How to Make a Belt Sander or 2×72 Belt Grinder

How to Make a Belt Sander, Belt Sander is commonly used to buff the rough surfaces (of wood and metal both), finishing the hardwood floor, and sharpening tools. Hence, this buffing tool is of multiple uses.

These belts are popular because of their power and smooth surface linear action. Genuinely the belt is made of Aluminum and Arsenal with evenly coarse grids.

Nowadays Belt sander is electronically operated with an attached motor. There is a wheel mounted inside the machine with a belt placed over it. This wheel rotates the belt over and over using the power generated by the motor.

This movement is belt produce friction over the underlying surface hence buffing and smoothening it. This Belt sander comes in a variety of sizes varying from Mini to large Stationary belt sanders.

Mini Belt Sanders are often used by many households for their DIY projects. These sander work best on wood. While the Large stationery Sanders are recommended to be used on metals. These Sanders are stationery and often their feet are firmly bolted in the floor to withstand pressure.

Such buffing belts are used to remove aluminum or any non-ferrous material from the soft metallic surface that might cause them to be blunt.

These Sanders have Taut-Belt, which allows them to adjust the angle of the belt according to the buffing angle required to achieve the desired outcomes.

How to Make a Belt sander (2×72 Belt Grinder)

Steps: How To Make Mini Belt Sander:

You can make a DIY project for Mini Belt Sander by using simple scrap material.

Material Required:

• Any spare wheel 30mm in width.
  • An electric motor of 550w Hydro pump.
  • Use the belt of any other belt sander but cut it 4×36 belt size.
  • We need any C-shaped iron 120mm in width to form a base.

Step 1: Removing Impellers:

Built an adapter to extend the motor and serve the wheel. Alter the flanges and remove the impeller on the borer.

Step 2: Making the Frame for Base:

The base is made by combining two Iron pieces. One is horizontal and the other is vertical. The horizontal piece is used to balance the motor, its capacitors, and other wiring connections.

While the verticle layout is used to mount plates and serve as table support. This vertical structure keeps the upper grinding wheel intact and the inside springs of the pillar keep the buffing belt tight.

Further, you can use a separate metal sheet to hide the electronic connections at the bottom of the frame.

Step 3: Making Baseboard and Supporting Table:

Use separate metal or aluminum pieces to make side support and baseboard. The side support will ensure that the sanding belt is functioning perfectly and tightly while the platen will provide a base to apply sufficient pressure within the space provided.

Step 4: Make Upper Body Frame

The upper Frame is Mini Belt Sander is L-shaped. It is there to support the wheel bearing hub via fulcrum at its top. The wheel bearing hub is mounted via joint on the L-frame with an adjustable knob of the screw. This screw knob allows the wheel adjustment according to the buffing angle required on the belt.

Step 5: Placing Wheels:

Finally, place the wheels at their respective places and place the belt across them to make sure that the belt should be perfectly placed and tight.

Here your Mini Sanding machine is ready to go.

Steps: How to Make 2×72 Belt Grinder:

Step 1: Drawing a Model or Blueprint:

Draw a complete Blueprint of your project, your screw holes, your hinges, and other material placement. Now, take one baseboard to serve as your workbench. You will encounter working along with metal and wood here. The items in particular you require are:

Required Material:

• Ball Bearing of Nylon (2pkg. 0.5' door rollers)
  • Rubber/ Metal wheels (4 ea. 2-pc. drum sander set)
  • 2 pkg. metal springs (SP-9710)
  • 1 pkg. Metallic sliders of drawer (14″ liberty)
  • 24″ 5/ 6″ all thread
  • 2 ea. 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ latches
  • 8 ea. 1/4″ finder washers
  • 4 ea. 5/6″ nuts
  • 4 ea. 5/6″ nylon washers
  • 2 ea. 1/4″ nuts
  • 4 ea. 1/4″ washers
  • 1 tube timber glue
  • 1 kit epoxy fixer
  • 24″ x 24″ 3/4″ plywood
  • 6″ x 6″ 1/4″ spacer wood
  • 18″ 1/2″ x 1″ fir -cleats

Step 2: Making Support Stand and Base:

Take two pieces of wood, Make a base with horizontally square-cut wood to serve as a baseboard, and take the other one to mount vertically in support of the whole structure. Make sure that all the holes are perfectly aligned because these points will serve as joints and fulcrum for the motor and upper wheel placement.

Step 3: Make the Upper Arm

It is a 7-inch long arm used to adjust the tightness of the belt. It moves via spring and produces tension in the belt. These arms are hinged via bolts to the spacers/ supporting pillars.

Step 4: Mount the Machine to Floor:

Take an L-shaped iron that is 2′ wide and drill a 3/8 inch hole in it. Use one hole to attach the belt grinder and the second hole to mount the table firmly on the floor.

Step 5: Attaching Wheels and springs:

We need to drill holes in our vertical plate, where we will place the springs using bolts. These springs move to produce tension in the belt. Moreover, the wheel will also be placed across the supports and upper arm.

Step6: Placing Belt:

Now place the sanding belt over the wheels. Make sure the belt is tight enough to produce the tension and friction required. Making the Tool Rest

Conclusion: How to Make a Belt Sander

Although there are many DIY projects available nowadays to make homemade OR Mini belt sanders using the scrap available at your home but still understanding how to make a belt sander for professional projects requires skills and professional knowledge.

Making a stationery Large Belt Sander requires a complete sketch out blueprint initially followed by step by step procedure with technical accuracy.

In the above piece of writing, we have sketched a Step by Step Guide on how to make a belt sander both, Mini Belt Sander and Large Stationary Belt Sanders. Hopefully, this will be helpful for you.