Aldi special - Ferex Belt sander. Any good for deburring steel ?

[Antibob]

This just popped up in my inbox.

£90 quid, seems like a reasonable buy. Would it be any use for deburring steel before welding ?

I am slowly trying to build up a selection of tools and labour saving devices, I thought this may be handier than a small angle grinder. I'm sure a proper linisher would be better but for 90 quid ??

Cheers

 

[Antibob]

P.S. heres a link.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/ferrex-370w-belt-&-disc-sander/p/703625361480200

It's a Ferex brand, 3 year warranty.

 

[angellonewolf]

i had a years old clark one the bad bit for me was the joint in the belt that little lump in the belt ment it was only sanding for half the time as soon as the join span around it would throw the item be be sanded off the belt

and the unit i had did work well and prob still does it was sold to a member of the fourm

as it was not just set up so i can use it i found it easyer to just sand or grinder rather than get it out and set up

 

[frank horton]

angelonewolf...
on decent belts, the joint is almost flat.......although u can just feel it......
I like my belt sander when there's a small produrtion run to clean up......
the odd job, like u just grab the small grinder........

 

[Ashley Burton]

If it's anything like the Clarke version, Then with some decent belts it should do the job

Might sell my one, As I'm rarely using it

 

[angellonewolf]

angelonewolf...
on decent belts, the joint is almost flat.......although u can just feel it......
I like my belt sander when there's a small produrtion run to clean up......
the odd job, like u just grab the small grinder........

it could be belts are better now the unit i had i think was a clark version the guy that had it was an old boy and the belt was old realy old but was still working fine so never replaced it it was a beast and it was hard to slow it by applying pressure

but it was the its a very heavy unit and was not just set up where i could use it so had to pull it out and set up before i could use it hence it rarely got used

a mate of mine has got a rexem (i thinkthats the name )of one of these

again an older unit and works very well and would suit me for what i do i tryed the lidl version and it was carp for sanding off metal before welding as soon as you put a bar on there it eather stops the belt or pushes the belt off line and was easyer to just use a grinder to clean up before welding

 

[Kayos]

I found the Ferrex stuff to be quite poor quality if im honest, the combi drill wouldn't drill a 40mm holesaw into softwood. For comparison I use my 18v Makita to drill 127mm holesaw holes

 

[angellonewolf]

I found the Ferrex stuff to be quite poor quality if im honest, the combi drill wouldn't drill a 40mm holesaw into softwood. For comparison I use my 18v Makita to drill 127mm holesaw holes

i had a ferrex battery drill it was ok for drilling a few holes when in the garage once you got over 6mm it would let the bit spin in the chuck and you had to retighten the chuck i sold it on for little money on facebook would prob do a basic diyer for a few holes putting up shelves etc but drilling metal it was a bit pants

as said on this thread the belt grinder is a bit pants as well

ive got a parkside battery multi tool drill bits 1mm cutting disks that is good for the price so not all the cheapy aldi or lidl stuff are rubish

 

[Ashley Burton]

I don't think we can compare battery tools to mains power if I'm honest

 

[hunter27]

This just popped up in my inbox.

£90 quid, seems like a reasonable buy. Would it be any use for deburring steel before welding ?

I am slowly trying to build up a selection of tools and labour saving devices, I thought this may be handier than a small angle grinder. I'm sure a proper linisher would be better but for 90 quid ??

Cheers

I think the biggest drawback with one of these is that you have to take the metal to the machine, with an angle grinder, smaller lighter and mobile you take the grinder to the metal which is good especially on large heavy/long pieces. You can get into most places with a grinder even upside down and for what a disk can't reach you need a die grinder. so to recap you really need 3 tools

 

[Antibob]

Cherrs for the replies chaps, think i will pass on it for now. Its not quite pocket money so better to save the cash and put it towards a better solution if needed.
Angle grinder it is for now, its a blue bosh must be 25 years old so may give up the ghost fairly soon.

Thanks.

 

[tom2207]

Cherrs for the replies chaps, think i will pass on it for now. Its not quite pocket money so better to save the cash and put it towards a better solution if needed.
Angle grinder it is for now, its a blue bosh must be 25 years old so may give up the ghost fairly soon.

Thanks.

Blow the dust out of it , put a new set of brushes in , and it will do the next 25 years , your Aldi sander wont be here in 25 months ,, There was one of those at a place I worked , and it never got turned on , a good belt sander / linisher is a dream to use , that style isnt.

 

[angellonewolf]

I don't think we can compare battery tools to mains power if I'm honest

Not for long lasting but the dewalt flexvolt is as close as its gets at the moment

Iv got a ryobi saw that I can compete with the dewalt and there not that far off for performance

 

[mpats]

Just be aware, if it's the same design as the draper one I had (which it most likely is) the dust extraction is through the body. So metal comes off the belt through the body of the machine. The motor thats driving the disk and belt is inside the machine. It's unshielded and will eventually burn out if you don't have excellent extraction pulling all that metal dust out the box. Ask me how I know!!!!
This is why I bought a bigger linisher.
However, with even half decent belts they do the job pretty well.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Looks from the pics all these are much of a muchness. I recently bought a Kobe one which'll fill the gap until I get round to building my own 6" wide job.

Good heads-up re extraction @mpats

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Have the Clarke version
It was bought for and only used for sharpening chisels plane irons and tool steel.

Flap disk on a grinder for deburing for me