wide belt finishing sander 24" or so

[terry sligar]

I know little about wide belt sanders, with that said, i'm looking to buy a wide belt that is a finishing sander. i'm going to the las vegas show in july to buy one and would like to get some idea of what i'm doing before i get all the sales pitches...all help will be appreciated. thanks terry:confused:

[John Renzetti]

hi Terry, If you are looking for a widebelt that can polish veneer and finish lacquer go over to the exfactory site at www.exfactory.com look for Multi-head widebelts/polishers. These things can be very expensive even used. Butferring has one that starts at $70,000 and can go way up from there.
At the IWF a few years ago there was a Butferring that could sand veneer sheetgoods to about a 320 finish. These are in the $40k on up range.
When you go to Vegas has them do a demo of what you want to accomplish.
take care,
John

[Tom Cowie]

Hello Terry

I live on the other side of the mountains. Got to love WV.

I just bought a Powermatic dual drum and love it for my purposes. The wide belts are very nice machines, Powermatic makes some nice ones but they are very costly.

If you are looking into serious wide belt sanders look at the oscillating ones they don't leave linear scratches like the non-oscillating ones.

If you get one post some pics that would be a serious GLOAT:) :)

Tom

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Get one with a motorized elevator. Much better for your back.
I have the open end Powermatic, but if had my druthers I'd get the 24" Grizzly with elevator.

Mike

[Mike Ross]

Terry,

What it comes down to for a lot of us is the availabilty of 3 phase power. If you have 3 phase then there is world of options new and used. Just depends on what you want to spend.

If you are limited to single phase then your options are rather limited. I have the Speedsander by Timesavers and its pretty nice. 36" width and a removable finishing platen. Even with the finishing platen it is not a polishing machine. I use it only for solid stock. It is little more robust than the open ended options from Grizzley and Powermatic and a little more expensive. Like John said, it would be a good idea to take some samples to the show or visit a dealer locally.

Enjoy Vegas,

Mike Ross

[Rick Lizek]

A widebelt for finishing has a platen. If you know how to glue up panels that are flat, many don't, so additional thicknessing is required. I would definitely recommend a stroke sander. Low power requirements and used stroke sanders are often a few hundred dollars or so. Belts are much cheaper than a widebelt and change even quicker. 36" Widebelts typically use a 20 hp motor, ok the Speedsander from Timesaver uses a 10 hp. So comparing the electrical up grade with a widebelt to a stroke sander with a 3 hp motor there's a big savings right there alone.