Thread: Disc & Belt Sander - Information Please

Hi Crowie. Have just recently purchased the 6inch belt by 9inch disc unit from Carbatec here in Adelaide. Cost $339.00. very happy so far. Comes with it's own stand, which I have made mobile. Plenty of power, not too noisy. I think it's a good size and can park it easily out of the way when not required. Hope this helps.

Yep, I had the Carbatec one for a couple of years and gave it a good work out, it came back for more, a good little unit for the money, not perfect but what is.

SB

I have one of exactly that size Crowie, although I think it is a 1/3 HP or maybe less. I bought it from ALDI maybe 2 years ago. The only problem I have with it is that you have to take it apart to change the belt. It is underpowered , you can stop it by pressing too hard . I just put up with it and go slower, it has served really well. I think I paid $75 - can't be wrong at that price. I think it's still in warranty.

For the majority of people, the little one at 6"x4" is fine but it depends on what you are making and whether or not you are doing production runs of identical items. You lose time every time you change the belt.

Belt costs can be significant too in the setup stage with a new machine and of course the bigger the belt, the greater the cost. Check out Sandpaperman for some prices.

For a one off item with a machine there is probably going to be very little if any time gained by you in sanding. Remember too that machines love to eat and it can be surprisingly easy to make a mistake with one of these sanders. A lack of power is actually your friend in these situations. Less power means it eats smaller chunks.

I bought a little one off Gumtree for $50 second hand last year because I sometimes do small production runs of items.

There have been times I have wished for a bigger machine but very rarely. I'd get a small one second hand and if you use it enough and need a bigger one, resell the second hand one and get the bigger size new.

Oh - buy a graphite slip cloth and attach it to any sander you get if it doesn't already have one. It'll save you money.

I have the hare and forbes one. and apart from all the bearings failing in the first six weeks, which they replaced for no cost, I have had no other trouble with it. I don't use it a lot, but when I do, it's going for a number of hours at a time. I bought six belts to go with it and have as yet only used three of them, over 4 years. I suspect that it would benefit from a graphite slip pad under the belt, but it does the job for me. One thing that I did find out very early, don't put too fine a belt on it. I found that 120 is too fine, 80 is ok but I mainly use 60 now. It's never meant to finish the material to paint stage so this works for me. It's the same for the disc, if you go too fine, it will only burn the material, even with a 60/80 it will burn if you aren't careful.

Go for it, they are well worth the money.

Robert