Wide Belt Sander, ordering belts question.

[Rick Fisher]

I have a question about the way I am running my sander. I have only had it about a year, and have gone through about 10-12 belts.. its used for hobby use only..

Its a powerful machine .. 25" wide.. When I started, I would use all the belt grits.. What I have noticed lately is that I am using 150 grit 80% of the time.. and using 180 grit the rest of the time.

My attitude has been that right off the planer, if I remove 1mm of the surface, what's the difference if all the work is done with a 150 belt ??.. Sure I can take more off faster with an 80 or 100 grit belt.. but 3 passes with a 150 seems to remove just as much material, if the scratches are gone.. they are gone ??

Does anyone else do this ?

The reason I am thinking of just starting light with 150 from now on is that I order the belts in boxes of 5 .. Some of my 80 grit belts are starting to fail, only a year old.. Sure I have used 2-3 .. but I burned 2 of them .. lol.

The sander is 12hp .. if I take too much off.. it simply destroys the belt.. I am getting much better at this.. :rolleyes: Anyone else drop all the rougher grits?


PS.. I recently got a Pro stick wide belt cleaner .. sold by Shop Fox.. Expensive, but it makes the belts look new again.. I think the next 10 belts will last much longer than the first 10 ..

I should add that I left the 80 and 120 grit belts out of their boxes all winter .. I live on Vancouver Island.. The humidity is crazy.. The welds are all failing .. The 150 and 180 belts where stored in sealed boxes and are healthy.. but stocking 5 of each belt .. it becomes a bunch of belts very fast. I would like to keep it to 2 grits..

[Jeff Duncan]

Nope, still use several different grits. I have 60/80 grits for flattening, 100/120 grits for cleaning up, and 150 grit for final passes. Haven't ever used anything finer than 150. Thing is if you try to use 150 grit for everything and you do a variety of work your probably going to run into problems. If your trying to flatten glued up tops for instance, you'll either overwork your machine, your belts, or take way too much time (maybe not an issue for you?).
Each grit belt has a certain capability in terms of stock removal, when you exceed that capability you shorten the life of your belts and overwork your machine. If you want to limit your inventory you may be better of going from 100 - 150 grit and leaving the 180 grit for the ROS. In general I have 1 each of my commonly used grits on top of my sander. The rest stay in their boxes until needed. Just keeps them from getting too roughed up in the shop.
good luck,
JeffD