What wide belt sander

[Joe Calhoon]

I have a 36 x 60" Safety Speed. It has a removable platen and an oscillating belt and uses a photocell to control the belt, so air usage in minimal. I run 50 to 180 grit, and have sanded everything from individual rail and stile sticking all the way up to complete 3/0 interior doors. Mine is single phase with a 10 HP motor. Yeah, you need a good dust collector, and yeah, the finish, even with a 180 belt using the platen, still needs a final ROS sanding. I got it at the AWFS show a number of years ago and since it's coming up again in July you should go check them out if you have a chance.

Hi Dave,
I was in their booth a AWFS trying to win the paddleboard they had. I looked at that sander and was impressed with it for the price, small footprint and low HP. seems like it would be a good sander for the small home shop limited for funds, DC, power and space. Good to hear the opinion of someone who has used one.

My first wide belt was a used heavy duty Cemco single head. it was a beast and dimmed the lights in the neighborhood every time we started it. it left a lot of marks in the wood requiring heavy orbital sanding. Better than no sander at all though. I now have a high dollar 3 head Kundig that does a fine job but still requires a light orbital sand on cabinet grade work and doors and windows. We run a lot of house trim and millwork without doing any orbital sanding. I think to get away from orbital sanding you would have to spend over 100K on something like a Weber.
Ours does not have any of the issues Patrick mentions but we had a very good tech set ours up. He spent 3 days setting, adjusting and showing us how to maintain.

[Rob Sack]

After several years of research, I finally pulled the trigger on a EZ Sander by Apex Machine Group in Minnesota.. After 4 years of use, it has performed well. Also, the manufacturer offers great customer service. My sander has not demonstrated any of the issues described in the previous post regarding the SCMI Sandya.

[Dave Cav]

EZ Sander by Apex Machine Group in Minnesota..

Nice looking sander. It looks a lot like a more refined, up-engineered Safety Speed. I'm not sure I'd want my widebelt on casters, though. I put my Safety Speed on skids and it's easily moved with my pallet jack.