Time for a new belt sander for knife making. Recomendations?

eyeeatingfish

eyeeatingfish

Joined
Dec 9, 2003
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My old Delta 1.48 inch with disc sander is starting to die. The switch doesn't work (not a big thing) and the motor seems to have gotten weak.
I love the sander, I even boght step pulleys to give it 3 speeds. But now the motor seems weak to start up. When i turn it on in the lower pulley setting it wont start, I have to drag my hand across the belt to assist it then it gets going. At the medium it is a little harder. At the high speed I cannot get it to turn fast enough for the motor to catch.
A replacement motor from delta is almost the same as a new sander. I have not really looked into replacing it with a DC motor that can be more easily slowed. I would if I could find a good source for motors with someone knowledgable to talk to.

So time for my main question. As a friend at work asked me to make a blade for him I figured this would be time to buy a new sander. I have done 2 from scratch and done handle work on about a dozen other knives.

I have seen many designs but I am not sure what style. 2x72 seems like a popular belt size but there are many options in that range. 2 wheel systems, 3 wheel, 4 wheel. Build your own, premade, then various types of wheels. Those hard plates that back the belt in various places etc.

I figure I don't want to spend over $500. I want something quality, not some cheap harbor freight or unknown brand hardware store model.
I am not making a lot of knives and don't plan on starting on making lots anytime soon. So basically a few knives a year maybe and I would use it for other crafts.

What do you guys recomend? Thanks for the advice.
 
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I would reccomend a Craftsman 2x42. I make a few knives just as a hobby and didn't want to spend much either. At around $150 I felt like I couldn't go wrong. Do a search for Craftsman 2x42 and you can see what a lot of other makers have had to say about it.

Chris
 
The humble Craftsman 2x42 has made an awful lot of great knives on a budget. There are whole threads here with examples and cool mods for it.

With a budget of $500 or so, I would look hard at a Grizzly.
 
The grizzly sounds interesting. I worrk about the craftsman and the grizley speed though. I think they are 3600 fpm?
I also used my belt sander to sand acrylic and wood. I found that at higher grits like 320 the plastic would melt and the wood would burn more easily. I belive the delat was about 3600fpm too.
 
For $500, I'd get the grinder-in-a-box from polar bear forge. That is, if you have the basic skills and tools required to assemble it. If you scrounge the wheels and a motor, I bet you could finish it into a useful grinder for about $500 total. Then you could always add to it later. The main thing in my opinion, is the versatility of the direct-drive tooling arm grinders and their compatibility with one another. Kmg tooling will work with it, or bader stuff with adapting. You'd have the great range of abrasives and relatively economic pricing of the 2x72 belts, a grinder that will do anything if added onto, and the ease of belt changing and attachment changing.

GIB. Couple sunray wheels, 8" contact and two 2" for the platen. Find a used motor locally, cheap or even free. Just go scrounging where you see old machines, rusty stuff, hvac guys will have them sometimes, ask a machinist, and salvage/recycling yards will often have a stack of them.

Also, it sounds like the start capacitor on your motor is bad. Those are often under $10 to replace, can be bought from McMaster Carr for instance. The microfarad rating is what you want to match when replacing. If the old one does not say what it's rating is, you can find some rough guides to sizing with Google. Close is often good enough.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
I worry about the craftsman and the grizley speed though.
Click to expand...

That's a legitimate concern. But short of spending a good deal more money on a variable speed set-up or engineering some kind of clever pulley system to slow them down, you're kind of stuck with two speeds - off and FAST.
 
plus 1 on replacing the capacitor... and btw do not try to upgrade it, just replace it with the exact same rating... found out the hard way

It's nice to have an extra sander around, so even if you get a 2 by 72 the 1" will still come in handy
 
check the centrifugal starting switch . That is how they act when the switch is stuck . Once you get it started as you are doing , then shut it off and listen . as it slows down you should hear the switch click .
 
Capacitor? Centrifugal switch?

Are either of those the small bulges on the side of the motor? About the size of a small tomato paste can?

I tried to take that off once but gave up as it did not seem easy. Can try again I suppose.
I don't think a pulley system would be too hard on the craftsman. I dont think so for the grizzly though.


Can anyone offer tips on scrounging? I know junk yard shops to find car parts but am no really knowledgable about industrial stuff. HAVC? I am not really sure what section of the phone book to look at. I know machine shops can fabricate things out of metal foor you right but are those the guys that would have spare or old motors?

It is kind of funny that when building your own the most expensive things are the wheels. You would figure those would be cheap.
 
HVAC would be heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Look under any of those in the yellow pages. Or, "mechanical contractors." They replace motors that are still good sometimes as a matter of course when upgrading or retrofitting. Large fan motors will often work, maybe not enclosed but if cheap will be fine for a while.

A metal recycling yard that deals in scrap iron will often have motors. Call around and ask some of them.

Machine shop operators are often inveterate scroungers/old tool stashers. I know of a couple in my town that I know sometimes will sell old electric motors. Also, I've had luck recently with the maintenance shop of a logging/trucking company (Baldor 5 hp tefc 1 phase in great shape, $100) and in the scrap metal bins of mill maintenance shops. Craigslist will even turn up a motor now and then. Wood workers may sometimes have them, a big shop with 3 phase may have newish 1 phase motors that they swapped out, or vise-versa.

I know they are easy to buy online, but often can be had for a song if you keep an eye out around your town. Plus, it's fun scavenging sometimes.

The cap is indeed a bulge on the side of the motor. If you can get the cover off, under one of them will be a cylinder with two or even three wires entering the top. That's your start cap.
 
If you have 2 tomato cans on the motor , then you have a start and run capacitor . The switch is behind the rear end bell of the motor , you will need to remove it to find it . The capacitors usually blow there soft plug on the top when they go bad , easy to see .
 
If you can find a free/cheap motor you might want to look at the Coote Belt Grinder. They are just under $500 with out a motor.
 
i use a salvaged 2.5hp tile saw motor, has an outlet, on off, sealed motor... i dropped the saw out of the back of the truck broke the frame, held on to the motor, few years later i need a nice big sealed motor for 2x72..got it!! they do mount on the right side of frame really not an issue i like it, im right handed. my 8" contact i got in trade, but your budget will be challenged when you start buying wheels. my .02?
 
ONeill said:
check the centrifugal starting switch . That is how they act when the switch is stuck . Once you get it started as you are doing , then shut it off and listen . as it slows down you should hear the switch click .
Click to expand...


I do hear the click as it starts and stops. I tried getting one of those starting capacitors. Was only 3 bucks but when I put the new one on it did not fix the problem.

Is this starting switch you speak of repairable or replaceable?
 
If you have a motor rebuilding shop nearby, that would be a good
place to start for a repair. It might be cheaper than a new motor
and certainly cheaper than a new grinder.

Bill
 
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