Bandsaw Set Up As a Sander?

[Joe Scarfo]

I seem to recall somewhere having seen a Craftsman Bandsaw set up where it would run both a cutting band as well as a band of sandpaper. Something like 3/4 wide.

Since having seen that I've often wanted to try to set up my Rockwell 14" to do the same thing. I'm sure finding a local sand paper house to custom cut a few grits wouldn't be hard to locate.

My question is..... has anyone here seen or tried this?

I have definately run into pjcts over the years where having a narrow belt sander like that would have been very handy. And since time is a little loose in the shop for now, I may consider giving this a try.

Thanks
Joe in Valrico.... a big town where the nearest 'burb is Tampa

[David Fried]

No I haven't tried it. Yet. But I just received three sandpaper belts for my Delta 14" from Lee Valley and plan on trying it this weekend. I'll let you know how it works out. One thing I wondered about was the guide blocks. The instructions answered my question, saying to remove them when sanding. Since I need to remove them I picked up a set Cool Blocks to install. I'll see how those work out too.

[Ed Snyder]

My Rigid bandsaw came with a sanding belt

Ed

[Perry Holbrook]

When I retired my Craftsman bandsaw after buying an 18" Jet, I set up the Craftsman as a full time ribbon sander. I just took off all the guides and ordered some belts from Klingspor. It works fine, I use it a lot, mainly to de-bur the edges of wood and metal.

BTW, when you order the belts, get them 4 to 6" wide and rip them to your needs, they're cheaper that way. It takes about a week to get the special order belts.

Perry

[Joe Scarfo]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. How do you rip the belts? Simply cut them w/ scissors?

Joe

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Now this is neat! I have never heard of using a bandsaw for a sander!! Maybe that old benchtop model of mine will live another day

[Perry Holbrook]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. How do you rip the belts? Simply cut them w/ scissors?

Joe

Belts rip easily by hand. Just make a small tear at the desired width and then rip away.

Perry

[Tyler Howell]

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,41036&p=20161

[Randy Meijer]

oN THE LITTLE BENCHTOP BELT SANDERS THAT I HAVE SEEN, THE BELT HAS A support block behind it which would keep the belt relatively flat and inflexible. Do you need to cobble up some sort of support for the belt on a bandsaw or is it OK to leave the back of the belt unsupported??

[John Harris]

In a machine shop I worked in we had a belt running with half supported/half unsupported. We used the supported (bottom half) for heavy pressure flat surface sanding. The upper unsupported half was used for "creative shaping". You couldn't use heavy pressure but you certainly get a nice "wrapping" effect for curves, edges, etc.

[David Fried]

oN THE LITTLE BENCHTOP BELT SANDERS THAT I HAVE SEEN, THE BELT HAS A support block behind it which would keep the belt relatively flat and inflexible. Do you need to cobble up some sort of support for the belt on a bandsaw or is it OK to leave the back of the belt unsupported??

The instructions that come with the Lee Valley belts say "... the belts will sand quickly and cleanly against light to moderate pressure. Though not necessary, the use of a shop-build backer will greatly increase the direct force that can be applied to the belt."

They then provide a diagram for a backer. OK, breakfast, vacuuming, and off to the shop to try this!

[David Fried]

You couldn't use heavy pressure but you certainly get a nice "wrapping" effect for curves, edges, etc.

This is what I was hoping for. Curves, edges, etc. certain describes bandsaw boxes!

[Jules Dominguez]

I've never used a sanding belt on my bandsaw and it seems like it would be a nuisance to set up if you also used the bandsaw for it's basic purpose of cutting.

I have a question for those who do use this method - it would seem that you'd have to be very careful to avoid cutting a line or a groove into the workpiece with such a narrow belt. Am I being overcautious?

I do have drum sanders of various sizes which I use on my drill press. I can see that a belt would have a much larger sanding area and therefore longer life than a sleeve on a drum sander.

[David Fried]

I finished cutting out a band-saw box and decided to try the sanding belt. I removed the blade guides and put the belt on. When I turned on the saw the motor belt just slipped. I backed of on the tension for the sanding belt and everything was fine.

The saw seems to vibrate much more with the sanding belt than a regular blade. Occasionally the saw seemed to shudder. The saw is running in the first picture and it isn't too blurred so the vibration can't be that bad but still a noticeable increase.

The flex in the sanding belt limited the contact with the wood, about 4" high, to about 2". I flipped the block over to get the whole thing sanded. I did manage to get the edge of the sanding belt to dig in and it can slice wood just like a blade!

Without a dedicated machine I think it maybe too much effort for most pieces but I will keep the sanding belts in a drawer for those pieces where it is justified and I'll be glad to have them.

When putting the saw back together I took this opportunity to install a set of Cool blocks. I set them using a dollar bill, as per the instructions. You can see how close to the blade they sit in the second picture. I turned on the saw and there is no noise so they aren't actually touching the blade. Can't wait to see what the next cuts are like!