Belt advice please.

Tiiiiiiiim

Tiiiiiiiim

Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
952
Hi guys,

Going to buy some belts for my little belt/disk sander combo and was just wondering what the most recommended brand and grits people use around here.

Thanks in advance!
Tim.
 
Probably need to post some sizes for the belts, not all mfg and types are available to smaller belt sanders. Norton Blaze which is highly recommend is available for 9" disk but I dont think I have seen it is less than 72" for a belt grinder. I really like gator sanding paper and they make a few sizes of belts.

http://www.gatorfinishing.com/products/18/
 
but what grit and compound is mostly used? i can get belts made to size at the abrasives place my work uses. i just don't know what material metal sanding belts are made from or how course i want it.
 
It depends on what you want to do. I start at 36 for general shaping, then switch to 60 to get my lines crisp and start work on the bevels. Once my bevels are mostly in and everything looks good, I switch to 80 to clean everything up and get it all even. Then 120 and 240 to get rid of grind lines before ht. After ht I clean off any scale and start at 240 unless its really bad, and work up to at least 600 and decide from there what I want it to look like ie; satin, mirror, etc. Aluminum oxide is best for wood, while zirconium is best for metal. Silicon carbide can be used for both but is hard to find and can be expensive in belts, its mostly used on hard disks for lapidary.
 
The gentleman from Bader gave me a Blaze belt to try at the Blacksmith's Ashokan, Wow! I'm sold, Also Zirconium and ceramic are great, Aluminum oxide is a waste of money,

-Page
 
so is blaze just a brand? do you know what its made out of? i doubt i can really get specific brands locally.
 
I find that this is a pretty good what's what in regard to belts.

http://www.usaknifemaker.com/store/abrasive-belt-basics-what-kind-should-i-buy-p-1393.html


When you are grinding the plunge or curved handle surfaces J or J flex backing will curl and curve into a smooth radius when working off the edge of the wheel/platen.

Most conventional wisdom will tell you to start at coarse grits and then change belts to progressively finer grits...on a hobby type grinder with fast SPM speeds I have gone directly to a fine grit like 400 - it means you will remove steel more slowly and gives you some control without a variable speed grinder.
 
Thanks for that link 12345678910, it was very informative.

Starting at 400 seems like you'd wear a lot of belts out unnecessarily.
 
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