Thread: Stationary Belt vs Disk sander

Hi Derek,

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I have found using a high quality Random Orbital Sander gives beautiful sanding finish for oil application. A ROS with a 3mm rotation gives excellent finish, both for application of oil or for a very smooth finish ready for application of some other finish. The Festool I use gives such clean result that it is very difficult to find a scratch at levels such as 400 and then higher, (up to 4000g), when Hard Burnishing the oil. This is the finish of choice for me. The durability and depth of finish are exemplary.

Regards,

Rob

Hi Rob

That's useful info, but a different application, I'm afraid. The ROS is generally used for face grain, and not end grain or edge shaping, which is the forte of the vertical belt sander or disk sander. The ROS is a finishing tool, by-and-large, while the others are shaping tools. The ROS works best on wide surfaces, but the other two are aimed at narrow surfaces.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I pretty much agree with your comments; I had an old 24" disc sander in my Shipwrights shop in Darwin that was quite incapable of sanding without burning anywhere near the outer 4 or 5 inches. I now have a Triton disc and belt sander and the disc rarely sees wood.

I have a question regarding your set up; exactly what is the purpose of the auxiliary table? It doesn't look to be appreciably larger than the iron one and you have lost the mitre slot. Is it just to raise the work surface to a more comfortable working height?

Chief, it is just to raise the work above the disk. I am thinking about taking the machine apart and building it into a dedicated vertical sander. I'll build a wider table lower down with decent dust control.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

With the disk sander, you get uneven scratches, plus the speeds are uneven across the face. With the belt, the scratches are uniform and vertical. Control is so much better.

That's basically the entire discussion there.

Then why would anyone want to use a disk sander?

Regards from Perth

Derek

The only thing I can think of is for sanding the ends of boards that are particularly wide; belt sanders tend to top out at 6" (maybe 8" if you hunt around), but disks went up to 36" which would give you 12-15" of usable space.

Gidday Derek

Ive got one of these and think they are the duks guts

Select-A-Rad 483 Tube Notcher / Belt Grinder | Radius Master Belt Grinders

Radiusmaster in my view make the best belt Grinders in the business [though they are expensive] I use mine for all sorts of tasks from slack belt grinding to platten grinding, blade sharpening and general metal

fabrication plus woodworking check out all the workstations for ideas as there are some caveats to their effectiveness eg: Best to have a platten, mountings for fixtures and so on and so fourth

As an ex metal fabricator a Great belt sander is one of the most useful tools in the shop

Regards Lou

I can understand why many disc sanders don't get a lot of use in a wood shop and the main problem seems to be that they turn too rapidly on standard machines.

My 2m x 150 mm belt sander uses a 100mm diameter drive drum and a 300 mm disc so the outside of the disc is always traveling 3 times faster than the belt.

The machine uses a 415V 3P 3HP 2 speed (2850 and 1425 rpm) motor but when I converted the motor to run with a 240V VFD I lost the low speed but that doesn't matter because the VFD allows me to reduce the speed so I can still use the disc without burning wood.

Even so. I tend to use the disc for metal (ie chamfering and squaring up the ends of metal rectangular tubing) and the belt for wood and the belt/disc grit/types that I tend to leave on the belt and the disc reflects this.

The VFD is great for changing the belt speed as well, a bit slower when doing something critical and even a bit faster when you really want to quickly tidy up some rough cut timber.

One of the best things I did to my belt sander was to extend the length of the belt and leave the extended portion of the belt unsupported (ie nothing behind it) which is very useful for sanding curved surfaces. My Multitool linisher which I use for sanding metal has a similar capability. The linisher also has a 150mm disc but I prefer to use the 300 mm disc as it has a better work support table.

In all cases good dust extraction is essential.

I certainly use my belt sander more than the disc on the end of my lathe. My belt is 150mm wide and has a 900mm long table, I think the belt is 2mtrs long or there about? Not vertical like the ones you show. It’s one of the most used machines in the shed. I even made a jig to turn it into a thicknesser of sorts for my ukulele making (light passes only) belts last for a very long time too!

I will one day get a drum sander for this purpose though.

I have to 300 mm disc sanders one for metal. one for timber, however I have recently acquired a vertical 150 mm belt sander as said above I prefer it to the disc

Deleted, duplicate post.

I wonder if it would be possible to make a disk sander that had concentric rings of, say, 100-150mm wide with a planetary reduction system to get them all at similar surface speeds.

I know it'd be totally impractical and cost a fortune to do, but just a thought...

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

I wonder if it would be possible to make a disk sander that had concentric rings of, say, 100-150mm wide with a planetary reduction system to get them all at similar surface speeds.

I know it'd be totally impractical and cost a fortune to do, but just a thought...

There would still be a noticeable speed differential between the rings which would generate stripes.