Belt sander ideas

[elkriverfab]

I was wondering if anyone has built their own belt sander?

I was wanting to run my knife blanks over a belt sander and rather than go buy a harbor freight model,
I was thinking about building one that will last.

There is a forum called garage forum and their is a great home built belt sander there.......
Built like a tank and with a lot of 1/2 inch plate believe it or not!

I am thinking it is pretty straight forward to build but my concern is in the rollers.
Everyone seems to be using billet aluminum.

I was wondering how well home built rollers would work (steel rollers on bearings).......
Narrow pieces of cut pipe, fitted with side plates and bearings installed in the centers of the plate.

I figure a home built would be much better than any low to mid end sander.

I have several good but not in use bench grinders here, one old school that is just a motor with pulley's (store boughtmany years ago) and several others that I was planning on choosing for the motor.

If anyone has built one before and is willing to share any tech or build info that would help a lot.

I sure want to finish these knives and fit the handles on!

Thanks in advance......

[AnotherDano]

There is a really good thread on a home-built sander in the shopfloortalk forum.

The guy is a big-time machinist and has all the monster tools. Probably out of the range of most of us, but he made an azz-kickin' sander.

[Scratch]

This one isn't mine but a few years ago when I thought I wanted to start knifemaking, I was going to copy this. I think you have to register to see the pics, but it's worth it, he has alot of great pics and ideas.
Link: http://www.metalartistforum.com/maf/ind ... +%2Bsander

[WSS]

Variable speed is important if possible. A flat platen and a small rest for it and of course a 8" and 10" wheel. Some sort of small wheel adapter is helpful for small curves.

The standardish size for that type of grinder is 2x72, lot of grits and weights available.

WSS

[Streetwerkz]

I have plans to build a large belt sander, & have been collecting info for a while now.
here are links to things I thought were relevant for me, some of it may help you out too.


http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/sander1/sander.html
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=9065
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCKnifeMakingGrinders.htm
http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2010/05/12 ... ess-sander
http://www.contactrubber.com/default.asp

[oldsoulmetal]

i built one using a treadmill motor and controls.....later concerted it to a horizontal sanding disc and added some other neat gadgets. like a drill chuck and leather disc. benefit is i can go extremely slow or speed up. either configuration it had plenty of power and the motor seemed to hold up since it was lesser duty then what it was design for i guess. also the tread mill mat makes a good noslip pad for a woork bench

[ronsii]

Found this site long ago, it has tons of pictures of different designs... might be useful to give some ideas


http://gonza-rytec.rajce.idnes.cz/brusky/

[jkarell]

I too went down the road of "should i buy a harbor freight or go at it and build one". I decided the latter. I built a 2x42" sander, based the frame on George Barnes' pdf plans, and cut it on my plasmacam from 1/4" steel. I have the dxf if anyone wants it. I built my own drive (6") and idler wheel (4") from mdf cut on a bandsaw with a circle jig, then trued on a disc sander with another jig. I used skate board bearings for the idler wheel, pressed into a hole drilled into either side of the wheel. I did all of this without a lathe or a mill and wound up with little vibration. To make the drive wheel, i used the same jig methods, and used a piece of 1/2" steel water pipe that i reamed the seam out of it with a 5/8" drill bit and sanded inside till it fit the 5/8" motor shaft. Used a set screw to secure it. I coated the drive wheel with contact adhesive and used tire innertube to make the drive wheel a "rubber contact wheel". By the end i had spent 10$ on bearings, a little time, a free furnace motor, and in the end wound up with the only sander i use on a daily basis.
Link to the plans.
http://www.projectsinmetal.com/free-met ... lt-sander/

I attached some pictures to show the final product.

IMG_20110822_094539.jpg

[jim8014]

I would buy one wheel vulcanized with rubber, you can really lean on it and cut some material without going through belts.