Disc sander, or belt sander - which is going to be more useful in the garage?

I've never had the luxury of a benchtop sander, just handheld disc and belt sanders. The makita belts feel as though the join is 'skived' to reduce thickness and last ages ...

No one can tell you. It will depend on what each job requires. Although I have a combined belt/disc sander & a portable belt sander I quite often use a lathe mounted abrasive disc because it's quicker & easier than getting the other tools out.

I have some experience of 16” disk sanders and admit they are useful. What I would point out which is very obvious and maybe you have already appreciated is that only half that diam. is usable and if bench space is limited a belt sander with the equivalent width may occupy a lot less space.

Richard

I used one of those 4" belt 6" disc sanders for a while but found it was often a bit on the small side and not pleasing to use (it's now relegated to linishing). I replaced it with a Record BDS250 - a lovely machine but about twice the price. Whether it's worth spending that much depends on what other tools you have ... a router, decent table saw and band saw would be higher-up my purchase list if I was starting out, closely followed by a planer/thicknesser. Unfortunately, the list is almost endless.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

I did, yeah! Also it appears that sanding discs are cheaper to buy...

Thanks, I did wonder what they'd be like. They all seem to be the same, no matter which brand's sticker is pasted on to it.

It definitely looks good, that one! Where is it made, do you know?

Heh, yep!

That might be a reflection of your old belts rather than belts in general. I have a few machines that use sanding belts and have never had one snap - I usually find them very robust.

I have something similar, and yes it can be very useful fore some jobs. Most will also allow the belt section to be rotated into a vertical position which is handy for many sanding an grinding operations.

However much will depend on the work you are doing.

A belt will tend to have a long path round the belt than most parts of the disc. With either you need to take care not to wear just one section of the media.

Belt sander had consistent speed across the width of the belt. It also tends to give you a longer flat surface to sand on - so better for longer stock.

Handy machines - larger is usually better - I am sure I would love a big industrial 12 or 16" disc sander (if I had the space for it), but in reality I use my handheld Random Orbit Sander more than any other, so the fixed machine is more of a luxury for me.

True.

Yep, 'Big Machines' are always a thing to dream about owning but unless you're putting them to work, they're probably in the same class as exotic sports cars.

Anyway, I have had a further think and for the time being I have decided to get new, better quality belts for the small belt sander, and I was given a contraption which attached to a power drill and becomes a small (7") disc sander. I have just spent the morning cleaning it up and other than two bearing which are OK but probably need replacing, it seems not bad for what I will want. It is made by 'Wolf' and is reasonably sturdy.

Hey ho.