Thread: Mastercraft 4" belt sander

Just a heads up, will be on sale May 1-7 for half price.
$99 CDN. Not a bad little unit for scales and general sanding.

Cheers.

Thanks for the notice. I probably would have found it walking through Canadian tire.

No prob's, I don't think its in the flyer, hence why I posted..
I get emails for things I am eyeing when they are coming on sale again. Handy feature, once I set it up.
Course by the time this came on sale when I was looking I already built one from various items. Ended up costing 4x what this one does, but it's vfd drive, and has different dia wheels and takes 2-4" wide belts in either 30 or 72" dia belts.
I got carried away a bit with the build.

Thanks for the heads up. I have been sort of waiting for a good sale. If I get one then I can take my belt sander out of the vice!

Originally Posted by RezDog

Thanks for the heads up. I have been sort of waiting for a good sale. If I get one then I can take my belt sander out of the vice!

I soo did that with my old belt sander and b and d workmate.

Is there a thread containing said grinder? Sounds very versatile.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

No prob's, I don't think its in the flyer, hence why I posted..
I get emails for things I am eyeing when they are coming on sale again. Handy feature, once I set it up.
Course by the time this came on sale when I was looking I already built one from various items. Ended up costing 4x what this one does, but it's vfd drive, and has different dia wheels and takes 2-4" wide belts in either 30 or 72" dia belts.
I got carried away a bit with the build.

I do that with all kinds of stuff. Grinders and polishers the sander. drills. it all works pretty well

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Just a heads up, will be on sale May 1-7 for half price.
$99 CDN. Not a bad little unit for scales and general sanding.
Cheers.

I got one of those over here in the UK, Mike, painted green and with a different makers name it seemed ideal and plenty powerful enough.

Boy, was I wrong! It has a tiny little rubbery take-off belt, about a quarter inch wide and a couple of inches long when squashed flat, with small raised strips width-wise acting as cogs to turn the sanding belt drum. If you use any pressure at all, the sanding belt stays where it is and the drive-belt slips, wiping out its 'cog-strips' - I got through 3 in a month.

It does work, but you have to be incredibly gentle with it, and if thinning strips of wood to make scale blanks you still have to ensure the surface is flat with a fine rasp or similar.

Mine is seldom used these days - it sits under the work table along with all the other crap I bought which turned out to be junk.

Maybe this model is made better, but I would like a salesman to unscrew the plate hiding the drive-belt so I could get a look at it. The sanding belt table is only as good as that belt - even getting it a bit too tight strips the cog-flats off it.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks for the feedback Neil. Maybe the drive is different, and a good warning for something to check I was not aware of.
I never did a thread on my own belt sander rig per say but did take a few pics of it.
Will post some up. I am a scrounged and use/repurpose stuff all the time. Tend not to post up some of my uglier stuff cause most guys on here are far more craftsmany than I. I make things that work for my purposes, but would be banned from most work sites due to safety concerns and legalities, hehe.
Guarding? We don need no stinking guarding..

Sounds like my kind of shop. One of the things about buying from Canadian Tire is the have a very good return policy. If you can break it within a year thy will take it back.