Harbor Freight Belt and Disk Sander Unbox and How to Modify
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2018
- 6 inch Adhesive Sanding Discs: amzn.to/2p95ejO
4 x 36 Sanding Belts: amzn.to/34aW5WL
4 x 36 Silicon Carbide, fine/extra fine, Belts: amzn.to/32RGATn
Learn how to set up a Harbor Freight Belt sander / Harbor Freight Disk Sander right out of the box. I'll also show you a couple of useful tips / modifications to make this sander work a little better. Common complaints about this sander include being under-powered, stalling, and poor dust collection. I'll show you how to tighten the belt and modify the dust collection port for the belt sander so that it works better. This sander is made by Central Machinery and sold by Harbor Freight. It is a cheap piece of equipment and could be useful if your shop budget is limited or you are just starting out. If you are new to workshop life, this will be a good starter tool. Thanks for watching!
www.coffeycraftsmanco.com
Tools I use in my shop (some link may be affiliate links):
TABLESAW: Porter Cable PCB-270TS
MITER SAW: DeWalt DWS779S amzn.to/2K7Su5x
PLANER: Porter Cable PC-305TP amzn.to/2WoHT8j
DUST COLLECTOR: JET DC-650 amzn.to/2I4tOZA
BISCUIT JOINER: Porter Cable 557 Plate Joiner amzn.to/2IrCiJj
ROUTERS: Bosch 1617EVSPK 2.25hp amzn.to/2WwGCkb
Craftsman Fixed-Base 2hp Router
Craftsman Fixed-Base 1hp Router
CORDLESS DRILL and Driver: BOSTITCH BTCK410L2 18V Lithium 2-Tool Combo Kit amzn.to/2XAytaU
WELDER: Hobart 500559 Handler 140 MIG Welder amzn.to/2WrCLAe
GRINDER: DELTA GR150 6-Inch Bench Grinder with Lamp amzn.to/2WWA4Lc
HANDHELD ANGLE GRINDER: Ryobi AG402 4 1/2"
SCROLL SAW: Delta Scroll Saw- 16" Variable Speed- Model 40-540
RADIAL ARM SAW: Craftsman 10"
JOINTER: Craftsman 6-1/8" Jointer/Planer, Model#113.12163
DRILL PRESS: Delta DP-350 Benchtop
CIRCULAR SAW: SKIL 7-1/4" Circular Saw
BELT & DISK SANDER: Central Machinery 6" disc
BELT SANDER: Central Machinery® 4 in. x 36 in. Belt/6 in. Disc Sander
Nail Remover: amzn.to/2XxSmzq
Multi-Tool: amzn.to/2Xu3TQl
Dennis Coffey - Навчання та стиль
I have this sander. The motor just gave up the ghost after about 8 years of heavy use and constant neglect. I've worn through maybe 6 or 8 60-grit sanding belts. Dust inside the motor finally did it in.
This is good info....maybe I'll blow the motor out occasionally. Thank you for watching!
@@dwcoffey turns out, it was really just the capacitor. The inside of the motor was damaged/worn by metal dust, but it's back up and running.
Thanks for posting the video, I had just put mine together last night. The only thing I did (so far) that wasn't in the instructions was put a drop of Loctite threadlocker on the allen screw that holds the sanding disc wheel on. I have found these screws tend to loosen up, thread locker keeps that from happening, but allen screw can still be loosen if you need to.
That's a great idea Dave! Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching.
Long story short but, the best 2 mods I did for mine was added a 4" drive pulley and fit a piece of 1/4" plywood under the base (needed slightly longer bolts). The metal base will actually flex the belt housing toward the motor out of the box.
Thanks for watching! Another viewer mentioned the base flexing as well. I am going to bolt up a piece of 8ga steel to the underside of the base on mine. I expect that to take care of the flex problem. I like your idea on changing the pulley as well. Thanks!
Thank you Dennis. I just pick one of these bad boys up and will be tweaking it in the next few days; appreciate the time and advice you give. Cheers!
Thank you Fred! I appreciate you watching.....hopefully yours will set up and function well!
Just got it and put it together, unfortunately that was before we checked the pulley. Oh well, friend and I are trying to get the wheel back off, we'll let you know how it goes, thank you so much for the video, it's been a great place to get started on this thing
Thank you for watching, Thomas! Let me know if I can help.
