I need some opinions on belt sanders

M

Metal

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So long story short, I want a like 1" ish wide, small footprint belt sander that isn't hand held, I could go bigger if there's a big difference

I haven't really been able to find a whole lot of "what is good, what is bad, what features you want"
I mean its just a belt sander.

Its primary use is just plain old deburring of steel, and maybe aluminium polishing, nothing crazy.
 
For the money I don't think you would go wrong with a sander from Harbor Freight, especially if you wait for it to go on sale. I cannot speak about the 1" model, as I do not have one, but I did purchase one of their 4"x36" belt sander / 6" disc sander combo units a few years back. Paid a whopping $54 for it on sale. It isn't a great machine, but for the money it's not bad. The only real drawback I've seen with it is that it is a little low on power, but that is easy to work around.

There are better units out there, but with a significant increase in price. I figure I can burn up two or three of the cheap ones for the price of one real good one.
 
I just got the same sander as Terry. When the motor goes I will just put a tread mill motor on it.
 
I guess I should have included that I have never found anything that a 1" belt sander could do that a 4" could not unless you need to sand a narrow area. In that case I just break out my flex shaft tool and do the small area that way.
 
The HF and equivalent items I've seen and used, feel and perform differently from the relatively heavy and their sometimes much older competitors.
As an old iron guy I'll take a rebuild with bad paint, bearings, and parts I need to make, and a machine which my grand kids might use into their retirement over a lighter less powered sometimes newer model.
This isn't a rant about imports, merely about bang for buck.
This is my perspective, it may not be the best fit for you and your needs....

Daryl
MN
 
I have a Foley belt sander 1"x 42" or 44" both will fit , I bought the machine with the stand in 1976 , it's seen a ton of sanding and sharpening jobs over the years but it's still all original . I also have a buffalo 4" x 36" I've used since about 1987 . I inherited a delta 1" x 30" rinky dink machine with bad bearings seals with no lube , cleaned and lubed and it gets lots of use because it's light to take where ever you need it. It also does lots of sharpening.
Sharpening and Deburring works well on a 1" belt , the wider ones work well for flat faces and edges. I used my 4" for doing lots of gunstock work , blending in a new pad or spacers , adjustable combs things like that. Just my uses up to you how you work.
I should add I'm looking for an old heavy 6"x 48" or bigger. When I find them now I'm unable to go get them so I'm liable to have to build my own.
 
I agree with what most of the guys are saying; the six inch disc/4 inch belt combination is about where you should start. Every hardware store on the continent has belts for them too. As it goes with me, though, nothing is ever big enough. I am now working on the next step up; I think that it's an 8 inch or 9 inch disc /belt combination. I will keep the smaller one for sharpening and smaller work but I hope the big one will be less prone to stalling when you want to lean on something big as the smaller ones are prone to do.
 
Yeah I think even a 4" might be too big sometimes, but I'm looking there

The harbor freight one has a lot of complaints about belt tracking on their website (and is on sale right now) it doesn't sound like anything I can't fix or just machine a part to fix
 
For deburring and polishing I use the 3M EXL wheel. At $50 a wheel they are spendy but they last a long time. The link is a 3M demo and the guy doing the demo is moving waaaaaaaaaaaaaay slow for the capabilities of the wheel. This is just another angle to look at. When they get to small for the pedestal grinder I use them on an arbor mounted in a drill or die grinder.

 
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I would check out a 2"x 72". It is the most used machine in my shop. I am constantly finding new uses for it. It is an extremely versatile machine. Yeah, you can spend over a grand for one, but I built mine for @ $250. I have 2 one inch machines and now I hardly use them.

Randy
 
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