belt/disc sander recomendations


duckkisser

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i need to get a belt/disc sander bench top model for my basement shop. can anyone recomend a good brand or tool that has fantastic dust collection....(these sanders produce alot of dust.)

and if there realy isent a good brand to recomend that is like 99 percent effective can anyone recomend some addaptions for a dust collector to remove any spewed dust from the sander. for example put pvc pipe so it catches from a specific spot. and which area of a sander produce the most lose dust so i can figure out how to prevent any spilling.

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The Ridgid EB4424 is very popular. It is an oscillating belt and drum sander with great dust collection. It does not have a disk sander, but I've never seen the need for a disk sander since the belt sander performs the same function. I bought mine on Craigslist for $100.

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http://chicago.craig...3524799376.html this the one your talking about? i dont realy have much use for a side sander like this at least i have only ever used a upright machine.

the old sander i used to use the disc had a real coarse sandpaper like 60-80 on it for quick removal and the belt had 100-120 for a little softer touch.

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I have this sander as well in 4x6 belt mode there is minor vibration that is acceptable for such a large body moving up and down. In spindle mode

runs like like a sewing machine super quiet. Mine was used and missing the drums and table washers but replaced all of them from ereplacementparts for 22.00. Built a custom stand for mine the same height as a workbench that gives me a 5 foot right side table. Have you considered a flatmaster drum sander virtually no dc needed and the sandpaper does not load up as much they sell the kits on ebay for 300.00 check out youtube keyword flatmaster drum sander.

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this seems excelent for edge sanding but can you use it for face sanding for example if i make a box and i want to round off the corners, or if i need to sand down stone inlay on the top of a box will it give me enough room to work im guessing its 4 inches and that does not seem like much room. a upright sander would give me alot more room only 4 inches wide but 21-24 inches long on small unit and

6"-36-48" on large sander. which can mean all the difference to work with projects because i do more shaping then i do flatening on my sander.

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It rides up and down so I think it will sand wider than the 4" belt. Flip the box over and you can do twice as wide. I will measure the height at the shop today. Rounds corners wonderfully, flip the part to do taller corners. Does a lot for a bench top machine.

It is very useful for taking saw marks out of edges flat and curved. I use a portable belt sander or random orbit on larger flat surfaces.

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I'll also give two thumbs up to the Rigid! A surprisingly good tool, at a great price! I bought mine on Brad Nailor's recommendation.

DK... You're right... On a flat belt sander, the sides are open, so it's easier to sand items wider than the belt, and the Rigid platen is only ~ 8" long. To sand longer items, you need to move the work end to end, or flip it. That may or may not fit your needs My first reason for buying this machine was for spindle sanding, but I learned the belt is far better than expected!

Last month, I used the Rigid to level miter splines on a run of 30 boxes using 80 grit, then I belt sanded all of them to 320 grit. It takes less than 30 seconds, with no tools, to change grits and re-track, and 4x24 belts are not expensive. The dust collection is quite good, too.

I also have a Delta 12" disc, normally used for tuning miters. To me, smaller discs machines aren't that useful, since you can only use half of the diameter.

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I have the Rigid as well and I like it a lot, definitely recommend it (and the dust collection is good for what it is). I also have a little Ryobi disc/belt combo which I believe the OP is actually looking for. It's a 6" disc, I don't recall the belt length but it's slightly larger than a belt sander's. The dust collection is so/so, the disc doesn't really have any sort of dust collection, the belt doesn't collect all that well either. I do use it for a few things, but often I tend to use it more to quickly file down screws that are too long and a few things that aren't as easy to use with the on edge belt of the Rigid.

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a budy of mine has a rigid and i think ill have him show it to me and let me try it

but i plan on doing carving, inlay, wood turning so like i said a more open upright and flat sander would be more usefull for leveling off the bottom of a project, or sanding down small/medium boxes or similar sized projects.

i need something for rough shaping more then i need something for finese work or straiting out edges. because the pieces will be odd shaped and i will need to rotate and angle the wood in 360 directions so the rigid table top which is great for edge work limits how much i can turn the wod. plus im working with stone/metal inlay so i need to have the horsepower to strip down the extra stone inlay. the rigid only turns RPM 1725 Spindle, FPM 1350 Belt most belt/disc sanders usaly turn at 2000-3000 rpm. so it will take much longer to get the stone down to flat with the wood.

in fact im looking at buying this machine http://www.menards.com/main/tools-hardware/power-tools/sanders/masterforce-6x9-belt-disc-sander/p-1498339-c-10088.htm or something similar.\

so considering im geting a belt/disc sander for my needs anyone got any tips on eliminating the dust extraction from the sander. where can i expect lots of dust to come out off so i can plan suction to those parts.

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One thing I've noticed about dust collection with benchtop and handheld tools with 2 1/2" or smaller ports, including the sanders, is that a good Shop-Vac seems to work a lot better than my big cyclone. So, I use an auto-switch and a drywall bag equipped vac with things like handheld routers, benchtop sanders, plate joiners, handheld sanders...

The cyclone obviously kills the vac on machinery with larger or multiple ports, like jointers and planers, saws, router tables, drum sanders, etc...

It was explained to me as velocity (the vac) vs. volume (the cyclone), but I've never bothered to fully learn the details.

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Yeah I remember reading the science about it at one point, but don't recall the details exactly but for 2 1/2" ports from what I'd read you're better off with a shop vac. I definitely noticed it with my router table (which I used 2.5" pvc), connected to my little shopvac it works well, when I tried to use a reducer backwards to move it to 4" for the DC it didn't collect much of anything.

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  • 4 years later...

Not for nothing, but even though this thread is 4 years old.. that Rigid sander still rocks. I got one 2 years ago and I just bought one today as an xmas gift for my stepfather. 

I think it's a tradition that everyone's first or second post is on a thread that hasn't been touched in forever. 

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The dust collection still isn't great.  If you put a big funnel hooked up to a dust collector next to it it's maybe 70 % 

Awesome little sander. The flat of the belt is quite sufficient to skip any affordable disc sander. Keep a crepe rubber block handy to clean the resin build up off the belt.

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11 hours ago, wdwerker said:

The dust collection still isn't great.  If you put a big funnel hooked up to a dust collector next to it it's maybe 70 % 

I built a shroud that fits closely around the belt that also has a flat surface at both ends that helps to register the stock parallel to the belt. I bet is catches 95%+ of the dust.

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I modified a " Big Gulp Dust Hood " with a plywood face and fitted it to my big osselating belt sander( 6" x 89") and it's hooked up to my dust collector. But such a big belt that's so powerful & going so fast does tend to throw dust everywhere. I bet if you put the same hood on the Ridgid sander the results would be much better. 

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  • 3 months later...

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