Harbor Freight belt sander crowned belt problem

S

skytraxx

Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
12
First off thank you for all learned huge volumes about sharpening.
I have a Harbor Freight belt sander and ordered three and belts from Lee Valley.
When they come across the top roller that leaves the background.
Makes it very hard on pocket knives to get up next to the ricasso.
I took the top roller off and flatten the crown and this did not seem to help.
Any suggestions on different type of belts?
Mine seem to be paperback but I was wondering if anybody had better luck with the cloth belts.
Thanks in advance
 
Buying tools from Harbor Freight is like attempting to buying a real A-K from Toys R Us.
One gets TSOs. Tool Shaped Objects.

Buy tools from a real tools supplier and pay the nut.
 
It's not a problem unique to the HF belt sander. I started on a 1x30 HF and sharpened many knives. Eventually I moved up to a Kalamazoo 1x42. The top roller on the Kali is flat and some belts still present a slight convex face when the machine is running. Don't know why, but it is what it is. I use cloth backed, mylar, linen, and leather belts with compound to finish. Leather belts run pretty flat, but the others all seem to have some degree of curve at the edges.

The solution is to start the blade at the ricasso on an angle matching the curvature of the belt, i.e. the edge of the blade is flat against the righthand edge of the belt ( assuming you are moving the blade from left to right ). As you move the blade across the belt, gradually change the blade orientation to parallel with the plane of the center of the belt.You don't have to start in the center of the belt. Use the whole width. Finish with the point of the blade at the center of the belt. Hard to explain in text, but I hope you get the idea. Practice.
 
Interesting, I use ceramic belts on my 1X30 and never noticed anything like that.
 
You need to move the platen forward to push against the belt. A flexible cloth back belt will crown like that if it just tensioned between two pulleys.
If you can't adjust the platen far enough you may need to add a thin plate to the front of it. A piece of glass would make a good shim and is commonly used by knife makes for other reasons. Search "glass platen" and read up if you go this route to make sure you get the proper glass and apply it properly.
 
I am sharpening above the for a convex Edge.
It was basically just to grind chipped up edges on cheap knives for friends.
I don't like to beat on my Ken onion sharpener if I can reprofile with a belt grinder.
For nice or knives I just use my Edge Pro.
I tried a junk Harbor Freight 120 Belt for reprofiling and it worked better at the ricasso area then my expensive Lee Valley Tools belts.
When I sharpen against the plate and the lap on the Belt seem bounces and does not give me an even grind.
Also the belt routing issue happens at the plate and so I have to push too hard.
I'm having good luck tilting the blade to catch the ricasso area then flattening it out against the blade.
Good idea on the glass plate.
I'm going to take one of the plates that I made for the Edge Pro polishing tapes and cut it in half and spray glue it to the plate and see how that works.
Sorry about all the grammar guys from now on I am going to use my computer to reply.
My phone is impossible to read until I send my quick reply back.
Thanks again!
 
Just be mindful of the crowned shape. Get into the plunge area at the heel by riding the edge of the belt. Don't move the tip past the centerline to avoid rounding off the tips.
 
I removed the platen on my HF sander, because I want to sharpen convex. The 1x30 has too short a work area with the platen attached. You're absolutely right about the chatter when working against the platter, especially at the speed the HF runs. Only thing I used the Work Sharp for is scissors.
 
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