Wide belt sanding is not rocket science. I don’t want to go into why you have the machine you do. You just do and that is that! There are so many factors and configurations that I could write an encyclopedia on it and still not cover it all. What [...]
It's like a plague to all the wide belt users everywhere. My machine won't sand level! It's tighter on one side than the other. Why won't this stupid thing stay square? Let's define square in a wide belt sanding machine. It means that the table is square and parallel [...]
Hand sanding in cabinet shops can be a huge bottle neck, or a huge labor drain. One or the other, take your pick. For most companies it is a daily struggle to achieve and maintain consistency. Not only that the sanders miss spots, but also that over sanding and [...]
There I am, sitting in a short meeting with a facility manager talking about the sanding process from start to finish. He tells me that they have issues with color consistency in finishing because their sanding process is not consistent. He says, “Anne Marie trains all of my sanding [...]
There seems to be a lot of guess work on how best to utilize 2 head wide belt machines. I hope to clear some of that up for the reader, as well as establish some basic processes that will help them to achieve better results. All belts discussed are [...]
I will attempt to keep this as short as possible, but there is a lot to learn to really make these machines shine. I am not going to go into trouble shooting the entire machine. Just solid processes for the best quality result possible. For the purposes of this [...]
I’ve been trying to write this article for a while, but it is not an easy one to write. My bias has always been toward the widebelt and I want to be sure to state my bias up front. You cannot write about these things unless you have opinions. [...]
Why test a stick? Wide belt stick testing and why you need to learn to do it. I’ve been traveling the country calibrating wide belt sanders and teaching sanding in general for over 20 years now. I use extremely accurate Mitutoyo Digimatic indicators on custom built bases to measure [...]
Anyone who has run a random orbital sanding machine is familiar with swirl marks, the radial scratches that stem from the orbital pattern of the sander itself. The random orbital sanding machine has two types of movements; the rotation at the main spindle and the orbiting of the [...]