"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
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.


I tried a knife maker's 2" belt sander and concluded I could do as
well, as fast, with 4.5" and 7" angle grinders for free-hand roughing
and my 1x30" Delta for finishing. For many jobs a 4" wide belt sander
with a platen and guide fence, like I used at Mitre and Segway, would
be best.

FWIW I grind HSS lathe bits nearly to final form with the angle
grinder.