Belt or disc sander

Discussions of tools wether you bought them or made them yourself. Anything from screwdrivers to custom chucks and drilling rigs.
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andrew
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by andrew »

This is an image of what Tyler is describing:

Image

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andrew
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by andrew »

Except I'm lazy and I didn't flatten this disk :)

andrew
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BigCasino
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by BigCasino »

did you ever have to chase a stummel down the vacuum hose?
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jogilli
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by jogilli »

Everybody uses what is right for them.. I've been using the 7" disk for a little over a year.. 60 grit is the normal initial grit I use..

then use a combination of 5 in and a little 2 1/2" French wheel.. for finer shaping...

I also use a 7x72 belt sander but normally at nothing below 320g.. and normally just at the 400 grit

most recently I bough a frequency modulator for my motors so I can torque them down a bit.. slows them down quit a bit and am happy because I find my cheapy dual bench grinders work really nice when you can turn the power getting to the motors down 25-40%

James
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andrew
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Re: Belt or disc sander

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BigCasino wrote:did you ever have to chase a stummel down the vacuum hose?
Fortunately my scoop has a built in grate :mrgreen:, so... no.

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jogilli
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by jogilli »

andrew wrote:
BigCasino wrote:did you ever have to chase a stummel down the vacuum hose?
Fortunately my scoop has a built in grate :mrgreen:, so... no.

andrew

more than once.. I finally got myself a screen about a month ago.. and that problem has stopped ;-)
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BigCasino
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by BigCasino »

LOL, it's funny how fast one can leave your grip while on a sander or buffing wheel...LOL
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andrew
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Re: Belt or disc sander

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BigCasino wrote:LOL, it's funny how fast one can leave your grip while on a sander or buffing wheel...LOL
I have padding on the floor around my motor because of that :mad:

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BigCasino
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by BigCasino »

I have them too, I got them at harbor freight, I think there was 3 or 4 in a pack like a 3ft square that all lock together, I think they were like 7 bucks a pack
BobR
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by BobR »

Tyler, thank you. That was very helpful.


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Thomas Tkach
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by Thomas Tkach »

I'm a bit late to the party, but Tyler (or anyone else), could you mount one of those discs in a hand drill? If not, what sort of cheap wheel would be best for mounting in such a set-up?
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J.Alexander
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by J.Alexander »

Tyler wrote:Here is my experience:

Belt sander: I have a 1x30 with 5" disk combo. I tried a time or two to shape the stummel on the belt. Horrible experience. I ruined several pipes very early in my pipe making. With perhaps a better belt and more practice I'm sure I could have gotten better with it, but it was not a good tool in my experience. What I did use this for was removing ebonite behind the button, and for squaring block with the disk side. It worked ok for both jobs. The danger with the belt is its tendency to cut with the edges.

5" neoprene padded disks: I used these for about 11 years. I owned about 6 of them. Most did not run true. I used the kind that had 1/4" of a neoprene type material for the pad on top of a hard plastic back. They work OK. I use the adhesive kind, and that's a pain. The biggest flaws with this setup up are frequent (inconvenient) paper changes and too thick an edge that doesn't allow you to cut tight radii (like the shank to stummel transition). Velcro backed would have been nice and solved the inconvenience of paper swaps, but the edge of those can cut, they're more expensive, and I could never find one that was narrow at the edge. They were all too fat.

3" pads: I used these for about two months. I got various backers with different firmness foams. I also got disks with scalloped edges to solved the problem of the edge cutting. Meh. I never got this system to a compelling spot. It might be do-able, but I'd only go this route if you already owned a bunch of the stuff.

I have tried various other things over the years as I stumbled on new disk options while on the tool aisle. Yellow plastic backers by Gator, for example, among other things. They lasted about five minutes and I chucked them.

Now to "the answer": a 7" fiber disk with a 7" angle grinder backer. I use 36 grit, but you can use less coarse. This setup up is cheap, widely available (Home Depot, Lowe's), does not require frequent paper changes, and is the best tool I've used for efficient and effective shaping. I have only been using this for about a year and a half. In case I am being unclear, it is vastly superior to all the other choices I've tried. A major advantage of this setup is it is < 1/8" thick at the edge and very rigid. Because it is rigid you can easily control the rate of wood removal by varying the pressure you use. A gentle touch results in gentle removal, not the need to press harder until the flexible edge quits running away from you.

As with most things, you can make a pipe with all of the above options. My comments are based on my experiences and are evaluating ease of use and efficiency.

In other news, finish sanding is a whole different beast. I recommend none of the above for that.

Tyler,

I would love to hear your thoughts on finish sanding... what has worked and what has not worked well for you. Reading what you have posted would have saved me some money I agree with you finding the same results myself. I have found a 5" velcro pad on an arbor similar to french wheel that works well but I have not purchased an actual french wheel yet (I like the J.Allan).

Thanks ~ Joe
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Re: Belt or disc sander

Post by E.L.Cooley »

I like the j.alan but I don't rough with it.


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