sharpening belt sander from Lee Valley--need motor

[Zach England]

Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,43072&p=44884

http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/sharpening/68z7501s1.jpg

I have decided I want a little slack belt sander for sharpening and this seems like a relatively low-cost way to try it out, but I need a motor for it. Can anyone recommend one or at least a site to use to look for one? I am not familiar with electric motors and the terminology and options available are a bit over my head.

Thanks, as always.

[Rick Fisher]

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2232010911272100&item=10-2481&catname=electric

Check out this 1/3 hp motor..

It has a 1/2" Shaft, and is about the right size.. its $40.00

No idea how that machine would work, but motors that size are pretty cheap.. 1/3hp should be more than ample.


PS.. If you buy that .. I would get some extra belts.. they could be hard to find other than at lee valley..
I would love to hear how it works.. also like to know if they have any belts higher than 1000 grit..

I have Festool 6" ROS pads that are 1000 - 2000 and 4000 .. always wanted to figure out how to use them to sharpen chisels..

[Zach England]

OK, thanks. What would be the best way to slow it down? 3450 RPM seems a bit...um...dangerous?

[Dave Lehnert]

Lee Valley is a good place to get belts but 42" is a standard size. You can get a limited grit at Lowe's or Sears.

[Zach England]

Is there anything that uses the narrow belts and connects to a 6 inch bench grinder? I can find ones that use wider belts, but not these narrow ones.

[Ted Calver]

Zach,
I'm in the same boat. I ordered one of those and it has been sitting on a shelf in the garage waiting for me to find a motor. I know zip about motors. I wish Lee Valley would sell the darn motor too.

[John McClanahan]

I don't understand why Lee Valley doesn't also offer these with a motor installed.

I have a Craftsman 42" belt/disk sander that can run both 1" and 2" belts. It comes ready to use, and goes on sale for around $100.

John

[Ron Kellison]

I've had one of these for at least 10 years. I fitted it out with a used furnace motor (1/4 HP) that I got for free from an HVAC dealer in town. When they change out a furnace they usually just throw away the old squirrel cage blower & motor. Most of the time the motor just needs to be cleaned and lubed before you put it back into service. Another good source for small electric motors are the surplus shops.

I use this little sander for so many things! It's great for sharpening!! I generally use one of the 9-micron belts from Lee Valley which equate to roughly 1000 grit. I've used a leather belt with green sharpening paste for polishing. I have a wide assortment of belts for both metal shaping and sanding. If you can find a 3M Scotchbrite belt they are incredibly handy for removing rust and polishing metal.

The small table is a joke because the single wingnut which is supposed to lock the table down doesn't always do the job and the angle will change. I also had to shim beneath mine with masking tape to get it to stay at 90-degrees to the belt. This isn't a problem when sharpening a knife because you will be using a slack potion of the blade rather than pushing the knife against the backing plate. Leonard Lee demonstrates sharpening a kitchen knife with one of these units and he does it from the BACK side of the sander (1000-grit belt) and the edge of the blade pointed away from him. I can personally vouch for the fact that if the blade edge is pointed towards the belt it will slice through instantly and your expensive belt will just fall to the floor.

Get a motor, a few belts and adjust the table. You will be a happy camper!

Regards,

Ron

[Zach England]

I am starting to think that I might just get this one:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-X-8-Belt-Disc-Sander/H8192

Then, with the disc, I could get rid of my worksharp, which does not really get used much anymore.

[Robert LaPlaca]

I bought one of the Viel belt sharpeners from Lee Valley.. I tossed a Grizzley 1/2 hp motor that was reversible on it, but the used furnace motor sounds like a great idea if you can fine one..

I am not a lathe wiz kid, but I find the machine is really great for sharpening Lathe tools. I outfitted the machine with a Oneway Wolverine and a Klingspor Gold 220 grit belt you can get a pretty impressively sharp tool very fast.

[Zach England]

Thanks for all the input. I think now I am leaning towards the Grizzly H8192 I linked to two posts above. Does anyone have any comments about that?

[John McClanahan]

If you want a belt sharpener on the cheap, Harbor Freight and Grizzly both sell a 1x30" sander. Klingspor has 1x30" belts as fine as 430 grit.

John

[Dave Lehnert]

If you want a belt sharpener on the cheap, Harbor Freight and Grizzly both sell a 1x30" sander. Klingspor has 1x30" belts as fine as 430 grit.

John

I have the Harbor Freight model and it is worth the $25 I gave for it but it moves way too fast for my liking.

I just picked up a used shopsmith unit ($25) and it works very well. You can also run it in reverse.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/images/01_StripSander.jpg

I know a lot of people just pass over the thought of a Shopsmith but they can be had used for a good price. Some make what is called a Mini Shopsmith and use to power the add on tools, A mini lathe, and an extra saw to set up a Dado set.

http://billstoolz.com/SmallTableSaw.jpg

[mreza Salav]

I have the Lee Valley sander. Got a couple of motors (furnace fan) off Kijiji for $8 and $10. I have a 1/4hp on it and is sufficient.
I sharpen everything on it (lathe tools, chisels, carving tools, plane baldes, etc). The great thing about it is you can change belts (girts) in 3 seconds, really!
It's better to put a reverable motor on it as you might want to change the direction of belt movement.

Have been happy with mine.

[Callan Campbell]

I am starting to think that I might just get this one:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-X-8-Belt-Disc-Sander/H8192

Then, with the disc, I could get rid of my worksharp, which does not really get used much anymore.

