Belt sander-is it worth buying one? (need 2 know before 18:00!!)

mickywillis

mickywillis

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As a small cruiser and dinghy owner, is it worth investing in a belt sander for general maintenance?
Focus are selling a 900Watt, 75x457mm belt size, electric sander for £24.98 - 10 % discount today and was wondering if I really need it?
What can I do with it?(apart from the obvious!!) Would it be useful when the time comes to removing the antifoul off the cruiser (23ft Westerly Pageant) or is it essential that the antifoul is only ever removed using wet sanding or scraping?
Or will it be yet another tool that sits in the garage waiting to be used??
PS comes with a 3 year guarantee, a carrying case and a medium belt. Are the 75x 457 mm belts easy to buy or are they a hard size to get?
Need to know before 18:00 as thats when the store closes!!
Thanks
 
Don't think you should consider a belt sander for your proposed tasks - an oscillating sander would be more use IMHO "What us not necessary is dear at a farthing"
 
Check screwfix to see if the belt size is common.
I have a bosch belt sander, would not be without it for many tasks, but I always wet sand or scrape antifoul. It is useful for various low tech woodwork, stripping wood floors, heavy sanding of wood. Also removing rust from steel and occassionally sharpening scrapers, sorry if this offends the purists!
Cheers.
 
Strictly for flat surfaces only. Hulls? unless the boat is huge, no. Go for a dual action rotary, Festo is the best one I've used but Makita Metabo etc are all OK but a lot more money. The belt sander might come in for other things though.
 
The belts are a size listed by Screwfix so should not be a problem.

Only useful for heavy sanding jobs I would have thought. likely to remove the top veneer of ply if you are not carefull.

Never, never, never, ever, never sand antifouling dry!
 
If you are going to do any serious woodwork around the boat they are very good-mount in a vice and you can do some serious sanding quickly! I use mine a lot for this sort of thing.

For GPR work, paint & varnish stipping a ossocilating sander is unsually the think to use.
 
It is very easy to do a lot of damage with a belt sander and the sanding belts are not cheap either. It's easier to control an ossocilating sander
 
Not for antifoul - use a scraping tooll! Disc/oscillating sanders are better for most boat jobs IMO, but a good belt sander saves a lot of time finishing flat surfaces, and as mentioned is very handy mounted in a vice for shaping edges and small pieces.

Don't expect a cheapo one to last long; see how much belts cost, cos you may get through a lot of them.
 
Oh well, I bit the bullet and bought one. If its no use for boaty, then I guess I will have to get on and do DIY round the house!!
And as an added bonus, when I got to the check out, they charged me £21.56 for it and not the £22.49 I was expecting to pay!
 
A belt sander is incredibly useful for all sorts of things including removing treadmaster on a flat surface, with a fine sanding paper you can control the cut quite accurately and just take off a thin slice at a time, leaving a very smooth surface. Did all the treadmaster on our Fulmar many years ago
 
From the varied posts you see a lot of optimism and warnings. I strongly advise to experiment a great deal on scrap items with different grade belts. They are not only for flat surfaces, but they are far more difficult to control on shaped surfaces and it is easy to take off far too much material in a hurry and quickly damage the sanding belt if you are inexperienced. Take great care as they can have a mind of their own and can get you tangled up as they slip off sufaces and connect with loose clothing, legs etc. The 'nose' of the sander can be used to carefully sand out a concave but cheaper sanders will see the belt riding off and some do not have the footplate or sole extended for doing this. Always wear a mask and ideally use a vacuum cleaner where possible. Practice makes perfect. good luck, Scotty
 
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