Thanks for showing how to adjust the belt tension. Just got this at Harbor Freight for $69 Black Friday sale, having same issue.
Glad this helped! Thanks for watching!
Thank you saved us time getting the set up especially the missing disc item 8 I believe install😊
I'm glad this helped, Tanya! Thank you for watching. I'm WA4YYQ. :)
@@dwcoffey Awesome 👏🏾
This guy always gives an intelligent, simple and honest opinion of everything he puts out there! Always using that , oh so important quality; Common Sense!
Thank you so much, William! I really appreciate your kind words!
Common sense ain’t so common…
When I attached my shop vac to the dust port it created a total vacuum and sucked the belt against the bottom plate and stopped it in its tracks. So I bent a small crease down the center of the bottom plate by hand to allow enough outside air to flow in to prevent a total vacuum.
Thanks for watching, Ray! That sounds like a good idea. I had another viewer suggest waxing the bed, so I did that and it helped a lot too....took a little paste wax and I steel wool to work it in, like I do on my table saw etc. Made an improvement.
Don't modify the dust ports, they work quite well as is, but when I hooked a shop vac to the one under the belt I found that it would not start because the suction was strong enough to suck the belt down against the bottom housing. I had to drill some holes into the elbow I used to connect it to relieve the pressure. It now works very well. I think the "obstruction" in the port are to help with that too much suction problem. The little port under the disk works well with a shop vac also, but I had to make a little adaptor to fit it to the vac. It now controls all the sanding dust. I didn't modify the sander itself at all.
Thanks for the ideas jaz. Mine works better with the dust ports modified than it did without mods.....may be a function of the type of dust collection each shop is using. I have a shop-wide DC system. With the ports as stock, I got nearly 0 dust collection on the sander. After mods, I can use the sander and have nearly no free-floating dust. So, to your point, everybody should try their sander without mods first, then make a decision on what may work better for them.
Thank you very much for watching and for sharing your thoughts!
I bought one of these about 5 or 6 years ago and absolutely love it. It"s a work horse.
Then I bought another one recently. And even though the motor and body were the same, all the peripherals were junk. The backing plate for the vacuum was thinner material and laid directly on the belt. After about 15 minutes of use the whole back just fell off. The belt just tore right through it. So I had to make a new back plate out of sheet metal. That took several trips to home depot and the better part of a day wasted.
The table was constructed differently than on my old one. Very cheap and it was crooked by more than 5 deg. out of square. It was way off. And then again after a little bit of use. The casting that holds the table on the rod broke and the table just flopped down.
I had to replace it with a homemade one I built out of some Square Bar. More cutting, drilling and tapping.
The old sander was so good. I don't know why they mess up such bullet proof products like that.
It's very strange.
Other connecting parts were also changed from metal to plastic. They haven't broken yet. But I'm pretty sure They're not going to last as long as my old one.
I have 3 set up now. One for wood. One for aluminium and one for plastic.
They work great. But the new ones took a lot of effort to fix what was wrong coming out of the box.
The one I bought back in the day is still my work horse.
I love Harbor Freight. But sometimes they're their own worst enemy. I'd rather the price increases $5 - $10 over time than bring home junk I have to invest days reinventing to make it work right.
But that being said. All 3 are working good now. It just took a lot of extra time and effort to get the new ones to where the old one was right out of the box.
Yea, that's a lot of work to get something brand new working. I agree...they should stop trying to take more cost out of their products. If they are built right, the value is already there and it would save us all a lot of trouble. I don't mind some minor mods or going thru setup etc to get one right, but when you have to rebuild the thing before you can even use it, that's a bit ridiculous to me. They can do better...they've done better in the past. Thanks for your thoughts and info! I appreciate you watching!
I am going to have to put mine together myself. Thanks for the demo.
Thank you Brenda. I appreciate you watching and commenting. I hope the assembly went well!
Just bought this sander myself. The first thing I noticed taking it out of the box is that it didn't sit flush on the table before I put the feet on. There was maybe 1/8" - 3/16" rock, which I thought was ridiculous. Adding the feet made it more stable, so I guess I can live with it. I'm strongly considering modding the gate and removing the plastic guard in order to make changing the belts easier. I'll have to see how often I end up changing belts. The nice thing about watching videos like yours is that I can do all the mods/improvements before I even put it together. Thank you, sir.
