Home made 4" belt sander.

[Retired]

Hi,

You are so kind Tony; thank you.

I did consider making a top guard for the sander but find the contour of the belt as it rolls over the top drum to be very useful.

Yes I agree it is built on linisher lines but I added the backing plate as my work tends to be flat; my two lathes take care of round work.

I visited Screwfix yesterday for a number of items and whilst there noticed the sanding belts in their catalogue finally reminding me to buy a fine 120 grit belt. I've kept forgetting to buy a fine belt but wanted one for use in tool sharpening. I've read that a belt sander is much kinder to tools as less heat is generated than using a high speed bench grinder. Wood chisels and turning tools can be sharpened leaving a flat bevel; it will be interesting to see how the sander performs on such items. The fine belt will only be used on metal and is changed in seconds.

I do tackle projects Tony that on first impression would appear beyond me but I find by breaking the most complex problem down into basics I can usually win through in the end; so far this approach has never yet failed me and of course there is usually a number of options available whilst solving problems; I tend to go for the most difficult option first before finding the simplest.

Kind regards, Col.

[AlanBeckett]

Col,
I've noticed that on various 'How it's Made' type Programmes belt sanders tend to be much used for jobs where I would have traditionally expected a grindstone.
Possibly the reason is that they need no dressing, just change it when its worn, and as you say, runs cooler.
Alan

[Yorkie]

True, the belts don't need dressing, but they do need cleaning from time to time if used for sanding wood. Cleaning sticks are available for this and do the job in an instant on belt and disc sanders. They're made of 'rubbery' material, and just need to be touched on the belt or disc from side to side for a few seconds, then the belt or disc comes up like new. You don't have to fob out for cleaning sticks - surprisingly perhaps, a black bin liner screwed up tightly in the hand will achieve the same effect. (It will doubtless have been a Yorkshireman who discovered that!)

Most sanding belts sold by the likes of Screwfix and Machine Mart tend to be only 60 grit and 120 grit. 60 is ferocious, and even 120 is still quite coarse, often requiring further hand finishing with 180 and 240, depending on the item being sanded. Always best to move items from side to side so as not to leave deep lengthwise grooves in the wood. Same when using a disc sander or sanding anything on the lathe - the sandpaper must be moved all the time or score marks will be difficult to remove.


David.

[AlanBeckett]

A friend of mine was abliged to take up his Minton hall floor in order to have some underpinning work done. Before he did it we took photographs and I did a drawing - see attached. That's just a simple straight run. The real floor went round a corner, but we needed a record of the pattern. When it was all done he had the problem of cleaning up several bin bags of tiles. As far as we could tell they were originally set in fairly weak cement - the house is around 1900 - a lot of which was still stuck to the tiles. So, he bought a belt sander and set to. The problem was that the 'worst' belts he could easily buy were hopeless. Anyway, after many phone calls he tracked down a supply of real Industrial grade belts which were up to the job, and after many weekends of wearing finger ends out it's all back down.
It looks splendid
Alan

[attachment=2187]

[Yorkie]

I must say that drawing looks splendid Alan, as must the finished job. What software did you use to do the drawing?

I wonder how many homeowners have covered up the tiles with laminate flooring to 'modernise' the house? In our village thare are a lot of Victorian houses which have wonderful porches, tiled to about 3'6" high. Many occupants over the years have misguidedly hacked off and destroyed the tiles, then plastered the walls, believing that a plain white wall looks more attractive than these irreplaceable tiles, which are entirely in keeping with the houses.

As to industrial belt sanders, occasionally at places such as autojumbles, you see quite long lengths of the stuff, presumably where belts have broken, because it isn't worn belting. If you nail say a 2ft length onto a piece of board it makes a handy sanding board. I clamp such a board on my 'Workmate' when I want to do some hand sanding of flat surfaces, rather than holding sandpaper in my hand. That leaves both hands free to hold the object being sanded.

The belts that Screwfix sell aren't too bad, and aren't expensive, but they wouldn't have been up to the task of sanding cement off hundreds of tiles. I usually were thin gardening gloves to safeguard my finger ends because it really is so very painful if you strip your finger ends on the belt. Those thick hide gloves are hopeless for such operations - might as well wear boxing gloves!

David

[AlanBeckett]

David,
It's AutoCAD. I'd best draw a veil over it's origins.
Yes, gloves, mask and eye protection were essential, and doing it outside helped a lot. But as you say striking a balance between protection and feel was not easy.
I agree about the tiles, but at least if they're simply covered over with laminate or some such the situation is recoverable.
Alan

[ucl82]

It is well worth making contacts in such industries for such purposes. Very often belts are disposed of long before the end of their useful life. I have a large quantity of Al-oxide paper here which came from many large belts heading for the skip.
Similarly I have a large quantity of 150 grit wet and dry which came from some large belts given to the school (which they will never use sadly). It has cleaned up like new and does a fantastic job.

One man's junk...

[Retired]

Hi,

What is really interesting is how much use a belt and also disc sander is. I don't know how I managed without both mine.

The belt sander is excellent for sanding short lengths of timber as it allows sanding with the grain and I find it invaluable for the sanding of comb joints as used in box making as it brings the joints down flush making a perfect job of them.

My belt sander is currently fitted with a 60 grit belt and boy this is indeed aggressive as David states. This belt is like sanding with a rustic house brick and has a huge appetite for material; end grain sanding is a doddle in fact care is needed not to trim a couple of inches from the end of a board in error.

David very kindly made and gave me my disc sanding attachment to fit my Record DML24 lathe. It too is proving a very useful bit of kit and David also generously supplied a selection of sanding discs informing me the discs are long lived and this is borne out by the fact I'm still using the first disc. Disc sanders need extra care in use or deep ring patterns can be cut into the material being sanded and as David rightly points out the material needs to be kept moving during sanding. At the moment if I'm sanding a wooden box I rough down on the belt sander and finish on the disc sander. It's wonderful having both set up ready for action all the time.

Thanks for the many tips and information David and the huge belt cleaning block you also kindly gave me should last for years; it feels rather like sticky toffee.

My 60 grit belts cost around £10 for a pack of ten from eBay but the single 120 grit belt bought from Screwfix a couple of days ago cost £3.18. The Screwfix belt isn't expensive considering the work it will do. I can fully agree with David about sanding burns to fingers; I've only been caught out once when I brushed against the 60 grit belt and once is once too often; I could have cried when I put my hands into soapy water!!

Thanks for the interesting story about the tiles Alan and how beautiful they look; who would want to cover up such work. I bet a great amount of dust was created whilst sanding the tiles and it demonstrates just how useful a belt sander is.

One job I must do with some urgency is to rig up dust extraction to both sanders; I can add bottom dust hoods quite easily and connect up to the workshop vac making a suitable quick coupler for the hose.

Well done Josh; it pays to keep ones eyes and ears open for items being thrown out; I think a single sheet of wet or dry costs locally around 30p each and if a number of sheets of different grits are needed then it is easy to run up a decent sized bill. For woodworking I like to use Garnet paper which is long lasting and retains its sharpness.

Oh for a bit of summer; I've just returned from a four mile walk and am fed up of being rained upon and blown around each time I leave the bungalow; at least the sun kept appearing to dry my out; perhaps I should put our clocks back an hour and call it winter until things improve.

Kind regards, Col