Official Luthiers Forum!

Before I just buy a new belt, maybe there is advice out there.

Several time recently, the edge of the belt has dug into the wood being sander and continued to cut in deep slots. This is as the wood is moved across the belt. Fortunately, these were just cheap pieces of wood for projects around the house.

The belt seems OK and properly tensioned.

Any advice?

At the risk of sounding over simplistic, maybe just don't touch your workpiece to the edge of the belt? I have a 6x48 and I pretty much just sand things that are only as big as the Platten or maybe longer. I recently got an edge sander to help with bigger pieces.

Pat

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Pat

Simple things first: Try a new belt. If problem goes away, fix is found.

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Peter Havriluk

When you replace the belt buy a decent quality one!

I have really good luck with the Klingspor brand. The junk that Grizzly sells curl up on the edges immediately and the seam isn’t smooth.

Good luck

industrial abrasives in reading pa is where I can by belts
and as mentioned above stay off the ends of the belt they will dig in

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Belt sanders can cut a groove whenever you get the wood on the edge unless you're very careful. It's quite difficult to use a belt sander with a piece of wood that is wider than the belt, you have to keep the wood moving all the time and use very light pressure. I've done it but no longer try, it's more work than it's worth and even then it isn't always successful.

Of course, as others have said, it's important to have a good quality belt.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Have you had good luck using the belt sander in the past without it digging in at the edge? If you have you could try tearing a quarter inch off the edge of the belt. Cloth sanding belts will usually tear off pretty uniformly, but not always, so this is kind of a last ditch effort. A torn edge won't be quite as "sharp" as the factory edge and may be less inclined to dig in.