Belt Sander/Grinder ???

Mike,
I’m a little confused. Aluminum oxide is ceramic. What’s the difference?
Evan

My understanding is that AO is a naturally occurring mineral and ceramic is a man-made crystalline structure that is harder than AO. I may be wrong about this but I can tell you from recent experience that for metal cutting, the ceramic belts cut faster, cooler, stay sharp longer and are not a lot more expensive than AO belts.

I now know that a ceramic belt cuts cobalt grinding times down by about 1/3 so that it takes less time to grind a 5 or 8% cobalt bit than it used to take to grind a HSS tool on AO. It also cuts much cooler. I'm convinced enough that I will likely never order another AO belt for tool grinding.
 
I don't know what ceramics... but the blue zirconia belts really move materials on the little 1x30.
 
Ref. Ceramics - see post #19 here.
Alan,
There are a lot of ceramic materials, aka metallic oxides. Most are good abrasives, but the “ceramic” are reported to be better than alumina or SiC. I’m just wondering what’s different. Zirconia could be an alternative—it’s as hard as diamond?
 
I am fairly certain the belt manufacturers loosely refer to "ceramic" as materials that have been synthesized (i.e. man made vs. naturally occurring).

3M uses Alumina Zirconia as a belt abrasive. BTW, I don't believe that alumina zirconia is as hard as diamond. Here's a snippet from 3M on their Zirconia. Notice they talk to "self sharpening" aspect of it.

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Regarding when to change them out, what I can tell you is belt appearance and tactile judgement are likely a bit irrelevant. I have some fine grits belts that are flimsy and look worn out but they still cut. Appearance is always important but it really is about when one of these "ceramic" belts stops cutting that it's time to chunk it and put on a new one.
 
About 38 years ago my dad hauled home a heavy old 6 x 48" horizontal belt + 12" disc sander that was beat to heck, had bad bearings and a bad motor one summer. I spent about 3 weeks tearing it down, sanding everything, painting it with some industrial paint and putting it back together after my dad had the bearing presses off and we replaced the starting capacitor. My father was a woodworker and we got a good amount of use out of that sander. Unfortunately it sits in my shop now and still gets use on wood working... especially the disc sander for putting nice sharp 90's on projects. But where it really shines is when it is used on metal. I don't know how anyone would sharpen lawnmower blades without a belt sander? Hogging off a bunch of metal, especially welds will burn through belts and discs pretty quickly. So I usually do most rough shaping with a grinder (bench or angle) and put the final touches on with the sander.

I would not want to be without it! I do hold that sander responsible for the dozen or so basket cases I have rebuilt / refurbished since and my unnatural love of old iron!

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Seems like a good thread to post about mine. I originally started it to grind lathe bits, but I'm seeing all kinds of things it's useful for now.

I decided on this design. http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html?m=1

Powered by a 3 phase 2 HP sealed motor ans VFD. I was going to go the treadmill route, but a good deal popped up on brand new motors and I couldn't pass it up. I have a pyroceram glass platen that isn't in the picture. I also have an adjustable work rest almost complete. It needs a little tweaking still, and maybe a bit of paint sprayed in its general direction, but that 36 grit ceramic belt does a number on the mild steel I've tested it on.

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I've been on the fence about a 2"x72" belt sander for a few years now but can't seem to pull the trigger. I wouldn't ever give up my good ole' 12" disc/6x48 belt combination unit though. That is probably the most used piece of equipment in the shop. I've had it for nearly 20-years and it is the workhorse of the shop.

Mike
 
Seems like a good thread to post about mine. I originally started it to grind lathe bits, but I'm seeing all kinds of things it's useful for now.

I decided on this design. http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html?m=1

Powered by a 3 phase 2 HP sealed motor ans VFD. I was going to go the treadmill route, but a good deal popped up on brand new motors and I couldn't pass it up. I have a pyroceram glass platen that isn't in the picture. I also have an adjustable work rest almost complete. It needs a little tweaking still, and maybe a bit of paint sprayed in its general direction, but that 36 grit ceramic belt does a number on the mild steel I've tested it on.

View attachment 252962
I communicated with Dan Comeau, and with his permission started selling "precut weld together" kits of this grinder on E-bay! I'm building one currently also!

Jake Parker
 
I've been on the fence about a 2"x72" belt sander for a few years now but can't seem to pull the trigger. I wouldn't ever give up my good ole' 12" disc/6x48 belt combination unit though. That is probably the most used piece of equipment in the shop. I've had it for nearly 20-years and it is the workhorse of the shop.

Mike
Wait until you get your 2 x 72, the old one will be left in the corner collecting literally collecting dust. That is what happened to my old ones.

Randy
 
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