Thanks Peter.....yes, that amount of rocking in the base right out of the box is ridiculous. Fortunately for me, the base on mine was flat. I agree about the plastic guard. Thanks for watching and for your comment!
Excellent review, very detailed and the modifications were the icing on the cake. I'm going to Harbor freight today to purchase one to use for my guitar repairs. I think it will be a perfect fit for my needs.
Let me know how you make out. Thanks for watching, Carl!
Great video 👍, very nice to see someone get the most out of a cheap tool. I bought one of these Sanders 2 years ago, intending to use it for metal work. That was a big mistake on my part. It's not a bad machine for smaller stuff, but it's severely under powered. My solution was to replace the motor with a 2.5 horse DC motor I got off an old treadmill. That will fix the problem, but that machine isn't really made for that kind of grinding. Eventually I just ended up building a 2x72 belt grinder, and I spent less on that then I did on the china freight sander ironically.
Thank you for watching, Jacob! I completely agree.....I bet it wasn't too bad with that treadmill motor...great idea!!
Did you build from plans? ...and if so what plans did you use?
I'm just getting into knife making and was on the fence about buying this sander. Thanks to your vid, I've decided to go ahead and pop for it. Thanks
Thank you for watching! Maybe we'll see some videos from you on knife-making!
I am afraid you will be disappointed about the thing if you want to grind your knifes on this. Too slow speedwise and it isnt sturdy or accurate enough to get good results. If you want a decent belt grinder for metal, you should look into getting a 2x72 direct drive diy build or buy a decent one for 500-1000. if you only gonna grind the handles on this, that would work, because I have (from einhell but its a copy paste from this one, 99% sure the same factory) one too and made some decent knifes with it. Its no speed demon but you can get good results on wood and plastics or soft metal like brass and bronze.
@@pr0faker p
Thanks for the demo, it helps me decide my purchase options. The section that you removed from the dust collector was probably intended to keep your finger from getting sanded. I'd probably do the same but make others aware, especially when tilted upright. However in the down position it looks to be difficult to actually connect to it. great explanation, thanks.
Thanks for watching!!
"This is the best thing since sliced bread!" "This thing totally sucks and nothing works right on it!" Finally, somebody who can take a machine that’s not super expensive and perfect, but is still a decent machine and could work with appropriate modification, and give us an honest opinion about it. And then... go on to make those appropriate modifications (and show us how he did it, so we can do it too!) so what we can end up with is a pretty good machine that works at its best capability. Fantastic job sir! Liked and subscribed!
Thank you so much, Tim!! I appreciate you watching and your kind words. Thank you for the sub too!!
Awesome video...Just as I’m staring at the unopened sander on the floor. Perfect!
Great timing! haha Thanks Chris, I appreciate you watching!
Dennis, thank you for putting this video together. My identical Central Machinery 4” sander is unpacked and awaiting me in my garage. This will save me a lot of time and frustration! Hats off to your generosity. I’m off to put it together!
Thanks for watching and for the kind words, Marc! I hope yours goes together smoothly and you have no problems! Let me know if you run into anything I missed in the video. Thanks
Your just like me. You’ve researched the thing your buying to the point of u know how to assemble it and make major mods and know it’s weak points before u even open the box. 😂
I love to tear things apart! haha Thank you for watching, Jimmy!
Thanks, I ordered one last night on-line. To be honest if I saw this first I would not of done so. With your wonderful video tips this might be an Ok purchase. Take Care Be Safe
Thanks for watching! Yes, it is definitely a low end machine. So far, mine is doing fine after regular use for about a year. Hopefully you will have good success with yours. Thank you!
I just got mine hadn’t dove into it yet but thanks for showing me about the table! I’ll be removing that fence also…
Thanks for watching, Steve! Hope all goes well with setting it up and using it!
Wow - nearly first thing I see a RAS in the background! Yay! It looks very similar to he one I have been using for around 40 years.
Very nice video on setting up the sander. I'm considering getting one, pending approval from my CFO. You mention quite a few things not mentioned by others.
Thanks for watching, Graeme! That radial arm saw was my Grandfathers, so when he passed, I added it to my shop with the help of my Dad. I just recently built a nice mobile base for it. It still sets up and cuts beautifully. This sander gets some bad press, but for what I do, it works fine after these mods and some squaring. At it's price point, it is hard to beat, especially for woodworking.
