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| Hand held belt sander for thicknessing http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=34444 |
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| Author: | roby [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
Anyone tried this after planing t/b/s to near finished thickness just curious as i don't have a drum sander.Thanks all Roby |
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| Author: | B. Howard [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 7:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
I still build quite a few solid wood counter tops and surface them by hand starting with a bench plane followed by a belt sander. It takes a lot of practice to get good enough to pass a counter top off as flat. And it is still no where near flat enough for the plates on a guitar. It will be real easy to get spots that are way to thin not to mention the tendency to want to grab and snatch up the work pieces off the bench. I would find another way, scraper, sanding blocks, even a random orbit would be better IMHO. |
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| Author: | Kim [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:07 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
If you get a really, really, big one, build a frame for it so its suspended over a nice wide motorised feed table, and then cover it all with a nice tight fitting hood for good dust extraction, it should just fine... ![[:Y:]](./images/smilies/smiley20.gif "Thumbs Up") Sorry just kidding  Others have covered it, the wood we use is far too thin and in many cases, too soft to consider a hand held belt sander.Cheers Kim |
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| Author: | Michael.N. [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:08 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
Plane and cabinet scraper. They cost relatively little. You just need to know how to get both of them seriously sharp. It's not as though those planing or sharpening skills won't come in useful elsewhere either. |
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| Author: | truckjohn [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:48 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
I noticed you said "After planing" in the OP.... After planing - you will be ready to switch to a good sanding block and sandpaper.... Start with 80 or 100 grit and work your way up to 220 or 320 or so... If you are concerned about thickness, finding lumps, and such - then a sheet metal micrometer will tell you what you need to know... I have had good luck finding them on Ebay for cheap.... Thanks |
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| Author: | Phillip Patton [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:43 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
Well, I guess I'll be a dissenting voice here.  Between a third and a half of the guitars I've built (I'm up to 14 now) as well as a number of other instruments, were thicknessed with a handheld belt sander, with pretty good results. Either I'm just that good, or it's not really that hard.  The trick is to keep it moving, and check the thickness often... |
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| Author: | Tai Fu [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:13 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
Use a finer grit like 220 if its your first time. Belt sander, particularly coarser grit can cut through material very fast. Either that or build a jig that allows you to carefully control the depth of the sander much like a Wagner Safe T Planer. |
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| Author: | James W B [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
On my first I used a safety planer to get close and then a belt sander to get where I wanted to be.But as Todd said ,I wouldn`t advise doing this.Even with a lot of woodworking experience it`s very difficult to be accurate.Although in my over exuberence I thought that was the best sounding guitar I had ever played.Ha Ha.NOT EVEN CLOSE. |
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| Author: | Bryan Bear [ Sun Dec 04, 2011 11:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Hand held belt sander for thicknessing |
You could always build a thickness sander - assuming you have space for one. I built mine with a 25" drum, just in casse I wanted to do something really big. Now I wish I had made it a bit smaller. It is not fancy and probably cost less than $75. I had a motor and used scrap for most of it, but it works great. It is manual feed and only 1/3 up, so I have to take really shallow passes which gets a bit tedious, but the results are worth it. |
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