Recommend a belt sander to buy in the Sales!

I have a Bosch. It's very very good. Prefer the professional series if you can afford it. Black and Decker are the same firm as DeWalt, B&D is the brand they use for DIY tools and DeWalt for professional - you pays your money...

R.

Should I buy a belt sander with a speed control? Or do they all have one?

Sounds like your choice is between random orbit and belt then...

To an extent you pays your money and takes your choice. The more serious ones cost a good bit more but with have continously rated motors (i.e. you don't have to stop work every 20 mins to give it a rest) and will probably pass far less vibration to your hands. You should get a better finish and better dust collection into the bargain.

It is not worth buying a really cheap belt sander, since they are often made on a plastic chassis. Hence you will find that after a few months in storage it has often warped enough to no longer be able to centre the belt correctly.

A rasonable random orbit sander would start with something like the green Bosch PEX400.

? What width belt and

Most are about 4" unless you go for one of the special purpose narrow "power file" types.

I researched this one long and hard just over a year ago, looking at reviews and trying out different products.

For belt sanders, Makita is the best choice (different sizes available) unless you want to go for a Festool.

For random orbital sanders, best choice is Metabo, especially SXE450, which has two circle settings and variable speed.

I'm wondering slightly why you would use a belt sander in furniture construction using 50x100mm timber.... Generally the application is for larger surface areas and for material removal.

Broadly, you can go for a heavier duty 100mm model or a smaller 75mm model - the latter being a little easier to wield.

I don't know if they all do, but yes, I think so.

Hi,

Argos sometimes have some good deals, I bought a Challenge one before xmas for £12.50 that I'm pretty happy with.

For sanding some 4" wide wood I'd expect a 4" sander will make things a lot easier or even a 6" bench mounting belt sander if sanding a lot of wood.

cheers, Pete.