The more common problem with the belt on these is it being installed too tight and the sander will not even start. I had to loosen mine a little to remedy this issue. I also removed every guard and that dumb fence on the belt sander and keep the table installed there. I also removed the useless dust collection ports and the side guard that you have to remove to change the belt. And honestly I never use the disc sander and it just gets in the way if I am sanding larger jobs on the belt sander in the upright position.... I am thinking about removing the disc sander so I can install a larger and more flat and level piece of quarter inch steel on top of the table for a more accurate table surface on mine.
Thanks for watching, Joe. My grandfather's name was Joe Gray...he was from Mississippi. I'm about the same on this sander....I rarely use the disc and I think you have a great idea.....just remove the disc and install a better table surface for the belt sander. I might have to look into that mod! Thnaks Joe!
@@dwcoffey I'm actually gonna work on that mod this weekend... I grew up in Memphis TN. I am actually not related to anyone with my last name. My mother still had her ex husbands last name when I was born so I ended up with the the last name Gray. His name was Thomas Warren Gray. Never met the guy...lol!
Just about to unbox mine. Great tips Dennis. Thanks.
Thanks for watching, David! Another viewer made another suggestion I didn't think of.....take the belt off and wax the bed with Johnson's paste wax. That will also reduce some drag on the sanding belt. I hope yours sets up and work as well as mine did!
Very useful - thank you. I have something very similar from another label - painted red - but it wasn’t supplwith any kind of dust collection. I may make one from some thin stock ply, as it’s incredibly messy as is. And as I use it a lot with ebony, you can imagine what that dust looks like - especially on me! 😆
I haven't worked much with ebony, but I know the dust is fine and gets everywhere...haha. Thank you for watching, Paul!
Awesome video, thank you very much for posting. This was very helpful because this is my first bench-top belt sander.
I'm glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching, Patrick!
thank you for useful tips, cheers
Thank you for watching!
Very nice job Dennis, thank you for sharing your videos and explanation of everything. I am looking at this tool quite a bit,not sure what brand to buy? After coupon what was the cost out the door?
Hi Rodney, thanks for watching. With the coupon, mine cost right around $64
Just picked one up with a coupon bout 54 out door with 20% coupon. Issue on mine was opposite. Belt seemed a little tight. Just hummed, no spin.
Took off belt cover to check belt & with slight push, like a slap on newborn baby’s behind, it cried a little belt burn smell (gone quickly) and running good, didn’t bog down with wood.
Other issue Top threads/screws on belt cover spun/cross threaded when tried to remove but nudged out... and well,........ we’ll see for 54. Lol
@@dwcoffey k
Good vid. Ive had mine for 10 yrs and still workin great. One thing to think about, the belt tension is set to slip so it wont stop the motor. If something gets loose and jams and stops the motor it can blow a breaker, better to slip a little.
Great point! Thank you. I appreciate you watching!
Thank you so very much for the help I have been having trouble getting mine to work and I have new encouragement to try everything out you do!!! You’re awesome!!!
I hope this helped! Thank you for watching, John!
Nice pace and good commentary. Thanks. I have an much older one from HF and I'll be checking the pulley tension.
Thanks for watching, Craig! I hope it helps!
Great video very informative! fixed my belt tension problem. Thanks for sharing
Thank you Debbie! I'm glad this helped and thanks for watching!
Great video! Now I can finally set mine up. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
on the table set up, i got a set of $ 20.00 "1 2 3 blocks" even cheap ones work ok for set up, except for CNC machines, also, when it" 3 am and you dropped you speed square to the ground and it's bent all to hell, steal some of your kids lego, so long as you put it together really tight, it is SQUARE, really square, i set my table saw up with it, you can make it just about any length and shape you want, within reason
Great idea!!! thanks
Man when i saw you adjust the motor and belt tension i was about sold on this and then it stalled again, so depressing trying to build up shop tools on a low budget! What brand Table Router is that behind you on the floor? Great video and info.
Yea, this sander is a mixed bag of tricks. It's fine for a lot of jobs, but I can still stall the belt pretty easily, especially with a coarse belt. The finer the paper, the better it does. That is an older Craftsman router table. My folks just gave me a new Kreg router table, so I'll be doing a video on putting it together and using it soon. Thanks for watching, Bobby!
