How to choose a belt sander

Needless to say, modern technological progress eases labor. Similarly, grinding machines were designed to simplify and speed up the work process, if necessary, to polish or polish a certain surface. Of course, this type of machine must be attributed to the class of electrical equipment. With their help, you can smooth the surface of many materials:

Grinders are made to facilitate and speed up the process of work, if necessary, to polish or polish the surface.

• wood;
• stones;
• plastics;
• metal.

Among the variety, the most popular grinders are the following:

• tape
• vibration;
• delta grinding;
• eccentric.

Grinding machine, which basically uses polishing unidirectional movement of the grinding surface, having the form of a tape stretched over several rollers, is called a belt.

LSHM are particularly high-performance, so they are used for processing large areas.

Application in everyday life

A manual belt grinder is required to remove a rough layer of material from a flat surface.

Manual belt grinder is designed to remove a rough layer of material from a relatively flat surface, for example, when processing parquet, to remove the old layer of paint or varnish. Simply put, it is used to prepare the surface before painting, coating varnish or for sizing wallpaper. There are special machines for grinding stainless steel pipes; this is necessary when it is necessary to achieve an aesthetic welding seam. The work of such a device is impressive, for a few minutes on the pipe it will be impossible to find traces of welding or soldering.

In order to choose the right belt grinders, you can conditionally divide them into two types:

• standard grinder;
• electric file

If you need a standard machine for grinding large surfaces to perform specific and frequent work in the house and only sometimes it is necessary to grind fine details, you can purchase a standard device with a tape width of 75 mm or more. This machine can be polished and small parts, if, turning, fix it on a tripod. In this regard, it is better to choose a tool that has a start lock button. That is, clicking on the start, you must immediately press the lock button. Thus, the machine will continue to work, and the hands of the master at this time will be free.

When working with inverted LSM, no gloves should be used.

The device of the belt grinder.

The locking button is also very important when working, since almost all belt grinders have a pulse start. With the lock button, the employee does not need to constantly press on the start.

The belt of a standard grinder can be of various widths, from 65 to 110 mm, it is very narrow for an electric file; its main purpose is to sand hard-to-reach places of rounded shape, for example, handrails.

Some consider this factor to be insignificant, but to be precise, with the same power, the rotation of the tape will be different, as with different widths. Thus, there is a direct relationship between the mechanical and electrical parameters of the device.

Technical features

The power of any electrical device can tell a lot about its properties, how fast the rotation will take place, what its approximate weight. It also indicates the required current strength in the network. Conventional belt sanders have a power range from 500 to 1700 kW.

There is no secret here, it is clear that a machine with more power will be more productive, heavier in weight, depending on the width of the belt, also of different quality. But it should be said that for home use and for small-scale production there is a class of low-power machines that fully cope with the tasks set for them.

Belt sanders are used to work on both horizontal and vertical and inclined planes.

The presence of adjusting the speed of rotation of the tape is unimportant, but a very convenient function, which not all machines have.

For lightweight household grinders, starting voltage is not particularly important. But here the equipment of a heavier gauge beats a kickback when turned on, if you do not adjust the voltage at the start. This is due to the fact that the machine is turned on at idle, without touching the surface grinding.

Some grinders are equipped with a support frame, which allows you to make the material cut more even, does not allow cutting into the thickness of the surface, thereby not allowing to spoil the product. They are equipped with mostly heavy machines.

Power supply of electrical equipment can be produced from 220 V, 380 V, and also have battery equipment. There are few such devices, but still they are.

This class of electrical equipment is so easy to use that it is practically not equipped with electronics. In addition to 2-3 buttons, about which almost everything has been said, there is nothing more. Is that some models have a function of protection against overheating.

It is worth noting that some machines are equipped with a slightly smaller front roller and an additional handle, this can facilitate the work of the master in hard-to-reach places.

Thus, it turns out that all the additional functions are more suitable for powerful machines that will be actively used for grinding various materials. Medium-sized machines for moderate use are content with some special functions on which it depends on how quickly the ribbon of a particular device rotates.

Breakdowns and the importance of reading instructions, ease of adaptation

When choosing a belt grinder, you need to pay attention to the weight of the machine, since it must always be held in your hands.

Virtually all belt sanders are set up to work under their own weight, so if used correctly, that is, when an employee does not apply additional force to the machine, she will perfectly cope with polishing or grinding a given surface. The pressure can lead to failure of the power supply, disrupt the proper operation of the bearings. Therefore, each belt grinder should be considered from the point of view of possible failures. Having seen the instructions for the car, a person can make a conclusion about how much the work of the device depends on the human factor.

If almost every master can replace many of the mechanical parts himself, a damaged power supply may mean that a new grinding machine is needed.

In this regard, I would like to remind you that, having spent so much time choosing LSM, after reading many articles, comparative characteristics and reviews of the owners of various products, it would be foolish not to read the instructions attached to it before buying. This must be done for several reasons: what if something turns out to be incomprehensible and alert, and in order to comply with all the requirements of the first inclusion. Be sure to pay attention to the item "Forbidden", it is often simply ignored, and sometimes there are items in it that are different from just a reminder of a broken plug.

When choosing, it is important to pay attention to the weight of the machine also from those considerations that it will have to be held in the hands all the time, and this is not so easy, because the material resistance will inevitably make itself felt. Therefore, you should not choose a model at random - it is better to go to the store, hold it in your hands, understand how convenient the main and additional handles are located.