I have a Grizzly 1 x 42" belt sander/ disc sander, possibly the unit you're posting about[sorry, I can't get the link to load with my connection] I took the disc off since I have no need for it[multiple belt/disc sanders in my shop] and about the only trouble I have with the belt sander is that the tracking for the belt is a bit cranky. I never seem to get that smooth of a running across the steel platen that supports the belt. I too have a fairly cheesy support set-up for the steel table on my earlier model sander, you have to eyeball the table alot with a known square or angle setting since the single bolt doesn't hold the table locked in, much like the post on the Lee Valley unit.
I know Grizzly has updated this machine with a unit that has different tables and possibly a better belt tracking system. That's probably the one you gave us the link on. I like my older machine enough, even with its two short comings to say buy the newer Grizzly, or even a used older one like mine. The 42" belts seem much more common when shopping for replacements, so I wouldn't be tempted by a cheaper 1 x 30" unit that you see around for less money.
These little guys do so much freehand sharpening easily, I think they're like a secret tool that many woodworkers don't know about. I don't regret buying mine at all, and they take up very little bench space to boot.

[Steve Friedman]

Lee Valley does sell a motor that works for the belt sander. It's actually a lathe motor, but the folks at LV say that it works.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50250&cat=1,330,50260&ap=1

I got mine from a local supply company, but know that Grainger carries it.

Steve

[Zach England]

Thanks, all. I ended up buying the Grizzly because I thought the disc sander would be useful and because I don't have to mess with jerry-rigging a motor. I also ordered a smattering of belts and a leather honing belt from Lee Valley. However, I am wondering why I cannot get belts finer than 1200x. I have searched all over the net and cannot find them anywhere.

[Ron Kellison]

The leather belt charged with the LV green honing compound is going to be equivalent to .5 micron. I reckon that to be approximately 8-9000 grit. It will definitely put a mirror finish on any surface.

I'm not clear about why you want a finer grit. Any belt sander you use will not have either the stability or flat surface you would need to put a finer edge on a chisel or plane blade. For that I use my diamond honing plate and waterstones. For knives and axes the 1200 grit belt is more than adequate. In fact, if you sharpen a kitchen knife any finer than that you will remove the very slight amount of "tooth" needed to cut meat and vegetables efficiently. Shaving the hair on your arms may be cool with a chisel but the chef will soon be sending the knives back to be sharpened because the edge will break down more quickly.

Regards,

Ron

[Zach England]

The leather belt charged with the LV green honing compound is going to be equivalent to .5 micron. I reckon that to be approximately 8-9000 grit. It will definitely put a mirror finish on any surface.

I'm not clear about why you want a finer grit. Any belt sander you use will not have either the stability or flat surface you would need to put a finer edge on a chisel or plane blade. For that I use my diamond honing plate and waterstones. For knives and axes the 1200 grit belt is more than adequate. In fact, if you sharpen a kitchen knife any finer than that you will remove the very slight amount of "tooth" needed to cut meat and vegetables efficiently. Shaving the hair on your arms may be cool with a chisel but the chef will soon be sending the knives back to be sharpened because the edge will break down more quickly.
Regards,

Ron

I am just basing my judgment on my current sharpening system, which involves a veritas jig or freehand (yeah, right) sharpening on abrasives affixed to granite tiles. I start at 1000x, then move through 3000x, 6000x and 9000x, and finish on a felt wheel with veritas honing compound. I have felt that the final step is possibly duplicitous. Truthfully, I have not really questioned this system for use on flat blades because it has given me by far the best results compared to previous methods. When I got the veritas jig and granite tiles the worksharp, oil stones, water stones, and the rest of the apparatus I have accumulated were relegated to an unused corner. My reasoning behind the belt grinder is that I have started doing more turning and working with a few specialty planes with curved irons or irons too small to be clamped by the veritas, and I have not been able to get satisfactory results on these. Do you think going from 1000x directly to the leather is an appropriate step?

Thanks.

[Ron Kellison]

I'm not an expert on turning but I suspect that a decent HSS turning tool would work just fine sharpened with just a 1000-grit belt. For small plane irons you're going to have a hard time holding the blade accurately against the platen of the sander. Lee Valley make a small blade holder for use with their honing guides. From all reports it works quite well although I've never used it myself.

Regards,

Ron

[Brent Dowell]

I've got one of the little HF 3 wheel 1x30 sanders.

Ordered a selection of belts in different grits from Lee Valley, and a leather belt as well.

The thing works great for sharpening and the leather belt really helps put a fine razor edge on the tools. Well worth the 40$ for the little tool. I think I spent more on the belts than I did the sander.

[Dale Sautter]

However, I am wondering why I cannot get belts finer than 1200x. I have searched all over the net and cannot find them anywhere.

Hi Zach, I'm in the process of putting together a 2x72 belt sander for grinding/sharpening plane irons/chisels atm. Last week I ordered some fine finish belts that knife makers use from http://trugrit.com/belts-manufacturer-3m.htm#cf look for the Trizact “Gator” Aluminum Oxide belts... they go up to like 2000 grit and are supposed to last quite a while. Kinda going proof of concept on this, using wood/plywood for the frame, powered by a motor re-purposed from treadmill that I picked up for $20. If everything works as planned, the belt grinder will have variable speed with full torque throughout the rpm range, i.e. 50-2500 rpm. Anyway, when I ordered from TruGrit, I selected plain jane/cheapo shipping, and the belts arrived within 3 days via the mailbox. hth...

[Eddie Darby]

I don't understand why Lee Valley doesn't also offer these with a motor installed.
John

They do offer a motor.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50250&cat=1,330,50260&ap=1

Just that it is for the Taig lathe.