What wide belt sander

[Andrew Neubauer]

My shop mills about 2-300 bf of v-match each day. When we receive the planed stock from the yard we have the task of sanding the planer marks off with an orbital sander. There has to be an easier way!! Curious if you veteran woodworkers think a 5hp grizzly G0819 wide belt sander with platen or maybe the grizzly G0527 wide belt sander with orbital action would do the trick. My shop is fairly small so I’m limited on equipment size. Love to hear some suggestions and thanks in advance.

[Matt Day]

What’s v-match?

[Andrew Neubauer]

Tongue and groove wainscoting

[Jeff Duncan]

A widebelt sander is one of the most useful tools in the shop, so yes it would help you tremendously! Now whether or not that particular brand of sander is any good is a matter of opinion, of which you'll probably get many. But a sander.... yup, good investment!

JeffD

[Patrick Walsh]

In my experience “two widebelts this far” everything still needs a orbital sanding with or without a platen.

I do agree with Jeff they are amongst the most useful tool in a cabinet shop. I was not very impressed at first as I don’t much care for sanded finishes but you know if your not making the finest furniture then your probably sanding. And even then many are still sanding. The amount of tasks I find to use the widebelt for blow my mind.

I would hate to be without one now.

I. Pretty sure there are machines that will sand well enough to not need a orbital. These are not just 2-3 head units though. I think they are highly specialized and can be used to finish sand doors and the such. I’m also pretty sure they are stupid expensive vrs a normal widebelt that’s already very pricey.

[Jeff Duncan]

In my experience “two widebelts this far” everything still needs a orbital sanding with or without a platen.

I do agree with Jeff they are amongst the most useful tool in a cabinet shop. I was not very impressed at first as I don’t much care for sanded finishes but you know if your not making the finest furniture then your probably sanding. And even then many are still sanding. The amount of tasks I find to use the widebelt for blow my mind.

I would hate to be without one now.

I. Pretty sure there are machines that will sand well enough to not need a orbital. These are not just 2-3 head units though. I think they are highly specialized and can be used to finish sand doors and the such. I’m also pretty sure they are stupid expensive vrs a normal widebelt that’s already very pricey.

Not to disagree but..... v-board is the perfect type of material that would not need further work after going through the wide belt. Remove the planer marks and done

As far as those expensive machines that leave a finish ready surface, yup I used to run one of those in my previous life. They are awesome machines to have access to, but your never going to be shopping one against a Grizzly. They are stupid expensive and generally not small. But not only can you finish sand your doors.... you can sand/scuff the finish between coats

JeffD

[David Zaret]

it's been my experience that - for furniture-grade work - i cannot go to the finishing room off of the wide belt. ROS is required for a fine finish. that said, i agree it's an indispensable tool. admittedly, perhaps for your application, the wide-belt finish would be sufficient.

we are on our second sander - we bought the latest one brand new, it's an Ironwood 37" single drum from Stiles. we purchased it a few years back at IWF in atlanta, compared a number of brands/machines, and felt that the ironwood was the best value for the money, based on features and overall beefiness. wide belts are one of those tools with a massive bell curve on price - you can spend $8k for a really cheap one, or $75k for an italian or german-made beauty with laser sensors and automatic everything. the stiles was, for us, a good fit, under $20k. it's been rock solid.

do you have 3ph power in your shop?

good luck with your purchase.

-- dz

[Bill Dufour]

Do you have a big enough dust collector to run one?
Bil lD

[Andrew Neubauer]

I’m limited on space and power. What is more important - having a platen or having a osicilating drum? The wide belt sander I’m looking at is a 5hp with a platen. I’ll never run completed doors through this only pieces of doors. I completely understand that I’ll need to use a ros after my doors are constructed.

Thanks so much for all this help thus far!

[David Zaret]

i think it has to oscillate or you're going to quickly cause lines and stripes. the platen is useful for final passes, but if that's the choice, 99 times out of 100 i would say you need the belt to oscillate.

[Patrick Walsh]

I wouldn’t go cheap on this machine regardless of what kind of finish you are after.

We have a brand new $17K Scmi Sandya 1 and Honestly it just barely suits my expectations of what a widebelt should be able to do.

It leaves a snake pattern as most all do. Even sanding through the grits to 150 if you don’t random orbit you will see the pattern under paint.

Beyond that in the case of a door or a face frame you will get dips before and after intermediates and or rails. It’s slight but it’s really annoying. Run the piece at a angle and it still happens.

I myself would never purchase a budget widebelt for any purpose.

But that’s me and I have high expectations. When I spend any amount of money on a tool to perform a task and it can’t I’m gonna be peeved. As a result I have learnt to set your expectations accordingly and open the wallet.

Or lower them and not get mad or aggravated when you get what you payed for.