You have to keep in mind this is just a hobby grinder, not a workshop grinder. That said, you can use it fairly well on softer woods up to oak etc pretty fine so for woodworking it will do mostly. But forget about grinding knifes and steel etc with this. Biggest problem is the speed of the belt, its waaaay too slow for steel. It will take longer on this grinder than with an angle grinder to get a even a half decent bevel on a knife if you even get one at all. Make a 2 x72 belt grinder with a direct drive yourself or dish out the 500 to a 1000 or more for one made for you. (there are very good ones for about 500-600 bucks if you look on the youtube/internet) but either way its gonna cost you quite a bit more than this one. other option is to upgrade the motor to a bit beefier one, but you will still have a beltdrive that will slip under pressure eventually.
pr0faker yea I used this belt sander for grinding the few knives that I've made and it can be a bit slow at times but it's way faster than hand tools. I'm still looking at upgrading tho
I think ours was used, the small sander before I put the disc on had sticky residue on it, alcohols didn't clean it off so I know why the new one doesn't stick also we hand the wandering belt we just had to tension it until it centered.... ours stops as well when pressed on but didn't do anything we just stopped being heavy handed., it works well.
Try mineral spirits to remove the old adhesive on the disc plate, alcohol is really only good for initial prep....since yours had adhesive let on it, you'll need something stronger. Another viewer kindly recommended removing the sanding belt and waxing the bed (metal part under the belt) with paste wax. This makes the belt run with a little less restriction and keeps the sander from stalling as easily. Thanks for the comment!
This was great information for when I set mine up. Thank you.
Thanks for watching, Ben!
Excellent review. Thanks.
Thank you James. I appreciate you watching!
Thanks for taking the time to make this video Very helpful information. I am seriously considering purchasing this and after watching this video I think this will probably work of for hobby work
DIY stull.
Thanks for watching, Joseph!
Great video sir, I just got one of these from my father in law and you answered any questions I had
Thank you for watching, Dreyas!
Excellent video my friend thank you for the information, good job sir.
Thank you very much Robert! I appreciate you watching!
I enjoyed watching your youtube video about the harbor freight sander. Nice work! You are an excellent instructor. God bless.
Thank you for watching, Eric, and thank you for the blessing! I'm glad this helped!
I have been thinking of getting one thanks for all the tips
Yes sir! Thanks for watching, Jack!
I was hopefully when you were sliding the motor to tighten the belt, then it stalled anyway. I suppose iys still good for a light use sander. It isn't marketed as a "belt-grinder" anyway. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching, Thomas! Yes, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed too. Since then, a viewer commented that waxing the bed would help. I tried that and it is a little better, but I can still stall the motor with enough pressure on the belt. I have not been able to stall it using the disc. So....all in all, it is a decent sander, but nothing to write home about. I have definitely found good use for it in my shop, even with it's limitations.
One of the issue's I have when I have my vacuum hooked up and turned on the sanding belt is eating the metal dust cover.
Thanks for watching, Bobby! Is the vacuum hose putting too much stress on the cover and pulling it into the belt? Maybe you can reduce the pull from the hose?
Anytime I buy something from hf that contains any moving parts I disassemble them, lube everything and then put them back together properly. Also I clean up crappy machining. On my 1x30 belt grinder I literally had to rebuild it plus machine and balance the 5 in disc so it would not wobble nor vibrate.
Thanks for watching, George! I do the same with nearly everything from them too. Once that stuff is done, most tools are ok.
Thanks, on my way to pick one up.
Thanks for watching, Gary!
Seems like good enough sander for a diyer like myself for occasional use
Thanks for watching, Larry! I also only use mine occasionally and it works fine for me.
Thanks for the great vid. Picked one up for $30.00 used and the 6" doesn't even work. I'll start to tear into it but you already showed me quite a bit on here I need to 'address' starting tomorrow. I see it's for light work but overall, for $30., I don't think I did too bad.
Sounds like a great deal! Hopefully you'll be able to get it working and tuned up. Thanks for watching!
Mernards sells this under the "tool shop" branding, exactly the same except the color scheme is red.
Thanks for watching! Seems like there are a lot of items out there like that now....same piece, just manufactured/labeled under a different name.
