Technical Best Mini Belt Type Sander/Grinder for Sheet Metal

Whats the best mini, belt type sander, grinder for knocking down sheet metal welds, etc. Brand? Air? Electric? Thanks!

 

The one that you have, obviously....

(just a pet peeve, any time someone asks for the "best" anything....best for me? for you? for what situations? there's no one "best" anything)

 

Well that was helpful.......................................

 

I'm on my 3rd Makita in 40 yrs. Flapper discs and forget the stone wheels

 

I use the edge of a 4" air grinder to knock down the weld and finish it with a 3" roloc grinder disc. I try to keep most of the grinding on the weld rather than on the sheet metal, don't want to thin the metal.

 

I don’t remember how long I’ve has it but my Makita has been solid for a long time.

 

It really wasn't a fair question I edited it to read Belt type, sander, I have and do use the Rolocks.

 

I recently bought a Harbor Freight one. It seems to work well. I don't have many miles on it yet. I usually used my cut off wheels or 4 inch grinder. The belt get in where they do not.

 

2" and 3" Rolocks in a angle die grinder are my preference. And tig welding, which really cuts down on how much you have to grind IMO.

 

Wish I knew how to TIG but I am from the BB era, Buzz Box! Have used the Mig for years now but don't know if I could learn the TIG!

 

I bought a cheap HF one years ago and it was junk. Then I bought an Astro pneumatic one and have been very happy with it. Great for lots of things and has held up well. Less than $100 and order some different grit belts to go with it. Here I'm using it with my lathe to make a slip fit for a harmonic balancer hub.

I'm making a "slip" fit because I have an extra hub and am using it to moch up the pulley situation. Its honed slightly as well so it also slips on the crank snout easily. When I get everything figured out, the new steel hub extension will get the same treatment with the sander. The moch up will serve as the gage to set my mic and then check the final size.

There are some electric belt sanders but I will only change when battery powered ones become more available and less expensive.

 

I've used the 3m belt sander. Only had to replace the contact wheel once because the bearing went out. I am sure there are other less expensive brands that work just as well though. Air would be my preference for such a tool.

 

The best?

Dynabrade. Pretty spendy though. Unless you are doing production work probably not worth it.

For the money I am very happy with my 3M.

I'm curious about some of the Aircat offerings.

Anything cheaper than that is probably the same one with a different sticker on it, or just cheaper and cheaper clones of the same thing.

 

Thank you ekimneirbo & John Lewis, the kind of info I am looking for!

 

Are your lathe ways shielded? I was taught to never use abrasives anywhere near a lathe in order to preserve the ways. Files are OK but the sanding stuff is a no-no.

 

Now we have Lathe police, what's wrong with you people?????????????

 

If you have a steady hands, you can learn tig welding easy, just listen to Cody on Welding Tips and Tricks videos, best welding instructor around.

 

I bought a cheap one at harbor freight broke pretty quick took it back for a refund. I need to buy a decent one myself

 

I have one from Eastwood. Just by lots of belts, they don't last long.

 

I bought a Horrible Freight mini-belt sander ...Just needed to work for the current project I had going ...That was 5 years ago and the dang cheap POS is like a Timex watch...keeps on a-ticking..Using 3M Cubitron belts is the secrets..knock down those pesky tack welds flat... use it several times a week . Can't wait til it stops working so I can justify thinking how much of a piece of junk it was ... At 83 y/o I hope I can outlast it
Stan

 

x2 on the dynabrade, another tool in the expensive but worth it catagory, have had one for 25 years, works flawlessly still

 

Just suggesting that if he doesn't have shielding on them he could get a lot more life out of the lathe before the ways need to be ground if he took measures to keep the abrasive grit off of the ways.

Was that out of line, not traditional, or some other rule I broke?

 

I have a 3m one and also a harbor freight one,They are not the same size belt (interchange) but I like the 3m one better.One of the guys at the shop just bought one from Matco and he really likes it. Hope this helps.

 

My two belt sanders are a 4" wide Ace Hardware, and a 1" wide hobby sander. I also have a hand held 1/2" wide portable belt sander for getting into tight spaces on small areas. All three have their uses, and all three are electric. Not sure I'd want to be without any of them.
As much as we all love to trash talk Harbor Freight, I've had great success with their inexpensive 4.5" electric angle grinders. For me electric is the only thing I use, and I hate changing discs during car fabrication. So for $45 I bought three HF angle grinders, and I keep a different type disc in each one while building. I can just switch from cutoff to flapper, to grinding by grabbing a different one.
I think I've built 6-8 cars with these three grinders, and they still run like new.

 

I have used an Ingersoll Rand that seemed to be of good quality.
Have thought about one a time or two just never pulled the trigger for one yet.
Looking on line there seems to be a few different styles, what are you guy's using that have them?

 

I totally wore out my Dynabrade air belt sander. I thought I really liked it till I went electric and bought a heavy duty Milwaukee belt sander. It is a real workhorse at cutting down dirty old mig welds, but a buddy brought his Makita belt sander over for me to try, and now I own one of them as well. I like the Makita for detail work. I also went Milwaukee 12 bolt on my 3 inch roll sanders and I haven't taken the dynabrade air sander off the hook since I bought the electric one. Just my preference.

 

I sent the wife by Harbor Freight to get their cheapest pneumatic one that took the smaller belts. When she was there she called me and said they had a higher priced one that was much heavier and took the larger 3M style belt. It was somewhere around $80. I was very surprised with the quality of it and how smooth it runs. I have used the crap out of it in tight areas where a roloc wont go and it has held up well.

 

I have an Eastwood air 3/8 belt sander but I use 3M belts.

 

I have the TP Tools 3/8" version and the 3M 1/2" version. Both work fine. I prefer the orange Norton belts over the 3M cubitron, which seem to wear quickly to me. Sadly, the Nortons are not available for the smaller one.

 

I agree, I think at this point we should ask brigrat what the heck is wrong with you?