Thread: Carbatec 230mm disc and 1220 belt sander?

G'Day Glenn, I can't help on the Carbatec unit but I have the Hare & Forbes unit like this..

New hafco woodmaster L-69A Belt Sanders in NORTHMEAD, NSW

I mainly use the linisher as I also have an old Carbatec 300mm disc sander, Cheers, Peter

No complaints on either machine....

We have a H&F and a Carbatec version at our woodclub, very similar machines. I have had to replace the idler roller on the Carbatec one, and all the bearings in the H&F one. They both have had a fair bit of work, and neither use sealed bearings, just shielded bearings in their original build. All replacement bearings have been sealed, the extra cost is very minimal. Why on earth they don't use decent bearings in the first place is beyond me.

Neither of our machines have the mitre gauge slot in the support table parallel to the disc, nor can they be made parallel due to the poor boring of the castings during manufacturing. This can be overcome by using an auxilliary table attached to the original table.

Rikon make a similar machine, it would be worth while checking their version out as well.

Alan...

Rikon: New 2016 rikon 50-122 Belt Sanders in AIRPORT WEST, VIC

Hi Potts,

I have the Carbatec model. It must be at least ten years old (I got it second hand), but doesn't look to have changed over the years.

I find the size convenient, and the belts are no problem to find. I got several from the Sandpaper Man (forum sponsor) several years ago and they're doing well.

I seldom use the disk sander, but then that's mainly because of how I have it set up, so can't comment on it. I use mine mainly for shaping to a line, or deburring/bevelling bits of steal. With this in mind, I have mine mounted vertically such that the work rests on the table, and I feed it into the belt. For this it works very nicely.

The one area that I do need to rectify on mine is that the table mounting bracket which allows for different angles to be locked in is far to flexible, and as such doesn't allow the table to be rigid. In the photo I'm referring to the silver curved bracket. Most of the flex is from the right angle at the top. Not a hard fix, just one that got on the to-do list one day, and has never made it off.

20200610_123739.jpg 20200610_123753.jpg

Dust control is another matter. These things throw it everywhere! Not a fault of the machine, but something you probably want to consider. In my case, knowing that the dust is being drawn down from the table, I have mounted a suction port below the belt base (see photos above), and then enclosed the back of the belt. The theory was that most dust will be captured on its initial downward journey, but any sawdust which is pulled back up with the belt will hopefully get pulled off and extracted from the downdraft in the "tunnel". In practise it appears to work well, in that after a use, the following day there is no residual dust on nearby surfaces, as there is plenty without the extractor running.

20200610_123723.jpg

I hope that helps.

Originally Posted by LanceC

Dust control is another matter. These things throw it everywhere! Not a fault of the machine, but something you probably want to consider. In my case, knowing that the dust is being drawn down from the table, I have mounted a suction port below the belt base (see photos above), and then enclosed the back of the belt. The theory was that most dust will be captured on its initial downward journey, but any sawdust which is pulled back up with the belt will hopefully get pulled off and extracted from the downdraft in the "tunnel". In practise it appears to work well, in that after a use, the following day there is no residual dust on nearby surfaces, as there is plenty without the extractor running.

Good to hear about this.

Adding a bell mouth hood would improve dust collection every further.
It's similar to to what is being done under Band Saw tables.

IMG_1919.jpg

Originally Posted by BobL

Adding a bell mouth hood would improve dust collection every further.

Won't it ever! And you know what's really exciting Bob, I've got a lathe now and the ability to make them. I tried in the past making them with just a heat gun and form with no joy, so am keen to turn a form and get cracking on my lathe.

Thanks Lance for the comprehensive reply, there doesn’t appear to be too many differences between them, Carbatec have a store in Adelaide and I like the stand and finish of their machine.

You may have to wait for a while as there doesn't appear to be any stock across the country.