Advice on belt sander

[Christopher Kanda]

I'm now considering a belt sander for the shop in progress. Any brands to stay away from or stick with? What about belt size? WHen buying belts where is a good place to go to? Thanks for the advice.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

more power is better - seriously it's better.

The adjustment of the belt is critical.
The Cam adjusters on the Sears sander are impossible, absolutely worthless garbage.

You want an easy to access set of fine adjustment screws with positive locks. Look at the belt sheaves. I think more crown is better than less crown.

And you want more power. There is a lot of surface area on a 6*48 inch belt. The iron table alone is going to produce lots of drag. Put some work on it and -well - you just can't have a large enough motor.

[Dennis Kelly]

Hello Chris,
My dads 1970ish craftsman died last week in the middle of a project and I needed a new one asap. Long story short, I went with the ridgid model from Home Depot and LOVE it. It has all the power necessary but also offers finesse features that make for a large amount of control. I would highly recommend it.

Dennis

[Bryan Berguson]

I'm now considering a belt sander for the shop in progress. Any brands to stay away from or stick with? What about belt size? WHen buying belts where is a good place to go to? Thanks for the advice.


Chris,

Are you looking for a handheld or stationary belt sander?

I have a PC with a 3X21 inch belt that has lots of power and does just what it's supposed to do but has a completely worthless dust port. I have it hooked up to a PC vacuum with LOTS of suction and it still covers everything with sawdust. Now with that said, maybe they all do that. :cool:

I also have a stationary 6x48 Grizzly edge sander. That works good too although it could have a larger table.

So, what are looking for again? :)

Bryan

[Christopher Kanda]

I'm looking for a portable model. I'm not sure what the benifits of the belt sizes are. There are too many things to look at and they all look so inviting.

[Jim Becker]

Belt sanders get less use these days in most shops. If you just want the utility of having one around, I think the 3"x21" size is a nice way to go. (I have the Bosch) If you have a specific need, tell us about it as there may be a better way or at least we could talk about the best belt sander for the purpose. (I've only used mine twice in about 5 years...)

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Porter Cable--nuff said:) Size depends on the weight you feel comfortable with and your intended uses. I feel that there are better ways to spend $ than a belt sander. A good random orbit sander is a more useful option IMHO.

[Randal Stevenson]

Do you shop anywhere on a regular basis? Borg, particular wood store?

For me, my belt sander was bought cheaply at a pawn shop. Just an old cheapy Craftsman (better then what I have seen from them now), but based on what I needed it for, and my LOCAL availability of paper sizes. (3x21 just about anywhere here).

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Jim's advice:

If you have a specific need, tell us about it as there may be a better way or at least we could talk about the best belt sander for the purpose. (I've only used mine twice in about 5 years...)
IMHO, is spot on.

I have two belt sanders - an old C-man 3x21, and a Black and Decker "dragster" model.
While the B&D "dragster" isn't exactly what anyone would dream of as the "perfect tool", it did/does do one thing that no other tool could/can.

The low profile nose gets under railings on wooden decks/porches.
I (we) have four treated lumber decks that the previous owners had "spruced up for sale", by painting them.
(OT- I swear by all that's holy, next house I make an offer on w/treated wood decks that have been painted is going to get an automatic $5K deduction right off the top of our offer!)

Other than that, there's little I've found either of the belt sanders can do, that a 5" ROS w/the right grit paper, can't - and with a lot less damage.

[Greg Just]

I have a 20 year old Craftsman (3x21) and it works well, although I don't really use it a lot. I leaning towards getting a stationary one, but I will first try to build a jig to hold the portable one.

[Monroe Brown]

Chris,
I have the Porter Cable 3x21 and love it. Don't need it often, but when I do it is great to have. The thing to keep in mind is that belt sanders will take off material really fast. If your not careful you'll gouge the crap out of your surface. My opinion is that the smaller belt sanders offer the best value for home shop furniture making. But if you have some kind of big project on the horizon that requires lots of large surface sanding a bigger model may be the way to go.

Most recently I used mine to smooth out a large (42" x 86") cherry table top with 120 grit. Took out all the imperfections and excess glue in two careful passes, about 10 minutes. Finished up with finer grits using a random orbital.

