Years ago I made both a belt grinder and a belt sander; the belt grinder 2" wide the belt sander 4" wide both with 36" belts. I use the belt sander for general work and the belt grinder for sharpening tools.
Initially I set the belt grinder so that the belt ran uphill because I feared tools could dig in; be dangerous and ruin the belt but now I have this belt grinder running downhill as normal and so far absolutely no problems. I recently upgraded this belt grinder to run nearer the correct belt speed which really is fast; belt speeds can be found browsing the web; I've bought a good selection of grinding belts in Zirconium; Ceramic; Trizact and the usual oxide; I use 60G zirconium for metal removal and for final grind on my woodturning tools use a ceramic 120G; it does a superb job and I've also now made a gouge finger nail grinding jig.
The 4" belt sander I use for general work and its running much too slow but it still does an amazing amount of work; at this slow speed if I sand metal the sharp edges tend to strip the grit from the belt so for metal I revert to the 2" belt grinder.
Belt tension adjustment on both is my own design which I dreamt up whilst making them using material from my scrap bin; the belt grinder is posh it having aluminium rollers but the bigger grinder has wooden rollers; I usually have spare motors kicking around so both machines really only cost the new belts.
I have excellent workshop facilities including arc welding (Oxford) and lathes; I've also now got a nice metal cutting bandsaw to save aching arms.
A lot depends on what you want to use your new sander for and what workshop facilities you have access to? These machines can be bought second hand without bankrupting you but this is too easy when designing and making your own is interesting and challenging. There are lots of YouTube videos on the subject if you care to browse; I've had a quick look and found a few pictures which I'm happy to add below. I don't mind taking more pictures next time I'm in the workshop to show/explain how belt tension is adjusted and how belt tracking is achieved.
I for one will encourage anyone to make their own machines if at all possible; many times home made are much more robust than the tinny items sold cheaply.
My home made machines tend to evolve over time as I modify or add to them; I enjoy designing and making such machines as I enjoy using them.
Ian plans to add a new workshop section for this kind of project which I'm looking forward to.
Play safe.
Kind regards, Colin.
Initially I set the belt grinder so that the belt ran uphill because I feared tools could dig in; be dangerous and ruin the belt but now I have this belt grinder running downhill as normal and so far absolutely no problems. I recently upgraded this belt grinder to run nearer the correct belt speed which really is fast; belt speeds can be found browsing the web; I've bought a good selection of grinding belts in Zirconium; Ceramic; Trizact and the usual oxide; I use 60G zirconium for metal removal and for final grind on my woodturning tools use a ceramic 120G; it does a superb job and I've also now made a gouge finger nail grinding jig.
The 4" belt sander I use for general work and its running much too slow but it still does an amazing amount of work; at this slow speed if I sand metal the sharp edges tend to strip the grit from the belt so for metal I revert to the 2" belt grinder.
Belt tension adjustment on both is my own design which I dreamt up whilst making them using material from my scrap bin; the belt grinder is posh it having aluminium rollers but the bigger grinder has wooden rollers; I usually have spare motors kicking around so both machines really only cost the new belts.
I have excellent workshop facilities including arc welding (Oxford) and lathes; I've also now got a nice metal cutting bandsaw to save aching arms.
A lot depends on what you want to use your new sander for and what workshop facilities you have access to? These machines can be bought second hand without bankrupting you but this is too easy when designing and making your own is interesting and challenging. There are lots of YouTube videos on the subject if you care to browse; I've had a quick look and found a few pictures which I'm happy to add below. I don't mind taking more pictures next time I'm in the workshop to show/explain how belt tension is adjusted and how belt tracking is achieved.
I for one will encourage anyone to make their own machines if at all possible; many times home made are much more robust than the tinny items sold cheaply.
My home made machines tend to evolve over time as I modify or add to them; I enjoy designing and making such machines as I enjoy using them.
Ian plans to add a new workshop section for this kind of project which I'm looking forward to.
Play safe.
Kind regards, Colin.
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