Of course, a little shake the device, as far as propriety allows, to make sure that all parts are secure. In general, the instrument of labor must be comfortable and pleasant, safe. The last item will be performed if the person has an idea of ​​working with this equipment.

Sandpaper for different purposes

A sanding belt is a strip of sandpaper that forms a circle and is attached to the ends.

Typically, the tape of this device is a long strip of emery paper, fixed on the edges and forming a circle, which is stretched on two or more rollers, for example, at their electric file 4. Their tapes differ in their number, as an abrasive substance can be used:

• electrocorundum;
• silicon carbide;
• Garnet;
• diamond.

To obtain a smooth surface, they begin grinding with emery paper having coarse grain, reducing its size, reaching the polishing process when the grains of the sanding belt become small, resembling dust in size. To obtain perfectly polished surfaces using a tape with a diamond-coated. Every master, even inexperienced, knows that you cannot immediately begin with the polishing process, sandpaper will only be erased, and the surface will remain still rough and demanding processing.

For all materials there are special tables that can be found in the accompanying instructions for the device. This, by the way, speaks about the breadth of the field of application of LSM, although it would be necessary to note below that the quality of this equipment requires a lot of improvements.

Using a small speed of movement of the tape, performing grinding in several stages, changing the tape, ending with diamond-coated sandpaper, you can achieve a very good result.

Technical characteristics of manual grinding electric machines.

It should be noted that tapes are used which have a rough connection at the end. Then it matters how the tape will be put on the rollers, in such cases both the cars and the tapes are provided with arrows. If the master does not listen to the switch instruction, his tape will break, and the polished surface will be at risk of being scratched. Recent years have begun to produce tapes that have a smooth connection, for them it does not matter how they are put on the rollers.

To replace the tape on the devices there are buttons or levers of relief. Old tape is removed, put on a new one and fixed in the correct position.

Dust collector in the grinder

A grinder without a dust bag can not even be considered. Although the safety master must work in a protective mask or goggles, to collect the resulting garbage is not superfluous. Almost every machine is equipped with a small bag that opens and closes at the bottom. Grinders are often connected to a construction vacuum cleaner. Here a lot depends on the amount of work.

The dust collector does not always cope with the task, as a result of which the parts of the device become clogged.

The engine is cooled by an LSM fan, which in turn is divided into two parts. One works on the absorption of dust, which is formed between the tape and the body of the device, and the second - on the cooling of the engine, thus prolonging the life of the device.

A very important point. The dust collector does not always cope with the task, as a result, the details of the device are clogged. Masters independently clean it and lubricate, even change some details. But it should be borne in mind that the warranty may be against such actions, so when buying you should pay attention to the convenient location of the dust collector and how easy it is to clean the rollers and other mechanisms, ask the seller what the buyer’s actions are taboo on.

More on grinding machines

True professionals claim that it’s not always possible to achieve an ideal smooth surface with a belt grinder. Indeed, to clean the floor, remove the top coarse layer of material, presumably after sawing, you can clean the paint or even level the walls after processing with drywall. But it is difficult to process furniture or perform high-quality finishing polishing. Someone may have an opinion on this. But one cannot but agree that in the present construction or furniture business one cannot do without two more types of grinders.

An eccentric grinder is used for grinding parts with roundings, car door handles.

The vibration grinding machine even looks like a tape analog, only the abrasive material tends to attach to the sole of the material. With its help, you can correct or finish grinding inaccuracies using LSM. In everyday life, of course, it makes no sense to keep two devices at once, so you need to keep in mind that HSM is lower than LSHM, but on the other hand, a completely different product will be obtained. Here a lot depends on the needs.

Eccentric sanders are more suitable for use by car builders, when grinding parts with roundings, door handles, removing the paint coating of a car. Their performance is comparable to VSHM, but not to LSM, although the quality can also be called enviable. This type of equipment still does not replace the tape analog, but it is often necessary as additional equipment to complete the work begun in high quality.

Therefore, in order to choose a belt grinding machine for home use, it will not be superfluous to learn more about the work of a different type of grinding equipment. This is necessary in order to be able to perform exactly the work that the master has planned for himself. After all, even the grinder or circular can be adapted for grinding products, but who can get pleasure from such a substitution.

Grinding machine cost

Angle grinder is very useful in the household of the master.

Price will always be an important factor to buy. Belt sanders in pricing policy somewhat fall out of the logical series. Greatly praise LSHM is not very expensive. They are convenient, powerful enough, give a good temporary and high-quality resolution.

More expensive cars are rarely enjoyed by anyone, except for buyers who are deliberately set up for an expensive purchase. Here you can advise only one thing. Light CMMs for use in small businesses or just for grinding for personal household purposes are really good and suit most buyers.

In the case of expensive devices, you should pay special attention to those that have a lot of weight and power and, therefore, will be used a lot. Here, perhaps, really it is not necessary to waste time on trifles and buy a device with the latest technology. All additional functions on such devices are fully justified, often used. Unlike other electrical equipment, with twisted and useless features.

In the market for goods of this class, the equipment of the Japanese and German manufacturers is in demand. If there is a Chinese product on the product shelf, it is worth making a discount on some parameters, most likely they are simply exaggerated. There are almost no domestic products of such a plan, but still there are no complaints about the existing models related to the discrepancy of technical parameters.

Thus, a belt-grade grinder is an important equipment in everyday life, production, construction and furniture making, its price may be different, but there is definitely a type of machine that is not very expensive and allows you to solve many consumer problems.