My 1st post - dust with a belt sander?

[psprigs]

Hi, Thanks for the time...

I have a Hitachi sb10v2 4" belt sander using 80paper, I have a 1" 1/4 dust hose to the sander which works perfect on the orbital sander and setup working on the planner etc,

I get large deposits of dust as I sand on the wood, and loads of dust flying out the front of the sander.. the sander isn't blocked and clean it all out after every use and if I remove the dust hose its a lot worse... Its the worst tool I have for dust but use it the most..

Ive watched YT videos of sanders and most have no where near what im getting.... Im wondering if its the design of the belt sander and if I should buy something which has better dust reviews..

Does anyone know what or if its normal? I have 2000sq ft of space that's got dust that ill never beable to remove...

I was also thinking of a sanding tent of some type?

Thanks and sorry if its a basic question, im new to this...

 

[lurker]

Sounds like your dust extractor does not have sufficient suck. What are you using?

 

[psprigs]

Hi,

Im using a shopvac 1800w with 3" to a cyclone, then out to either 3" to the planer or table and 1 1/4" I think to the orbital and belt sander...
The suction is immense on the big items, and the orbital is hard work because it sucks to the wood, its just the belt sander is the issue, its clear inside the throat to the belt on the sander... I just wonder if its normal or some sanders are much better than others with dust...

 

[Myfordman]

I've a feeling that the reduction to 1-1/4" is killing the suction. Experiment with staying in 3" hose for as much as possible, only reducing to the small bore for a short distance and see if it improves.
My belt sander (cheapy Skil) has a collection bag which seems to work well.

 

[wallace]

That Hitachi is a bit of a beast, I just buy the cheapy £15 ones. They last surprisingly well considering the hammer they get. The extraction is pretty good on them too.

 

[DiscoStu]

I wonder if it's just the design of the sander. With orbital they have holes in the pad to collect the dust. With a belt they can't do that and they remove a lot of material. I only have a bench belt sander so I can't say for sure but I wonder if you can't improve with your existing sander.


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[psprigs]

Hi, Thanks for the suggestions and comments...

So I went to screwfix and bought the cheap 3" titan belt sander for £44.99 to test... With the supplied dust bag it filled up withing a few minutes using 60grit paper, but only 5% of the dust on the floor compared to the Hitatchi...

Using my existing cyclone dust setup, I plugged in the hose to the sander and done the same test again, and prob 1% of the dust if that on the floor and not in the air.....

Im well happy as the place I sand in is a working warehouse with offices and dust is everywhere just from that sander... Now time to sell the Hitatchi and clear up the mess...

It must be the design because apart from belt size and speed, sanding the same wood on one make is virtually nothing and on another is unreal...

I think ill buy a Makita and dewalt to test as ill need a backup..

Thanks all.

 

[DiscoStu]

Good that you've identified the problem.


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[Alexfn]

can you keep us updated on what sander you find the best?

i bought a GMC BS900MCF, only bought it because i got it for 40 quid, it seems to be an almost exact copy of the dewalt DW433.

anyway dust collection is terrible and i really need one that has both good dust collection and is durable

 

[Mark A]

My Metabo BAE75 has pretty good extraction, both with the supplied dust bag and a vacuum.

It's not a bad machine at all; though the position of the handle at the rear may be awkward in tight spaces.

 

[Alexam]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you have already sorted out most iof the problem, but belt sanders are notoriopus for throwing out dust at belt level and only the dust that goes into the machine gets collected by a connected vac.

I have a similar situation and in addition to the normal collection, I bought another dust catcher that is connected to a second vac and almost all dust is accounted for. I have the belt/disc sander as well as a bobin sander on a wheeled base with the main extractor within the base, but on the left you can see the stand that is adjustable for height, to set the shute at the level of the end of the belt and connect a second vac which is on the left. This photo is when it's all packed away, but hope it helps.
Axminster sell these at a very reasonable price.

Alex

 

[Mr T]

You seem to have sorted it, but my first reaction was that the step down from 3" on the extractor pipe will seriously reduce the suck. If you happened to have a Henry type vac around it would be interesting to know if that could handle it.

Chris