Ok... I've talked about them before, but what is the advantage of a long
belt grinder over a short one. I imagine heat build up in the belt, but
you would have to do a lot of grinding I think for it to matter.

What made me think of it is I was just using my little 1x30 Harbor
Freight belt grinder to clean up some steel parts. I could have flipped
them over and decked them off on the mill, but the belt grinder did the
trick fast enough. As I was using it I was thinking I'd like to have a
big 2x72, but I don't necessarily want to invest the time to make one,
or pay the going rate for one. Then I was done. The little 1x30
removed the little .025 lip that was left behind after separating the
parts with the bandsaw and I was done.

I'm not sure I could have done them much faster on a big grinder. The
1x30 Zirconia 60grot belt made short work of it, and then the 120
aluminum oxide belt polished them up "good enough."

Am I missing something? I feel like the big 2x72 would only really be a
big benefit if I was standing in front of it for a while. Is that
right? Well, it would be more powerful, so it could take a wider bit I
guess.