I bought a conversion pad that has adhesive on one side and Velcro on the other. So now I can just use Velcro discs, much easier.
Great idea, Terrence! Thank you for watching!
Real good video,helped me with my setup.Thanks!!
I'm glad it helped! Thanks for watching, Mike!
Thanks for the information, did not know about the dust hole
Thanks for watching, George!
Harbor Freight is like unfinished furniture it is unfinished tools. You have to finish the tools to make them operate properly. Don't get me wrong I love Harbor Freight.
Totally agree George! Modification and repair should be expected, right out of the box. Thanks for watching!
@@joshm2243 Chisels, knives and plane irons all need work before they can be used. Just another sad fact of life.
I've been using one of these for years.... it's still going strong. I discarded the belt fence. You can't replace the belts with the fence fixed on.
Thanks for watching, Richard! Yes sir, that fence is nearly useless. I'd like to fab one that is easily moved when changing the belt....glad to hear yours is running after a lot of years!
@@dwcoffey If you have a propane torch and a vise, heat the fence and bend the arm to other side. Installs with the bolt on the other side. Loose the bottom guard :-) and belt changes are easy.
Great video !!! How do I get the belt grinder vertical ??? Mine only goes 3/4 of the way up !! Help please !!
Hey Jack, I'm sorry for the delay...just now seeing your comment. Did you get it figured out? I'm guessing there's either something hitting where it shouldn't be, stopping the belt bed from going vertical, or the pivot bolt may have a problem, not a lowing full swing. I'd start there and see what you find. Thanks for watching!
Thank you very much !!
Thank you for watching!
very thorough, thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Great video Dennis!!! How is that sander holding up?
Thanks! So far, so good. I've used it a fair amount and it's done fine. I haven't had any issues with it at all. thanks for watching!
Thanks for the vid. Mine stalls with barely any pressure and its past the return date.
Thanks for watching! Sounds like the belt is probably slipping....hopefully this vid will help.
@@dwcoffey yea sounds like it too me too. fingers crossed.
Thank you, great info.
Thank you for watching, Ron!
Thank you.
Thank you for watching Tex!
Thanks for demo,EXCELENT
Thank you Victor! I appreciate you watching!
You should leave the belt tension in loose position until ready to use
Thanks for watching, Erdis! And thanks for the tip!
Great video👍 but is it normal that my sander wheel sticks out a bit from the left side? It's not flush flat with the black plastic back cover. Also how would you recommend doing an easy dust collector for this machine?
Thanks for watching! Mine does that too. Their method of attaching the plastic backer makes it not parallel with the sanding disc. The black plastic backer is intended only for a dust shield and they have a very small dust collection port on the bottom of it. I don't think it would work very well. I don't think dust collection will be easy on this sander. I generally just stick a dust collection hose near the belt or the disc and pick up as much dust as possible
I’ve used a lot of harbor freight tools. They always work for a short period of time and then poop out. However I’ve never bought a large power tool like a belt sander or drill press from them, I honestly wonder how long this thing would stand up?
Thanks for watching, Jordan! I agree, and time will tell. So far, I've had no problems, but this sander is definitely not built as well as more expensive sanders....as expected. HF puts these things on sale for $65 pretty regularly.....I would not pay more than that for one. If you need a heavy duty sander that will see lots of daily use, I would buy a better one. If you are only going to use it occasionally, this may be a good choice. I'll probably do a follow up video at some point in the future to let viewers know how it has performed after significant use.
Thank you for this...
Thank you for watching, Linda!
Very helpful thank you.
Thank you for watching, Edward!
great vid, Is there any place to get a higher grit sanding paper, like a 240. would be nice. help with end hand sanding om my jobs
Thanks for watching, Gunny! I added some links in the video description for good sources of discs and belts for this sander. I've used these and had good results. I've included those links below too:
6 inch Adhesive Sanding Discs: amzn.to/2p95ejO
4 x 36 Sanding Belts: amzn.to/34aW5WL
4 x 36 Silicon Carbide, fine/extra fine, Belts: amzn.to/32RGATn
Thanks again!
@@dwcoffey thanks
Any idea what size that Allen wrench is? I can't seem to find one to fit it. UGH, slowly going nuts.
Hi Jackie, thanks for watching! It's a 9/64" Allen wrench.
Most likely metric! 5 or 6 mm
Do you think is possible (efficent) to lie the machine on the belt side to use it as an edge sander?
