Wide belt set-up help ? (air pressure)

[Rick Fisher]

Wondering if anyone can tell me what they set the regulators inside their wide belts too ?

[Rick Fisher]

I read a Grizzly manual .. Grizzly is awesome.. all the manuals online.. What a great run company..

Anyway.. Grizzly machines call for 75 psi.. but the manual only shows one gauge.. ??

My sander is an SCM.. it has 2 guages..

Anyhow.. I took a picture of what I am concerned about..



As you can see, the pressure on the main is set at 90 PSI ..

I found a spec for a Sandya 1 .. it called for 6 Atmospheres.. I am sure the Italians use guages that read PSI and then tell you the spec in atmospheres because they like to screw with us English speaking folks.. Also sure the Italian manual says 88 psi.. lol.

Anyway.. I then found out an Atmosphere is 14.7 psi.. which is about 88 psi.

I cant figure out what the second regulator is for .. lol.. and if it should be reading off the charts like it is .. ?

Anybody actually know what its for ? and what it should be set at ?

My gut feeling is it sets the ossilation speed.. but I have no real idea.. I also think if they put a guage on it that cap's out at 50 psi.. it should probably be under that .. ?


The hose runs to this thing..



I havent actually run the main motor yet.. Spent a bunch of time setting up the DC, Air etc.. I powered it up.. the conveyor is running backwards.. so I have to switch a couple of hot wires next .. Anyhow.. before I start using it, I want to figure out this air pressure question..

[John A langley]

Rick - I have a Sandya-1. I will look in the morning at the gauges and see if it has two and what the second one is set at. It is cold out there tonight. And yes, the Italians like to screw with you.

[Travis Porter]

Don't feel bad about the manual. I have a Timesavers Speedsander and the manual is more of a safety manual than a user or operational manual. My sander only has a single gauge set up, but my manual says it should be between 50 and 60 lbs of pressure. From what I know (and that is not a lot as I am a hobbyist), the air pressure inflates the bag/piston for belt tension and controls the oscillation speed. I am guessing, but looking at what you have is just two regulators in series. You can set the input pressure on one say to around where your compressor starts up and then set the 2nd one to maintain pressure based on the first. I would suggest that might remove pressure fluctuations and allow you have much more even and consistent sanding.

Still, I am theorizing, and am sure someone with much more knowledge will respond.

Nice set up! Congrats and good luck!

[Rick Fisher]

Thanks for the replies guys..

I fired it up .. first time.. I am a hobby guy too.. The wife reports that the lights in the house didnt flicker..

I think all the manufacturers are different.. You say Timesavers is 50 - 60 lbs.. pressure?

Grizzly is 75 lbs.. and SCM seems to want 88 lbs.. Probably all use different stuff inside I guess.

The brake is Pneumatic.. I noticed that when I turn on the main power, the brake is automatically activated.. then when I turn on the secondary power button, it releases .. No idea what that is about..

Interestingly, I chose to get it running with a Mac 2400 Compressor.. I ran the sander for about 90 seconds and the compressor didnt come on.. It guage looks like its about to.. it takes about 10 seconds to replenish... so if it runs 10 seconds per 90 seconds, in a hobby shop environment, it will be the official air compressor to the sander, at least for a while..


John, I look forward to hearing from you in the morning.. I cant think that they would put a guage that stops at 50 lbs on something and expect the needle to be off the charts..

[John A langley]

Rick - First guage (air in) about 88 psi. Second guage about 70 psi. SCMI tech support - I talked to a guy by the name of Bobby. He does not know all the machines but he is good about finding out and getting back with you. I'd rather have someone tell me they don't know than blow smoke. The phone number is 1-866-975-9663. They are in Atlanta (EST).

[J.R. Rutter]

Hi Rick - Congrats on the sander. My Sandya has been a great machine. Do they have a manual for yours at PartsPronto.com? I have had good luck with both 3M and SIA paper belts. I ran cloth on the calibrating head for a while, but the economics didn't pencil out.

[John A langley]

Rick - Not trying to steal your thread. JR - The cloth belts will last forever. If they get gummed up, take them to the "you-do-it" car wash, high pressure hose - no soap. They will be like new. Stand them on end to dry. A box of 5 which I paid roughly $30 a piece for, is still going strong after 4 years. Pine is the only thing that will screw them up. I also hang them on 2x4 racks so they keep their shape.

[J.R. Rutter]

Rick - Not trying to steal your thread. JR - The cloth belts will last forever. If they get gummed up, take them to the "you-do-it" car wash, high pressure hose - no soap. They will be like new. Stand them on end to dry. A box of 5 which I paid roughly $30 a piece for, is still going strong after 4 years. Pine is the only thing that will screw them up. I also hang them on 2x4 racks so they keep their shape.

Thanks John. I have heard that this works, but I really need absolute consistency. The problem I had is that the abrasive wore down to the point where it was not cutting well. I like to know that a 120 belt is really 120. When it is no longer sharp, out it goes. I think that the steel drum on my first head speeds up this process because of the high pressure contact area. Even on the rubber drum and platen, the higher grits begin to burnish and heat up the wood surface instead of shearing it away. Not so hot for my customers who are trying to match stains across a kitchen. I run a fair amount of Jatoba, which is pretty hard on every cutting edge in the shop, including aluminum oxide . . . The 3M ceramic belts do last quite a while, but they are very expensive - like 4 x the price of a paper belt.