What do I need to know about belt sanders?

[jettback50]

Howdy,

Looking to get a belt sander and only have budget for a used item. I have had an old (70’s or 80’s plastic case) Craftsman with no belt release.

What do I need to know to buy a belt sander? What kind of updates and features have been added over the years and do any of them matter? There are a few old beasts out there, and the motors sound good, aluminum cases are solid and heavy. Plastic cased Makitas look like the release is easy, Dewalts use the third wheel which looks stronger (have not found one of these for a reasonable price yet). I will run them for a bit to see if the belt tracks OK, most will not like the idea of me putting it in a load test and kicking up a bunch of dust. Is that what I should be looking for? Does weight matter?

For instance, I was able to get a new Porter Cable random-orbit palm sander with adjustable speed with a lot of horse trading. It is a huge upgrade from the old ¼ sheet Craftsman unit I had that was a pain to get paper in and vibrated the dickens out of my hand with less than an hour of use but I had to wait for more than a year to work out the trade up.

What the belt sander will be used for is a lot of sanding on a dock project, part of a deck, later on a few furniture pieces, some other here and there stuff and hopefully mounted to the bench for a stationary sander on some smaller projects. For a disc sander I currently use a plate mounted in my table saw that sandpaper discs are mounted.

Thanks in advance for your help, knowledge, and advice.

[Bombarde16]

In random order, belt sanders are:

• Deafening. Get a good set of earmuffs
  
• Dusty. Don't even think of firing one up indoors.
  
• Perhaps the fastest way to ruin a project...short of a book of matches
  

That said, they have their place and are a good thing to have around. Unlike some uni-tasker tools, a belt sander is the sort of thing that will find its way into project after project. Coming from a palm sander or even a random orbit sander, your hands will indeed thank you.

Belt sanders haven't changed much since your Craftsman hit the market. The biggest thing I'd look for is availability and cost of belts. Find something that takes a standard size, preferably something for which there are lots of third party options. Anything super proprietary that locks you into buying only the manufacturer's belts (i.e. something ridiculous like 3.75" x 80mm) just keep looking.

For the dock and deck projects you mention, perhaps a hand-held power planer would be a better option. Framing carpenters love the things and they will get things trimmed to fit faster than a belt sander.

[Rapid Roger]

Belt sanders are fantastic for tool races! Start with the widest 50 grit belt you can fit on the sander for greater traction . Then unwind a few laps off of the armature and put in some gold coated brushes for higher RPM. If all else fails, adapt the male plug to fit a 220 volt outlet for a bit more power.

I hope you take this in the hurmous way that it was intended. It's just a joke son, just a joke. :lol: I'm just in THAT mood today.

I personally own a Porter Cable 2-1/2" x 14" belt sander but I don't use it much unless I really need to take down alot of stock real fast.

Rog