Hi Simone, thanks for watching. I suppose you could.....you could mount it to a vertical surface using the base. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work (?) Let me know what you decide and how it works out.
@@dwcoffey i'll let you know soon thanks a lot
If you take off all the guards you can quickly change belts without having to remove a bunch of screws... (might not be safe, but if you use different grits routinely it's a huge time saver)
Yes, they could have made this sander so that the belt was a lot easier to change.
I got mine from West Jordan, Utah yesterday!
Those 🤬 feet, I can’t believe how much of a pain to put those stupid feet on. Just got mine yesterday.
Right? I'm sure I cussed a little putting the feet on mine! haha
My belt moves to far to the side after chaning it. I would imagine I have to play with thr black knob near the end of the unit but not sure how. Any tips?
Thanks for watching! Yes, that is correct......I'd center the adjustment knob with the sander off. Turn it all the way to one side, count the number of turns to get it all the way to the other side, then go back half the number of total turns....now it's centered. Turn on the sander and adjust the knob until the belt is running center.
hi good video i have just got a sander 375w 1/2 horse but the motor is so hot ,is that going to be ok or i have a bad one?
Thanks for watching, Ian. Usually, if a motor runs very hot, it is s sign of a problem.
The motor is a modified shaded pole design, they run hot because of inefficiencies in the design but are very inexpensive to make and surprisingly, reliable because of the bare bones number of parts needed to make it run, but yes, you can cook a steak on one.
Adjust belt tension to keep from stalling.
Yes sir....that's what I did too. Tightened the belt and cured the stalling problem. Thanks for watching!
Great help thanks
Thanks for watching, Roger!
I'm interested in using this to grind laminations for longbow limbs (work pieces would be less than 1/4" thick before sanding/grinding). If I adjust the angle of the belt sander to a 30-40 degree angle is there room to build a flat surface underneath the belt such that I could grind my workpiece to a particular thickness?
Hi Ben, I'm not sure I completely understand how you want to install the additional surface, but yes, I believe you could do that with this sander.
@@dwcoffey basically I'm wondering if I could install a flat surface below the sanding belt that would leave room to grind pieces 1/4" thickness or smaller. Sounds like yes.
Did you get the free whatever they were giving away in 2018?
I've been looking at that sander for a bit. This is the second time I watched this video. currently they're giving away an LED flashlight. they're pretty cool.
Thanks for watching, Arlie! I did! I got a magnetic LED light, and gave it to my son for his car.
One cuestion, how to stick the sandpaper to the disk????
Good question! The sandpaper you use for this has an adhesive backing. If you can't find some with adhesive backing, you can cut out your sandpaper to fit, then spray the back with a removable adhesive. The disc is aluminum, so easy to clean if adhesive builds up on it. Thanks for watching!
Great video thank's 👍
Thanks Robert! I appreciate you watching!
I used the dust collection on the belt but did not cut out the slots in the port. The suction was so strong thst it sucked the belt into the port and ground the port off so far that the port fell off. I just don’t use dust collection now. I used an old shop vac with 1 1/2 “ hose not that strong of a vac
Wow! That's crazy! I haven't had any problem like that, thankfully.
Just picked one up on clearance. I need to get nuts/bolts for the the motor mount as they were missing. My question may be silly but how do you get the disk sand paper off the wheel? It came torn and is pretty stuck! Thanks.
Thanks for watching, Liz! I use a little acetone or paint thinner on a rag to make the sand paper adhesive release and to clean off the residue.
Does anyone know how to fix the “wandering” belt on this sander? I’ve tried tightening the belt track but the belt keeps slipping off?
Hi Fred, thanks for watching. IF the belt is slipping to one side only, the tensioning roll is not parallel with the roll on the other end of the bed. If the belt is slipping to either side, the tension is too low and needs to be increased. Let me know what you find, with any other details and maybe we can figure out how to fix it.
Just put mine together today and I’m having the same “wandering” belt issue. No matter what I do with the tension knob it still won’t stay put. Is it possible I just have a defective tension roll? Can this be fixed? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
@@aprylirwin9150 Use a straightedge on the rollers, to see if they are flat, or have a camber to them. They are supposed to be crowned, so taller in the center, and smaller at the ends, to help the belt self-center. If they are flat, that would be why your belt is wandering no matter the setting of the centering wheel.
