Looking for a belt sander

[Bill Carey]

I bought a Makita 9403, 4x24 belt sander a year ago and love it. It's a beast at 14 lbs but handle well and is easy to maneuver. And the dust collection bag works pretty well, works great when connected to the vacuum.

[Michael W. Clark]

I used the 6” Rotex on the last cutting board I did. It was significantly faster than my belt sander. The board was end grain hard maple, walnut, and pecan. The belt sander was an inexpensive black and decker.

I didn’t worry about dead flat, but wanted the bottom flat enough that it doesn’t rock.

[Dave Sabo]

Festool’s belt sander has never been available in the USA AFAIK.

It’s a HolzHer design that was licensed by many German firms over the last several decades. Metabo, Bosch and I think Elu all had them at some point. Ryobi made something very similar back in the 90’s that was good too. A Bosch can be had off eBay pretty regularly.

That said, I’d do like several have suggested and buy a 6” rotex. Similar performance in rotary mode with much better dust collection. I’d say pass on the Festool in favor of the Bosch model which by all accounts is as, or almost as good but costs half the price. I’m a happy rotex owner BTW, but would have bought the Bosch in a heartbeat it were available when I purchased.

https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/bos...5-6n-200696-p/

[Michael Drew]

Thanks again! Some of you all are making me rethink what I should do, and how to go about it. And not just making cutting boards.......

I can buy the Bosch get75, and the Makita 4" for what I'd spend on the Festool rotex. Aren't sanders like clamps? A wood worker can never have enough? lol

I need to take a longer look at building (or buying) a router sled too. There's been several occasions I would have used one if I had one.

I do have a smaller belt sander. It's a Dewalt 3X21. Dust collection is basically nonexistent. I only drag it out when I have no other options.

Someone suggested I just take the boards to someone with a wide bed drum sander. I would, but that is a 300+ mile drive - one way. I'd happily pay someone if it was a more practical option.

[Jim Becker]

When it comes to ROS, there are differences as you move up in price/quality. Festools Rotex and Bosch's similar dual-mode sanders are very capable machines. The biggie for me is vibration. The lower cost units make my hands numb and in my experience with them years ago, they also tended to wear out in a shorter time period. My Festool sanders have been in service since about 2004 or so so the cost per year is pretty low, even with a few hook and loop pad replacements over time..

Were it me doing what you mention, I think I really would go with the router frame/sled for leveling and a high quality ROS for refining the surface. Light cuts for the end-grain with the router setup and sharp tooling is a best practice. And if you build it large enough, it will be useful for slabs and other things that many folks can't fit in their regular tools.

As an aside, I was just in another forum and commented on a thread from someone in Fairbanks. (not woodworking related) Must be Alaska day for me. LOL

[Michael Drew]

Well I have been buying green tools lately, thanks to input from folks on this forum. I see more green things in my future. I'm pining over the routers now, so that will need to be the next green purchase for me. Sanders, maybe later. I do have a pretty nice Bosch, but it's not one of the dual-mode ROS's. I did not even know they made one when I bought the ROS. Oh well.

I'm seriously looking at making a router sled. I like the Woodpeckers set up, but shipping one to me is half the cost of the jig, so I'm now looking at building one. I'd like to incorporate linear bearings and track into the design for the X and Y axis. I'm looking at these now - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...490YAG02&psc=1

All I'd need to do is build a plate to make the router to the four blocks for one axis, then another attachment for one set of rails to another set for perpendicular axis. Then it's a simple matter to attach the rails to a height adjustable bracket that would get secured to a work bench, or some other flat panel.

[Mike Kees]

Michael check out the kit Lee Valley came up with for a router sled. At the very least it will give you a design you could use to make your own.

[Jim Becker]

Michael check out the kit Lee Valley came up with for a router sled. At the very least it will give you a design you could use to make your own.

I was just going to mention that....

[Michael Drew]

I did see that system. I'm not sure how well it would actually function, and for how long? U-bolts and plastic do not leave me with a high degree of confidence. Interesting and creative system though. I got the idea to use the linear rail/bearing set up from a picture in Fine Woodworking. It was an old article. Someone built a router mill and used a type of linear bearing. I ordered two sets of 40" rails and bearings. The rails are pretty universal, so I can buy longer rails later, if I see a need. When these show up, I'll have a better idea how to coble a mill system together, or just abandon the idea. I have an older 3.25hp Hitachi plunge router that I can dedicate to this project too.

[Jim Becker]

Linear bearings are hot stuff these days as any decent CNC machine uses them. It sounds like you may come up with a very nice router setup for flattening things!

[Michael Drew]

If it works out well, I'll post DIY info somewhere for others to use. If it doesn't, I'll keep quiet....lol

One more question......well, for now.

What router bit would be better for milling end grain of the hard woods I'm going to use (Walnut, Maple, Cherry)?? I usually buy Whiteside bits. I am looking at their straight bits, 1.75" or 2" diameter, (1100/ 1101) and their Spoilwood bit (6220). I have not ever used a router to mill down end grain before, so I'm in uncharted territory here.....

[Jim Becker]

I'm a fan of the Amana insert cutters for flattening stuff. That's what I use on my CNC for this purpose as well as for maintaining my splitboard. The initial investment is a little more, but the rotatable and replacement cutters are more economical over time, especially for this application. End grain is hard on tooling. I bought mine from TootsToday but there are other purveyors of the same. Since my spindle is a 1.7kw unit...which is similar to a 2.5-3hp router...I opted for a 1.25" tool, although I could have easily used the 1.5" version. I would not go larger than that for the stated application...they sell them up to about 4" for folks with really big spindles and machines!