Sanders and belts.

[Yog]

I've been toying with the idea of doing some knife kits (folders) as a hobby, and as I'm brassic next month but have an urge to buy a knife I thought it would be a good time to invest in a $16 kit :burnout:

I'll probably go with hand sanding for the first one (or two), but after that I'll probably be looking for a belt sander.
Any recommendations on what would be a good belt sander for a hobbiest, and what sort (grit and size) belts would be best ?

Over on CKD Forums (where they have a kit section) they seem to be finishing with 400+ grit belts, but the smoothest I've been able to find over here is 180/200 grit :dunno:

[MushiSushi]

IAW as well as the ones on the site .. they can get them in to order and do 320 grit for most common ranges, there site's a bit misleading , best to phone them

[shing]

Get a 100x915mm belt sander, you can get them from places like machine mart and B&Q from £80 upwards. www.sanding.com sells belts up to 800 grit but I don't think you'll need more than 400. I would get a ordinary piece of glass cut 50mmx150mm, round the edges with a diamond or carborundum stone and use double sided sticky tape to stick it in the middle of the sanding platen of the sander. Split the belts in half before you use them.

[MushiSushi]

ok shing ...... clicked on your link and all I get is a tribure page to dale earnhardt???

[Yog]

ok shing ...... clicked on your link and all I get is a tribure page to dale earnhardt???

Found it.
It's actually www.sanding.net , looks to be a good site as well.
Cheers mate.

[MushiSushi]

not sure if i am reading this right ... but they seem to be selling belts "each" at what IAW sell them for 10

[MushiSushi]

sanding.net
10 Belts Zirconia 100 x 915mm p80 £60.69
IAW
10 Belt Zirconia 100 x 915 p60 £24.73

[Yog]

Not wishing to look like a total know-nothing ulkoff:
but what does the piece of glass in the middle of the platen do ?

[Colin KC]

Hmmmmm

[Dave Barker]

I sand to 2500 grit by hand. I use wet and dry paper from a car dealer. If you are colouring the 400 grit limits how many colours you can put onto the blank. I would imagine that you can get belts to this grit somewhere on the net

[Kevin]

Not wishing to look like a total know-nothing ulkoff:
but what does the piece of glass in the middle of the platen do ?

Most commercial platens that comes with the grinder are steel, and with the belt whizzing around, the steel does wear down.....it also gets gouged now and again so its not perfectly flat.....the platen has to be perfectly flat .....as flat as...ummmm...glass


Some people cut a piece of fire safety glass down to size and stick that on the platen instead. Its obviously tougher than steel so doesnt gouge, heat build up also isnt so bad.
It also gives a good edge to work on the plunge lines and cutting into the shoulders.

Dont just use any glass cos if it shatters then it could be very dangerous.....needs to be safety.

Kevin.

[shing]

My thoughts exactly Kevin, you can get a lot of work done with a cheap belt grinder with a few modifications but you soon wish for more power and flexibility if you want to do lots of knives like me. I wish I had a grinder like Kevin's!

[keith_beef]

Of course, on days when you're not making knives, you could try something a bit different:


http://www.beltsander-races.com/tableofcontents.html


.

[Alick]

Guys, my turn to get interested in a belt sander / grinder. This is useful advice, but now that you can get a 1" x 30" belt grinder / linisher 250w from axminster at ~£80 might one of those be better than using cut down belts on a 4" sander ?
Links are
the AW18BDS at http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?sub=484 or the same thing from Delta at http://www.csmjustabrasives.co.uk/cg...ves.storefront
Since the cheap 4" grinders only have 250W motors, I guess the main issues are whether a 1" is just too narrow or the belts too expensive.
Thanks, Alick