belt/disc sander owners

[Rick Moyer]

I have been thinking I'd like one of these, have found an older one for sale locally. I think I know what to look for (platen flatness, roller evenness, belt tracking, etc.).

My question is: what do you find you use it for? I need to justify in my mind that I could really benefit from purchasing one of these. So, what would someone need a 6x48,12" disc combo sander for?

[Dave Rathert]

I have an old hand-me-down Craftsman 4X48 (I think) 6” disk. I don’t do any finish sanding on it but I use it more for shaping smaller stuff. I do some template routing and it’s come in handy shaping a few templates. You can make a jig to shape circles pretty easily. I’ve found that the more I use it the more uses I find for it. Last night I used it to shape some dowel pieces to help clamp a piece of cove trim. Let me add I’m a weekend warrior, relatively new to woodworking with a very meager basement/garage shop. Expert opinions may be different.

The knowledge and talent on this forum blows me away BTW. It’s almost intimidating. What a great place to browse.
-D

[Rick Moyer]

Gee, I'm honored that your second post (or maybe it is your first post) was in response to one of my questions.
Welcome to the Creek. Tons of great info here, and the people are the best.

[Russ Hauser]

I have had, in years past, a Shopsmith mounted 10 or 12 inch disc sander, (can't remember the size), a Shopsmith 6 x 48 inch belt sander on its own power stand, and now own a Chinese POS 6 x 48 inch belt and 6 inch disc sander. I would not have a disc sander in my shop because of the difficulty with dust collection. I have removed the disc from the POS and built an auxilary table for the belt sander with a DC port. This is not perfect, but does reduce the dust level noticably.

The primary use for the belt sander in my shop is in the making of Shaker oval boxes that require a lot of fitting of the tops and bottoms. The side and top bands also require a long taper across the width of the bands where they overlap, and I know of no better way to make the tapers than on the belt sander. This would be impossible on a disc sander.

Russ

[Sandy Jackson]

I bought an old belt drive 6x48 sander with no motor for $35.
I removed the disc and turned the whole thing on it's side mounted on a shelf/bench fastened to the wall. Added a small table 90 to the platen and now I have a poor mans edge sander.

[glenn bradley]

I think I have used mine once since I got the OSS/OS Belt combo by Ridgid. When I get a larger one it will be another oscillating machine, that's for sure.

[Brian W Evans]

Rick,

I bought a used Grizzly 6x48/12" disc a while back. I don't have anything I regularly use it for, but have had many instances where it came in handy. In my mind it has little use as a finish sanding tool, but can be very useful for shaping.

One reason I bought it - aside from the great price - was that I had seen Doug Stowe use one quite a bit on his box making DVD. He uses it to sand dowels, miter keys, box joints, etc. flush and also seems to get the initial (120 grit) sanding out of the way with it.

One thing to watch out for - some of these are designed for metal and have high RPMs. This speed makes it easy to burn the wood. Grizzly sells two nearly identical machines: the 1725 RPM for wood and the 3450 RPM for metal (I assume). I didn't know this and got a 3450. I can still use it, but have to be very careful not to burn the wood.

[Mike Reinholtz]

I have the Rikon 6x48 belt and 10" disk and although I have nothing to compare it to, I have been very happy with it. Only complaint I can bring up is the built in dust collection, which I made much better with a few fittings and a large hood. I use it for quite a bit more than I thought I would, it was actually a bit of an impulse buy (sale at Woodcraft). First thing I did was get a full range of belts from 40 to 220. I'm pretty new to wood working in general, so I'm sure someone will jump in and say this is totally wrong- but I use this sander to clean up all my rail and stile pieces after planing and routing.

Belt tracking has been very easy and consistent, no complaints.


Mike

[Scott T Smith]

I've had a belt/disc sander combo for close to 30 years, several different models over the years. They are handy for all types of grinding and sanding.

Until I bought my Tormek, I sharpened just about everything on the disc sander.

I probably use mine (I have 2 at present) more for metalworking. Get the slow speed version (1725 RPM) if you buy new.

[Keith Christopher]

I have a grizzly 12" disc sander, and I use it where ever I need some 'shaping type sanding" e.g. rounding corners, walking up to a line left after bandsawing. truing up pen blanks (love it better than using an end mill)..I mostly love it because it gives me both hands to adjust the work. I have felt the need for a flat sander I guess because I have a belt sander.

hope this helps.

[Van Huskey]

My 12" disc is a tool that although I do not have regular uses for it, it works when nothing else will. I seem to find I never used the belt on a combo machine, my belt sander handles most of those types of jobs.

SOmeone mentioned the Rikon 50-120, a neighbor has one and for the price it is nice but a wee bit loud for me.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I use mine for sharpening dull lathe tools, metal shaping, truing up bandsaw guide blocks, and for basic shaping of small parts. The Tormek style grinding wheels are a bit slow for edges that are really dull.

[Kirk Poore]

I use mine (Powermatic 30 6x48 belt/12" disk) for sanding convex curves, small parts like wedges, and first-cut sanding the faces of small items. It works really well on leveling the feet on things like benches and chests where all four feet aren't quite in the same plane and they tend to rock on a level surface. It's the most recently restored tool in my shop, and it gets a lot more use than some of them.

Kirk