Regards,

kmb

[Quinn McCarthy]

Chris

I have a Bosch 4x24 that I have been using for about 7 years. The thing is awesome. It can take a lot of material of in a sort period of time. I like the 4" becaause I don't have an overhead sander so all of the sanding on a project is done with that. I like the 24" over the 21" because the belts last longer. It has a variable speed and can be slowed down for plywood work. It is a little heavy but that allows it to be a more agressive sander.

Hope that helps.

Quinn

[Christopher Kanda]

I'm even more confused now. I guess I saw myself using the sander to smooth out flat surfaces that I will eventually make for small table tops and the like. Maybe a random orbital sander is the better way to go if I just buy one item........? hmmmmmm

[Randal Stevenson]

I'm even more confused now. I guess I saw myself using the sander to smooth out flat surfaces that I will eventually make for small table tops and the like. Maybe a random orbital sander is the better way to go if I just buy one item........? hmmmmmm

A portable belt sander will remove a lot of material very quickly. A ROS would be better for finish sanding (minor differences between glueups), or a drum sander would be better for more major differences. (V belt, style (bottom drum) for glue lines or top drum sander for thickness sanding).

[Bryan Berguson]

I'm even more confused now. I guess I saw myself using the sander to smooth out flat surfaces that I will eventually make for small table tops and the like. Maybe a random orbital sander is the better way to go if I just buy one item........? hmmmmmm


Chris,

Despite the poor lack of dust collection on my Porter Cable, I use it all the time. The main reason is the wood I work the most with is hickory. My Bosch ROS with 80 grit can't touch the belt sander with 150 grit when it comes to removing planer markers on hard wood like hickory. I lost track of how many hickory boards I sanded this way. I've also glued up 3 or 4 LARGE laminated hard maple desk tops (I'm typing on one now that's about 30x70) and the belt sander with a 50 grit blue planer belt will level them down in no time. Another big top is my reloading bench top which is about 30x84x1.75. The Porter Cable 3x21 had plenty of power for both jobs.

The real key to using a belt sander is to keep it moving and wear a good dust mask - they will make LOTS of dust. For me, the 3x21 works good for what I ask of it.

Now, if I'm working with pine, then the ROS works fine. I don't touch pine with a belt sander - much too aggressive and unwarranted.

Bryan

[Phillip downs]

It's not rocket science to learn the ins and outs of a good belt sander. I agree probably for you the 3 x 21 Porter Cable will do nicely. However you will eventually want to invest in a descent random orbital as well for the fine finish work.

Klingspor.com is an excellent place to buy paper, many many choices.

Even their cheapest paper is better than the best box store paper and they have some really nice belts that dont load up reasonably priced.

Phil

[Chuck Burns]

Belt sanders get less use these days in most shops. If you just want the utility of having one around, I think the 3"x21" size is a nice way to go. (I have the Bosch) If you have a specific need, tell us about it as there may be a better way or at least we could talk about the best belt sander for the purpose. (I've only used mine twice in about 5 years...)

Jim,

I agree with you on the little Bosch 3x21; it's a great little sander as it's easy to finesse and the dust collection actually works fairly well. It probably has the best ergonomics of any belt sander. If they may a 4x24 in the same format I'd buy it immediately.

[Tom Kelley]

I've got the Porter Cable 3X21 sander. It's very powerful, belt change is very easy and belt run-out adjustment is easy and effective. I love it.

[Noah Vig]

Unless you need to do some real aggressive sanding, I would go with a ROS first and get a belt sander later. ROS's require much less skill to use IMHO.

I have inexpensive dewalt and pc ROS's and prefer the dewalt.

I have a PC 4x24 belt sander and a 3x24? old PC solid metal tank model which my gramps just gave to me. Very happy with the 4x24 but would recommend you get a good 3x21 unless you really need the larger size.

I would go with bosch or PC but haven't paid attention to newer models for a while so take my opinions with a grain of salt. Cheap belt sanders are a PITA in my experience so don't skimp.

Have fun.

[Tom Brannon]

I use a PC orbital sander and a 3x21 makita they are both great tools.
I use the orbital much more