I have a Delta 18/36 sander that I bought when they first came out, 15 or so years ago. Over time the chunks of epoxy putty that were used to balance the drum came loose and fell out. A couple of months ago I finally got sufficiently disgusted with the out-of-balance condition that I decided to fix it. You could statically balance the drum yourself, but that would not really solve the problem, as the drum rotation is high enough to require dynamic balancing. I called lots of places until it dawned on me that this is pretty similar to balancing the crankshaft of a car. And indeed, an automotive machine shop not only could do it, but would at far less than specialty shops or electric motor shops. Not only that, but the part was done 3 hours after I dropped it off. Cost me $85. The drum runs MUCH smoother now. Worth every penny. (On the other hand, Delta's design does not make it easy to get the drum out, esp after this much time.)
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