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I got this belt sander for a long time ago i bought it used for cheap, i don’t use it that much but last time i turned it on i couldn’t stand the noise and the vibration so, i decided to replace the bearings – i already opened it once so i knew it’s a bearing problem . after i took all the plastic body apart i found out that i need to remove the threaded pulley first before i can remove the final plastic part and get access to the bearing, and this is the subject of this post, i can’t just clamp the pulley or the rotor in the vise i could leave marks on them, so i gonna need to make a threaded pulley removal tool. What i got in mind is a piece of flat steel with a circle of holes in the same diameter of the threaded pulley, and with the same number of the holes as the threaded pulley teeth, so i can insert wood nails in those holes, and then all i will need to do is hold the rotor with one hand and unscrew the threaded pulley with other hand using a car oil filter belt wrench and the DIY threaded pulley removal tool.

This is the threaded pulley i need to unscrew to access to the bearing, i could use a vise but the in this case, the threaded pulley have a small clamping area i would need a lot of vise pressure to hold it tight in place and that can deform the threaded pulley teeth easily.

I could just take measurements and get the precise location of the hole but would take time, so i used the dirty trick method of taking dimensions. i put a paper on top of the threaded pulley and with my finger i pressed against the edges of the pulley to transfer the shape of it to the paper, and then i estimated the holes location and marked them with a pen.

A after some digging in some of my junk boxes i found this piece of flat steel, perfect for the job 😀 .

Unfortunately the dirt trick didn’t work as i expected, so i measured the diameter of the threaded pulley and drew it on the steel piece and then divided it  by 10. With a center punch i struck each hole location to prevent the drill from sliding.

All those holes are 2 mm, i wanted the hole to be tight fit for the wood nail but i didn’t found the right nails, so time for plane B.

Okay what i did is enlarged 8 holes to 4 mm, i will just insert the nails and help hold them in place with a hose clamp

Here is all i need for a DIY threaded pulley removal tool.

The DIY threaded pulley removal tool in action, it was a little bit tricky to hold the nails and the pulley with hose clamp but for one only job is not a problem.

It didn’t take much force to unscrew it, i just needed to turn it to the right direction, in this case it’s to the left.

Now i can get access to the bearing and continue my work.