struggling to find the right size to fit. If anyone has one could you tell me the correct size? The numbers have rubbed off the old one. I have tried fitting two different belts but they must be too long as they keep fouling on a some metal when tight. The last belt I tried was FO 12.5 x 1060 La Z.
There is also a problem when thicknessing that sometimes it takes out a large chunk at the end of the board

 

[Trevanion]

Is it the belt that's fouling or the pulley? If it's the pulley it's probably out of line and needs lining up with the upper pulley. I think you need an XPA style belt but length really depends on what works best for your machine, the best way to figure that out is to lock off the pulley in its ideal location and run a string around both pulleys and cut it to length. This would give you your rough internal belt measurement and you could go from there.

The thicknessing problem sounds like your outfeed rollers aren't aligned properly with the cutter block or the springs have gone weak which is allowing it to rise up into the cutter head. Usually, there's a way to adjust the spring tension and height of the rollers on the machine, my rule of thumb is 1mm lower than the cutters on the infeed roller and 2mm lower on the outfeed roller. Spring tension varies between machines so it's a little trial and error to get it right.