It won't bog down, but it will fall apart! Plastic rollers, and made like garbage!

 

People seem happy with it on HF reviews but I'm sure they using it for wood work. I been looking on CL for one, would settle for a horizontal only sander.

 

I have it. It's an ok machine. I don't use the disc side at all. Home Depot has a ryobi one which looks the same but it's all plastic. At least the harbor feight one has a metal frame.
Use a 20% off coupon.
Pushing a little on the belt sander makes the belt move left or right. So just have to keep an eye on that.

 

Sorry bud! It has a plastic shell and all metal components! And I beat the crap out of mine, and takes everything I give it. I'm rough with tools too when I have to get something done. I will fry the motor beore I break the machine, not like that piece of crap HF tom foolery metal body plastic gut piece of sh!t :drinkup:

 

I have a cheap one like that and it just does not have the horsepower to do the job effectively. One horsepower on a 2 inch wide belt is about what you need. As you widen the belt you need more power. For the price doing light sanding it is ok.
Local industry use this product but the price is "industrial". I have used this make of belt sander in a variety of shops and they run for decades without any attention.
http://www.gallantmanufacturing.com/Model-390.page

 

It's a metal frame under the plastic?
Nice to know!

 

HI
Here is one I build many years ago, I cast the aluminum wheel and bearing blocks it has a 2 hp motor on it. 2" X 60" belt.
When you get one you ba mad at yourself for not getting one earlier

 

I have a POWERMATIC 6''x48'' with 12'' disc. I don't know how I ever did without it. It's a piece of equipment that after you have it you wonder why it took so long to get. Mine is used mostly for metal.

 

Just purchased one a week or so ago and going through it now. Did you resize the motor pulley to bring up the sfpm or is it even necessary?

 

Here's a Burr King Model 760 belt grinder - $750 (Chicago) on craigs list. I would like to add this to my collection but kinda high. I think it's around $2000.00 new. Check it out.
http://madison.craigslist.org/tls/3633433351.html

 

I have a Dayton with a 6x48 belt and a 9in. disc i have 40grit on the disc to "hog" with and a 120 grit on the belt for fine work that is one of the handiest tools i own . i had one of those small cheap ones it had "no power "and they are just to small and they fall apart . i got mad and threw it in the scrap and bought the Dayton from Graingers i think it was $400.00 worth every penny but you need to buy good belts and discs . if you can buy one with wheels they throw allot of dust so you can clean around them . buy a good quality one and it will last you a lifetime . every time i cut anything i use it . good luck. Chris.

 

Hey Ct, where do you get your belts ? I bought some from harbor freight using the 20 % off coupon to try. They have been holding up well. A member on another site that had trouble with his hf belts. The seam on the ones in bought had a overlap and were junk. I suggested him to return them and check the others in store. He returned them and did find one set that looked great. Took them home and worked fine. I guess it depends on how lucky you get.

 

BD1 i got some from a place called supergrit.com the are pretty reasonable but you have to buy the good quality ones i got the Zirconia cloth discs and the Zirconium belts , the 9 in. discs were $3.25 and the 6x48 belts were $7.50 they hold up very well when you order get a few extras they will last you a long time . i just looked i bought some in 2009 and i don't think i have changed them since i put em on. Chris

 

its not small (149 lbs) but my grizzly g1183 a 6x48x12 sander
is still working great. made in taiwan and runs on 120 or 220

 

Do you have an existing bench grinder? One of my best sanders is an attachment that uses a 2"x 3' zirconia belt.
The other one is simply a 4-1/2" hand grinder with a locking switch. I weld a threaded stud to a clamp and put it on the table. As ******* as that sounds it will outperform any of those cheaper wood worker grinders. Check out my previous threads for pics of it.

 

I squash my grinders in a vise upside down on the crap metal part when needed and kill em from the otherside. Serious tho, it's great for nice finish work on edges. :drinkup:

 

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=248301
Here is the link that shows how I made the grinder adapters.

 

Recently found a mint JET 6x48 for 500 on CL but the thing was too big for the garage(thing was gone in same day retail was 1k). Might be looking at the ryobi one since it seem to better one then the HF. If a Powermatic or Kalamazoo or dayton one comes up on CL Im snatch it up. Also one more thing where do everyone shop for the Zirconia abrasives?

 

The bench grinder attachment in my link leaves the 6" woodworker types in the dust. The small grinder clamped to a bench is very versatile. Especially with all the attachments. It has enough power that sometimes I'll set it up as a main tool if the others are busy. Also, for knife makers, two of them, back to back make an "hollow grinder" for custom blades.