Thread: Air compressor for a wide belt sander

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

We run our sander 6 hours a day for a week at times and we don't have air jets, they're nice to have but definitely not essential. They're useful for sanding lacquer/undercoat where the dust will cling to the belts from static electricity, but if you're just sanding raw timber you don't really need them.

You will need to move a lot of air for dust extraction, so it might be better to spend the money for upgrades in that area.

Thanks Elancojobs,

I am only skimming raw timber (post resawing) - as you have suggested getting the waste out of the machine will be important and worth throwing a few dollars at (the manual has specs on this - so I'll ensure this more than delivered)

In context I am a hobby (novice) wood worker and greatly appreciate all the advice given.

I'll find out when the 'rubber hits the road' and will post how things work out with the set-up and volume of work involved - which may be of some use to others down the track.

Best Regards


Cromulant

Originally Posted by Cromulant

Thanks Elancojobs,

I am only skimming raw timber (post resawing) - as you have suggested getting the waste out of the machine will be important and worth throwing a few dollars at (the manual has specs on this - so I'll ensure this more than delivered)

In context I am a hobby (novice) wood worker and greatly appreciate all the advice given.

the depth of sanding is not really relevant when it comes to protecting your health and extracting the fine dust generated by a wide belt sander.

Am I right in thinking your sander is 3 phase?

if so, i suggest you invest in a 3 phase dust collector.

Yes you can run the sander without the jet, when I had my 900mm sander I always wanted the jet cleaning but when I finally got it i dont turn it on because it uses a lot of air, and it doesnt improve your product that much. If I were you I rather put that money on the dust extraction system..

I use my sander more than 20 hours a week when I need to, and TBH, I dont use the air jet that much, you can live without it if you do solid wood like me, but its a nice feature to have when you want one.

The air jet does not impact on the downtime, you just blow it with the air duster.

The air jet does prolong your sand belt lifespan tho, each sand belt is like $20-$30

Proper dust extraction system will keep your sander happy. you might spend more on the dust extraction than any of your machinery, proper Danish ducting cost megabucks.

On the topic of belts, I can recommend Siawood 1919 or 1919+; not cheap (I think about $80 for 1350x1900), but they last us many hundreds of meters

Originally Posted by Cromulant

Thanks to all for the feedback......I've located a manual which gives 70PSI - 0.5 cubic/meters per hour - around 0.3 cfm (8.5 litres an hour)

This is not a big demand (as elancojobs has posted). May not need to spend too much after all

Regards

Cromulant

Sorry to revive an old thread, but do you still have the manual for that machine? Do you have a link to its existence? I have one of these machines and currently repairing a few troublesome parts, but I cant find a manual anywhere.

Thanks in advance!