Belt sander modification

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I have a really great 6X48 belt sander.It does a good bit of my flat grinding and all of my handle and scale flattening.Tracks like a blue tick hound.Only problem is it is one speed.I came up with a mod that can be applied to most any 4X36 or 6X48 sander.Most have a disc sander on the other end of the motor.Remove the disc plate and replace it with a pulley.Power the unit via the pulley with a variable speed motor,either VFD-ac or DC (with the old motor unplugged ).You can set it up to run nice and slow this way,with full torque.Pop off the belt ,plug in the old plug, and you are back in the old high speed mode for sanding down woodworking projects. A two motor 6X48 sander.It could be made from a cheap HF unit and a surplus motor and controller for less than $200.