On 9 May, 16:34, wrote:
Hello,

Can anyone tell me: what is a belt sander used for? Is it more
powerful than other types of sander or are they all pretty much the
same; is a 120 grit a 120 grit no matter what machine it's attached
to?

I have a 1/3 sheet orbital sander which is pretty good but for
stripping paint it can be slow, I thought a belt sander might be
quicker?

Thanks.

I know that there will be those that disagree but the hand held belt
sander has limited use as it is a pretty fierce tool. I have one that
I bought cheaply to sand a limited area of a corridor floor for
varnishing; that was three years ago and I don't think I've used it
since.

The problem is that the belt effectively only goes one way and ends up
sandiing relatively unevenly - the edges dig in, etc. Stripping paint
is the only thing that I think that they would be good for other than
floor sanding - just make sure it's not lead based.

As they often can be had for quite a small number of beer tokens, get
a cheap one and see how you get on. I'm sure the one I got from Lidl/
Aldis was noticeably less than Screwfix and has worked fine.

Now if someone would offer some comments on the static ones with a
disk sander I would be interested in that.

Rob

robgraham wrote:



Now if someone would offer some comments on the static ones with a
disk sander I would be interested in that.

I have a Rexon jobby & it's the dogs IMO. Really useful for 'slight
adjustments' to wooden components. Hard to describe, but very ueful for
woodwork.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

robgraham wrote:

Now if someone would offer some comments on the static ones with a
disk sander I would be interested in that.

I have a small one of those in my workshop (the Perform one from
Axminster, part no 400071).

I must admit that I find it very useful. The disc part will remove
material very quickly, and by virtue of the table / fence in front of
it, very accurately as well. For example you can use it to mitre small
sections of beading for frames etc more quickly and easily than sawing.
Prior to have this machine I had never thought of sanding as being a
viable primary machine technique.

The belt part is very good for giving a final lick to all sorts of parts
when making stuff, taking arises off etc. (it will take burrs of steel
just as well).

If you hook a vacuum up to it then it catches a fair amount of the dust.

--
Cheers,

John.

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"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
robgraham wrote:

Now if someone would offer some comments on the static ones with a
disk sander I would be interested in that.

I have a small one of those in my workshop (the Perform one from
Axminster, part no 400071).

I must admit that I find it very useful. The disc part will remove
material very quickly, and by virtue of the table / fence in front of it,
very accurately as well. For example you can use it to mitre small
sections of beading for frames etc more quickly and easily than sawing.
Prior to have this machine I had never thought of sanding as being a
viable primary machine technique.

The belt part is very good for giving a final lick to all sorts of parts
when making stuff, taking arises off etc. (it will take burrs of steel
just as well).

If you hook a vacuum up to it then it catches a fair amount of the dust.

--
Cheers,

John.


Ditto, I have the Clarke cheapo