Drill Press Belt

I broke a belt on my drill press.  Trying to fabricate a new test rotor for the UABMM2, the drill press started making a knocking sound, and I realized one of the belts was coming apart, and immediately stopped it.

The drill press is from Harbor Freight Tools, so I went there to get a replacement.  Guess what?  They don't sell replacement belts.  Big Sigh...  Then I went to the auto parts store, nothing that small.  Big Sigh...  Next I went to the Home Labyrinth store, no belts at all...  Fork!  The place I should have gone first is Turner Hardware, and they had the right one, but I got the wrong size, Doh!  Made two trips.

Now that I had the right belt, and was putting the drill press back together, I noticed something about the idler pulley.  The arm that holds the idler pulley is bent, making the idler pulley canted.  No wonder the belt wore out, the idler pulley was chewing it up.  Another lesson in not buying cheap tools at the cheap tools store.  This defect cost me several hours on a Saturday afternoon, and also cost Harbor Freight Tools my business...