debating belt sanders
message from william kossack on 30 May 2005
I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).
 
Ray_Ma... replied to william kossack on 30 May 2005
If I had this problem I would try to solve it this way. I would place
a layers of duck tape under the sanding belt to make the platen
slightly convex. My Mikita sander can be easily mounted on its side.
With the sander in this position, I would sand at the highest point of
the curve. This could solve your problem of rounding over the
dovetailed corner, and without buying more tools.

Good luck,

Ray
 
Jason Quick replied to Ray_Ma... on 30 May 2005
[snip solution to problem]

I'm sorry...*what*? Not buy more tools...? What on earth would he want to
do that for? : )

Jason
 
mike hide replied to Jason Quick on 30 May 2005
Rethinking the question , what he needs to do is practice woodworking for
say 5 or ten more years then he could possibly get the sides of his drawers
right.mjh
 
william kossack replied to Ray_Ma... on 30 May 2005
I had thought of trying something like this except for the need to put
everything away at the end of the day. The best solution would be some
kind of jig that would hold the belt sander at 90 degrees to a table top.

I typically do a run of 3-5 boxes at a time so sanding out the dovetails
on all of them takes me say 30 minutes to an hour at which point I go
onto the next step such as continuing to refine the surface until it is
smooth and flat and nearly ready for finish.

PS I like to put all my smaller tools back into their original box at
the end of the day and all the larger stuff has their place in various
nooks in the garage.

Ray_Ma...@hotmail.com wrote:
 
CW replied to william kossack on 30 May 2005
I have both the 4" and 1" Delta sanders. I couldn't give you a weight but
they are not difficult to carry. That said, I wouldn't use either for what
you are doing. Invest in a plane and a scraper. Level the joints with a
plane, smooth everything with the scraper and then, if sanding is still
necessary (I do it), a sanding block is all you need. This will keep
everything flat and level.

"william kossack" <wskoss...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:YrOdnVVajfiE2gbfRVn-iw@comcast.com...
 
George replied to CW on 30 May 2005
You might want to try a flush-cutting router bit with the bearing on the
bottom, or a jig with a spiral bit in your router table.

Big disadvantage to sanding the off - though it's possible, is you have to
be pretty high up on the stationary sanding chain before you get a good
table to move them side to side to prevent burning and end checking. I've a
JET 12x48 that fills the bill, but at $500 dollars, there are other ways.
Perhaps if you're also the turner Bill you might justify the purchase by
using it for making up pieces for segmented turning.
 
william kossack replied to George on 30 May 2005
I tried the flush trim router bit and discarded that approach. It would
work to a point but a little slip really screwed up the edge of the box.

I also tried using a plane but with such thin stock and hard wood I had
problems with breakout at the ends. Cuts had to be into the wood but
getting the angle right when cutting in from the edge was a problem as
is keeping the cut square. I ended up with flush pins and tails but not
square to the surface of the box (which is the same problem I'm battling
with the hand held belt sander) but power sanding avoids the chip out
problem. Then if cutting in and getting close I ran into a problem of
starting to cut the side of the box. Nothing is more irritating than
getting close to finishing a step then to put a gouge into the side of
the work because the angle of the plane was just a bit off.

After many experiments I decided that the easiest approach was the
carefull use of a belt sander to knock down the pins enough so I could
proceed with using scrappers, planes and sanding to smooth the surface
for finishing

I've used the hand held belt sander with success and a light touch on
many projects. My main problem is in holding the belt sander level and
not being able to see what I'm doing while sanding. My idea is that
with a stationary sander I can get more control and more consistent
results. I also tried a fein detail sander. I could see what I was
doing but the small surface area takes too long.

Many of the boxes are small about 6 inches wide using 1/4 inch stock.
Examples of my work can bee seen at
http://home.comcast.net/~wskossack/new_boxes.html

I looked again at the $99 solution and the tables are not good enough.
The Delta 6 inch belt and 9 inch disk has a better table. I seems light
enough to be transportable but provides a better table and a wider
sanding surface.

George wrote:
 
Hax Planx replied to william kossack on 30 May 2005
How about this for a risky, but possibly accurate and easy way to get
them down: Use your table saw. I use mine to shave pieces down all the
time. If the box isn't 100% square, you can even tilt the blade a
little. I'd try it. Maybe I'd regret it, but I'd try it.
 
mike hide replied to william kossack on 30 May 2005
Snip

I a very sharp low angle block plane ,to get about right and then a ROS
sander to finish it off ./

One other consideration ,the setup. I take a board a width about the length
of the inside length of the drawer . clamp it on the bench so it extends
several drawer depths .Slide the drawer onto the, preferrably with out the
bottom in place , this makes for a well supported drawer side so you can
confidently do any operations you desire on the sides
 

Archived thread: debating belt sanders from the group rec.woodworking.
 
Note: To make this discussion more readable on the page the original messages have been edited to remove most of the references and quoting.