Here's the final result of the search for a cheaper drive belt. The local Ryobi repair
parts dealers were selling it for $17-22 plus shipping (it was a special order and no
one was really sure it was available). Some web sites were selling it for between
$15-20. Graingers sold its version (made by DixieSales) for about $15 but wanted $5
handling charge plus shipping of $6-7. Graingers tech support was very good and
supplied me with a lot of information, sent me a parts breakdown w/Graingers parts
number for the belt sander,and gave me the DixieSales part number, and also confirmed
the Bando part number. Checking Graingers web site was a waste of time, they list Ryobi
as a manufacturer they carrry but their search machine couldn't find anything from
Ryobi. Same with the Graingers 800 number for sales. But fortunately Graingers has a
repair parts division whose computers are different, and they had all the Ryobi parts
information.

After all that I checked the Bando web site, found about 10 Bando distributors in the LA
area, the list price for this belt was $10.30. I ordered it, plus $5 for shipping plus
sales tax.

Lesson learned: next time Ryobi will be last on my purchase list. I heard over and over
from tool dealers and suppliers how hard it was to deal with them. And contrast this
with buying repair parts for my high speed Dremel tool. Most of the parts were $1-4,
shipping was free...one time they sent me the wrong parts (it was my fault and I
admitted that to them) and they didn't even blink before they offered to send the
correct ones for free. Free shipping, reasonably priced parts. That's a company that
wants repeat customers.

It was a lot of work to save a few bucks, but I learned a few things so it was worth the
effort.

John



"jbclem" wrote in message ...
I have a Ryobi belt sander that uses a Bando S4.5M drive belt (with cogs on the
inside).
The web sites I've checked are selling this belt for $15 to $20. This is a small belt
about 4 1/2 inches long. These prices seem to be way on the high side, I know that
much
larger automotive fan belts wholesale for $1-3.00. I'd like to find somewhere to
purchase this belt, or a generic version, for a price that reflects its real value.
Anyone know about this?

John