The Armour Archive

what do you slack belt sanders look like? Is it homemade? Looking for ideas as I try to solve my sanding issues.

I am in the process of making one or two. I'll post my results when I am done. Do a search for belt sander, this topic comes up regularly.

Pad

Pad,
I did, I found them and fell in love with the concept of making one. I will need to figure out how to power mine. At the moment I do not have an option for electricity. I will need to come up with some method of powering it, or get a generator. I'm in favor of steam power and pulleys (but will likely do the generator thing

I would love to see what you're doing with yours. I'm going to mull over this for the next day or so and see what I can do over the weekend.

I built my own. 1HP 3450 RPM motor. 4 inch drive wheel, 4 inch contact wheel and 2 inch top wheel. I got the wheels from beaumont metalworks.

Here is a pic:
[img]http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~malarkey/sca/images/chronological/2004/wide_belt_sander_small.jpg[/img]

To make aslack belt sander you'll need:

motor with cord and switch
large wheel with key pin to attach to motor
Base plate
spring-loaded armature for upper wheel
sanding belts of appropriate size and availability

Two-wheel designs are fine-you don't need a 3rd. If you're having problems with tracking, use a hammer to beat the upper armature sideways until it's fixed. Really.

If you go AC get a "farm duty" motor. That way the fan is on the inside and no metal grindings get in to it. You should set it up so it can power a buffing wheel also.

You don't actually need a spring loaded top wheel. Mine works fine without it. I adjust the tension with the T-handle on the top. I actually much prefer not having the spring on the top.

Jurgen

Yes-but having a spring makes changing belts a very quick process. It also allows the slack part of the belt to flex more-very handy when you are sanding the outside of a compound curved piece!