Belt Sander Size Recommendation for Home Shop?

[Splat]

Guys, I think it's time to upgrade from my HF 1x30 belt sander for the home shop. I only use it for metal. mostly sharpening mower blades, convexing knife blades, deburring cut pieces of metal, etc... Time to upgrade. Is there such a thing as too-big a belt sander? In your opinion what'd be a good size belt sander for me? Thanks.

 

[cwilliamrose]

I'll have a 12"x144" belt sander for sale soon. That might qualify as too big for a home shop.

I have a belt/disc sander that gets a lot of use -- the disc is 12" and the belt is 6"x48" (like the Grizzly G1276). Fairly compact for what it's capable of....

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[ttabbal]

Hard to go wrong with the 2x72.. If you are willing to build, the cost is very reasonable.

 

[Splat]

I literally just heard from a friend that has a Harbor Freight 6"belt/9" disc sander that he'll sell me in mint condition for cheap. Looking at the reviews it seems a decent machine that should be capable for my needs. I don't know anything about these bigger belted machines though.

 

[MrWhoopee]

As with everything, it depends on your needs. I have a Craftsman 6"x48" with 9" disc. I use a 60 grit belt for rapid stock removal and 80 grit disc for finer finishing. Horsepower is almost as important as size. There are times when a narrow belt would be useful for places that can't be accessed by a wide belt.

While I was writing this I see that you've found your machine. Good choice.

 

[benmychree]

I had a 2 X 72 "Square Wheel" belt grinder in my shop downtown, bought it new back in the '80s virtually no trouble with it all those years and was sorry to leave it behind when I sold out; prohibitively expensive now. Before that I had bought a new Delta Rockwell 6 X 48 with 12" disc sander, it was quite troublesome, sold it.

 

[woodchucker]

had never heard of the square wheel. looks pretty nice. I 2 listings under Home Desperate for $500 difference in price... the cheaper unit is 11a, the more expensive 15a, but the cheaper unit seems to come with 2 sets of wheels, one 3" wheel, and 2 x 1/2 " wheels.

 

[benmychree]

With the small wheels mounted on a swivel bracket, it has a platen and open in the back, it is inclinable and you can use either small wheel in an extended position as well as using the platen or grinding on a slack belt, as I remember, there is or was an optional 1/2" nose piece provided with an air bearing at the nose, solid steel but air cushioned; I never had that part. I think that the only part that I had to replace was the plastic idler wheel that controlled tracking this after at least 20 years of daily use.

 

[woodchucker]

air bearing... quite expensive .. how does the grit affect it, or is the grit too coarse to get into that fine cushion of air?

 

[Splat]

I have a newer 1750rpm, 3/4HP motor and a VFD for it I took off an old lathe. I'm thinking it's time to build a 2x72 belt grinder. Lemme check parts cost. Thanks for the help guys.