Belt sander

Things You've Made
#1

Since I started making knives I wanted a belt sander. The nice 2x72 models that everyone seems to use are too big for my shop, expensive, and hard to obtain where I live.
So I made my own :smiley:

PXL_20210207_111542555
PXL_20210207_1115425554032×3024 3.13 MB

It is very compact and works with 1.5x38 belts. It has belt tensioning and tracking, adjustable speed with a vfd, a little work table with adjustable angle and exchangeable arms so I could also mount a contact wheel.

PXL_20210207_111538142
PXL_20210207_1115381424032×3024 3.31 MB

It works better than I expected, except for some minor vibrations from the drive wheel. I’ll replace that with a better part in the future.
It speeds up my work by so much, just cutting and filing this knife blank would have taken me ~2 days before, now it took me about an hour :slight_smile:

PXL_20210207_111520822
PXL_20210207_1115208223024×4032 2.76 MB

23 Likes
#2

That’s great! I’ve got a cheap HF belt sander and have always wanted to build one so I can chuck that cheap sucker in the trash. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#3

That is awesome.

#4

This thing is a beaut! Nice work

#5

Very nice work! In the highest compliment this can be it looks nicer than some of the tools Mathias Wandel has made.

1 Like
#6

That is really nice… :slight_smile:

#7

Wow, thank you very much for that compliment!
To be fair I could never build a machine like Mathias Wandel without a CNC :sweat_smile:
But I definitely thought of him when I built it :slight_smile:

1 Like
#8

Great job, I love how compact it is. What did you use for pulleys?

#9

The large drive wheel is cut from multiple layers of plywood, then i mounted it on the motor and turned it so it would be as round as possible. This didn’t work as well for the smaller wheels, so I 3d printed them with PETG filament, since this should hold up better to high temperatures. So far they hold up pretty well :slight_smile: