

3 Ways To Get the Most Out of a Belt Sander

You can smooth out just about anything with a good one.

Stephen Lewis

Machines like the S4 belt sander by Kalamazoo Industries ($620) restore any lost faith in American shop machinery. This isn't an impostor that brags about what it's not. No, this is the real deal, every bit as at home in a foundry or a fab shop as in your basement or garage. Its Baldor ½-hp motor spins a 4-inch-wide, 36-inch-long belt at 3,450 rpm. In doing so, it makes wood, metal, and plastic vanish before your eyes. It's both amazing that way and scary at the same time.

Sand a guitar neck, grind a knife to shape, or do any of the myriad metal fabrication jobs such as square up tubing to build a smoker, a trailer, or a log splitter; bevel the end of a pipe to make a welder's sawhorse; or round the corners on a wrought-iron handle bracket. Use the sander with the belt turned vertically or horizontally. In either position, the 46-pound machine will do a day's work and will wear you out long before you wear it out.

Three Useful Metal Grinds

Bevel and Deburr

David Sparshott

Pipes are common building materials because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. To use them effectively, fabricators typically bevel and deburr the ends after they are cut to length. This is simple on the S4. Lay the pipe at an angle to the belt and spin it into the rotating belt.

Square an End

David Sparshott

It's important to put a square, burr-free end on a piece of square tubing prior to using the material for a trailer frame or the stand for a smoker. Ideally, you want to cut the tube square, but if you haven't, simply square up the tube on a belt sander by pushing it into the belt.

Round Flat Corners

David Sparshott

Rounded corners not only look nicer than square ones, they're safer because a sharp corner is removed and stronger because a radiused edge better dissipates structural stresses. Round corners by simply pivoting the piece left and right into the belt.

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