Flat Sander Question?

Michael J. Spangler

Michael J. Spangler

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
2,181
alright here it goes. i have a small 4X36 sander... all stamped pretty flimsy, so i got a large 6X48 solid cast heavy duty thing... must weight 100 pounds. and i want to get it running but i want to have the right belt speed for it

should i worry about geting the right speed on not having chatter and really feeling the belt splice etc? i hear this can be a problem.

i was planning on just buying a new motor and doing it the right way, but i want to know what the best set up would be.

let me know what you guys think.

also, any suggestion on platen liners?? i have had no luck with pyroceram... just cracks on me no matter what i do. i was thinking of a piece of full hard
O1 tool steel. thanks again guys
 
Can you put on diferent pully wheel sizes to control the belt speed?, these things seem to run way to fast for knives. The slower sped will help a modicum with the bump. I just used a ceramic kitchen/bath tile for a platten, also a lighter tounch on grinding might help. Sounds like with the fast belt and pushing to hard might be part of your problem, but yes the belts do have a bump with them.
If you are rebuilding the whole thing it might be better time/expense wise to just get a coote or something.
Cheers Ron.
 
I don't know the speed on mine, but it is relatively fast. I can feel the bump, barely, but have never seen any detriment to anything I've finished. I never use a platen on my grinder, I just go to the table sander for flat work, after a rough in on the belt grinder. I believe the 6" width gives a truer grind, with less area interupted as in the case of working a 2" belt on 8", or 10" blade. It also is great for flattening tangs, and tapered tangs, and flat truing grips. Mine will do flat work that is as straight, and flat as my steel rule edge, and I am picky about flats, being flat. I also clean up near the plunge with it.
 
hey guys. sorry i don't know if i clarified that i'm using this just for flatening steel and handle materials.... just trying to find a way to bust the snot off hot rolled stock instead of trying to use the surface plate. thanks again guys

keep me coming
 
Wait a minute....you grind like a little girl and you're cracking your pyroceram? Neilson has only broken one and I haven't managed to hurt mine yet even grinding like a Rhino on crack....How have you been mounting it?

-d
 
And where are you getting it? I have never broken one, and I have leaned in as hard as I can against a 2HP motor at full speed with a 36 grit belt.
Stacy
 
The platen on my 4x36 is dinged up a bit, so I glued on a 1/8" thick piece of G10 fiberglass sheet stock. So far so good.

Mark
 
You could flip the belts over, and run them up to a high mirror polish so they polish the platen, then use that.
 
I have a 6x48 with a 3hp, 1750 rpm motor. IIRC I run at 3000sfm. Some belts I can feel the splice, others I can't. I have a 6x12 hard O-1 platen on it. It works well for big blades and flatting. I can't bring it to a stop at all.

That said, I don't use it all that much. I generally do well enough on my BurrKing that I don't need it. That will probably change soon with some large blades I have to do, so it is a useful tool.

Gene
 
i don't know why but i'm mounted it with devcon i've mounted it with jb weld and i've mounted it with super glue and had 3 crack on me... two were from a local glass place and one from darren ellis.

maybe it's from the heat?

hey deker i guess you and J don't grind nearly as hard as i do:D:rolleyes:

alright i think i'll just look into surplus center and get a nice AC motor that i can throw some step pulleys on.

good idea gene. i'm going to go with the O1. i think thats the way to do it.

thanks again guys
 
i did make sure i ground the plate as flat as i could get it... pretty damn flat. but would that make that big of a difference? even if there's JB weld or something taking up any little slack that was there?

maybe thats the problem
 
Mike, does this crack at the level of the workrest, perhaps from profiling?

Not only should the platen be pretty flat, but the adhesive coating has to be very level, also. High or low spots are very unhelpful.
 
yeah it is right around the height of profiling... i tried to get the adhesive as even as possible with each try.... but it seems like 3 tries i should be able to get it right considering everyone i've talked to before pretty much just slapped the stuff on with some superglue.

but then again we know me and my luck with adhesives... maybe i should try some speedbonder
 
Mike, I trashed one just awhile back right at the height of the workrest, profiling a blade. My personal, non-technical opinion is that, like many (technically) glasses, this stuff isn't very strong to a "point source". You know what I mean, like how a car window can survive a strong blow but a sharp pointy object can sometimes cause the whole thing to shatter. There's a name for the phenomenon but it escapes me at the moment. You might just need to bear down less when profiling blades.

Some guys, who have the little "foot" built in to stop the ceramic from sliding down, have had excellent success flattenning their platen then gluing the stuff on with professional-quality doublestick carpet tape. My first one was on for about 5 years with just thick superglue (I have the "foot").
 
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