Don't get to this side of the forum world too often, but this post is appropriate.  Found several good power tools this weekend, but the 3 older ones were  as follows: An old 1/4" Dayton drill with electrical tape holding the lower grip together, a Millers Falls shiny 3/8" drill that is near cherry condition, and an old bomber 4" wide Craftsman belt sander with three rollers instead of two.  Inspired by Caterpillar(and 3M ha ha) I'm sure.  Phot iisn't the greatest, but you get the picture.....bad pun

DM&FS

That blue grip on the C-man might be bakelite...eh?

DM&FS

A Craftsman "High Track" belt sander.... never seen one like that.  :)

How about close up shots? I'd like a better look.

Never had the opportunity to use that sander but I sure like it's looks.

That belt sander has a nice look it it :)

>That blue grip on the C-man might be bakelite...eh?

Do the '409 test'. Put a drop of 409 cleaner on a paper towel, rub the knob for a bit*, look for a yellow stain on the paper towel. If it leaves one, it's most likely bakelite....

The other (less reliable test) is to rub your hand back and forth on it until it gets warm, then sniff it and see if it smells stinky/chemically....


*On the sander

Rusty, I'll test it when I get time, but here are the close ups of the sander.

That sander IS cool looking. I would heed the oil req'mt, and give it a drink, post-haste. I bet the dust catcher would be damn near impossible to find for that.

1948 Power Tool Cat page. EXPENSIVE!!

Hmm, doesn't look like it had a dust bag. That's actually a big plus for you.

$54 in 1948?!?! That must be the super-deluxe model! Nice!

Back when something that weighed more than 3  five pound bags of sugar was considered 'portable'...

Heck, the thing probably had $8 worth of alumnium in it...;P

I bet it can sand all the way thorough a hardwood floor into the basement in 3 minutes flat..

I'm thinking the dust collector would be your lungs.  I did fire it up and the drive motor works, but sounds like it needs oil/de-gumming.  Ye's it's heavy...about the weight of my 4" Bosch that WILL sand through an oak floor.  Haven't measured to see what belt it takes, but this will be one for the Wall of Fame!!

Thanks for all the responses, now to get the magnifying glass out and read the advertising for it.

Still haven't tested for bakelite, but will.

DM&FS

I measured the circumference for the belt and came up with 28", but now that I've read the ad, it's a 26 3/4" belt.  Gonna have to dig to find some of those.....and I misspoke, it's a 3" belt an not a 4".  I did get the oiler things figured out and found out that opening the ball port with a skinny scribe and drizzling 3 in 1 oil a drop at a time was a method to get the oil where it needed to be.  The top roller wasn't too stiff, but the bottom front one was almost locked up, so I worked it gingerly and eventually butted it up against my long bench mounted belt sander and let it spin it at "working  speed".  Both bottom rollers have some sort of friction tape on them and I was wondering if that was factory, or some sort of grip or protection for the rollers?  I'm also wondering if I should remove it.  Took the gear cover off the other side and man, they really packed the grease in there on those drive gears.  Would it be to may advantage to replace that grease after 60 years of use and dormancy.

It does have a previous owner's name engraved in it, so it's collector's vcalue isn't much, but it's still a really cool sander and it was great reading Sears' hype on why you should let go of a week's pay to own one.

NOw that all of the rollers are relatively freed up, it's time to find that oddball sized belt.

DM&FS

Somewhere on Tool Talk we had a conversation about sander belts, and I had found a recipe for making belts to your own specs.  It might have been in one of R DeCristiforo's books.