Check the carriage bolts that allow it to rotate from vertical to horizontal. There are 2 of them, one of mine was missing the nut. Once I got a new nut, it quit doing that.
Keep turning on and off each time adjusting spring knob in front until you see the belt stay where it's supposed to.
How do I change the disc sander sanding paper? Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching, Samantha! The disc uses self-adhesive sandpaper discs. I buy mine online and left a link in the video description for purchasing them. You can also cut your own discs and apply your own adhesive like: Feathering Adhesive amzn.to/2Jt0tZa , Spray Adhesive amzn.to/36bGgAF ...or... amzn.to/2MSLtpt
Then you just remove adhesive build up on the plate with mineral spirits or WD40 as you go.
@@dwcoffey the one that came with the unit doesn't stay on, well buy those you mentioned they are a great deal. How would I rem9ve those with spray adhesive? Maybe heat gun? Ok next time we will try mineral spirits or WD-40.
Hi Samantha, yes....probably the easiest way to remove discs you've applied with spray adhesive, especially if you use something like 77, is to use a heat gun. If you use a repositionable adhesive, the discs will just peel off and then you can wipe the backing plate every so often with mineral spirits.
Is there a way to slow down the speed? I’m using it for small pieces and I’m either sanding too much off or the pieces go flying because of the speed.
Thanks for watching! You could change the drive belt pulleys.....a smaller pulley on the motor would slow the belt/disc down. Or, if you remove/modify the belt guard, you could put a larger pulley on the belt shaft.
Thank you for this video!!
Thank you for watching!
Thank you Dennis, very helpful and informative.
Thanks for watching, Michael!
Thanks for completeing the inferior directions.
Thanks for watching! Yes, the instructions are pitiful.
Great job. Thank you.
Thank you for watching, Michael!
I like my sander, but have had a problem getting the feet on. Any suggestions?
Thanks for watching, Stephen! I nearly tossed those feet across my shop a couple of times! :) The best way I found was to get the outer lip hooked partially on the lip around the base and then rock the foot toward the inside-bottom of the base. It took a lot of force to get them fully seated.
Thanks👍
Thank you for watching!
I bought one and could never get the side wheel to clear the guard has anyone had this problem?
I did not have that problem, but the bottom part of that guard is a little tricky to get installed correctly. I had some trouble getting it to line up properly.
Not after i threw the guard in the trash.
LOL! that would solve the clearance issue! haha
you said you mentioned how to make it vertical I cannot seem to find this
Thanks for watching! Yes, I didn't do a very good job of explaining how to do that, I only briefly mention it at around 15:30 or so. There are two bolts, behind the top end of the belt guard. I kinda show where there are at that 15:30 or so mark. If you loosen them, you can rotate the belt between the vertical and horizontal positions.
i was gonna get it but it comes with an 80 grit disc, not now , i only use 180
Thanks for watching, Jake! I ordered a pack of disks thru amazon and got a variety. I think I left a link n the video description. If you follow that link, there are other packs available....you should be able to find only 180 grit disks!
@@dwcoffey i was being sarcastic, sorry, like, "oh, well if it only comes with 80 grit, it's not worth it" lol, i'll have to buy the dewalt, lol, i do auto body, i have 3 , yes 3, 40 gal totes filled with sand paper, and that's just at my house, and actually , sanding is my least favorite thing to do , ever, id rather sit in the rain in winter than sand, lol
LOL! I hear ya.....I did body repair for a lot of years, now I do woodworking. I agree with you....I'd rather get throat punched than sand. It is definitely my least favorite thing to do.
Put paste wax on the bed of the belt. There to much friction between the belt and the bed
Thanks for watching, Dan! Great idea...I do that on a lot of my shop equipment alredy, but didn't even think of paste wax for this. Thanks!!
@Throw Stone The bed is the flat metal table portion under the belt.
Throw Stone , it's where the belt sleeps of course 😂
How do you loosen the belt some might came to tight were it will not go
Thanks for watching, Colton. Check out the part in the video where I tighten the belt...if you loosen those same bolts, you can let some tension off the belt.
Thanks
Easy go up one size on the pulley and ups the torque as I'm after torque not speed for what I do and the motor has easier time to turn the belt. Pulley is at rural king
Great idea for a fix!! Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!