Aldi grinder/belt sander

[cumbriasteve]

Will start a new thread rather than clutter another.

I bought it yesterday and have had a bit of a play and not impressed at all, initially it was very noisy but running it without the belt proved the drive roller etc was ok.

So belt back on and fitted correctly, any pressure beyond very very light and the work piece is banging and jumping away from the belt.

I am not over working it, in fact I am asking much less of it than I want to use it for and it seems fairly obvious it's the seam where the belt is joined causing the problem, surely though all belts are made by this method or do they work better with a different brand of belt.

It is close to being returned to the shop as useless unless I know it's worth buying some other belts.

Any owners of the same got any views?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Bung another belt on it.
I had a ScrewFix Fern belt sander doing the same.
Decent belts, rotated the correct way, arrow points in direction of travel on the sole plate.

New belt no issues, until on/off switch melted.

 

[Cobbler]

I have one of those, the belts supplied are no good for metal. I buy the Screwfix belts, some of them come apart AF the joint straight away, but at £2.99 for 10 I don't worry. They are a third of the price of the good ones, so if a few are duff, so what. With reasonable belts I think you will find it ok & a very useful tool.

EDIT, my fault, I thought you were talking about the Aldi file, not the grinder/linisher. I've got a cheap & nasty Nu-Tool one, very similar, I use Screwfix belts on this as well. You do have to be careful not to put too much tension on the belt or else it will slow it down. It's ok apart from its cheap & nasty, but very useful.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Ok..Looks like worth trying a new belt on it, fingers crossed, handy machine if it sorts the problem.

 

[gaz1]

could you let us know how you get on as i was considering one of those the other day but i changed my mind as already got a dual grinder thats not even been used as of yet

 

[cumbriasteve]

Will do Gaz..new belts tomorrow from Screwfix

 

[Cobbler]

Just looked at the picture of the Aldi one Steve, looks similar to mine, except the belt tension looks more sofisticated. I think where the rest is shown you may find difficult to use & move it up to the upper position on the flat part. Mine hasn't got that lower position anyway & ive never seen one used like that. My mate had several industrial ones in his engineering business & they were all used with the rest on the flat part. It was using one in his factory that persuaded me to buy one.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Yes the bottom location baffled me, it simply does not work there and can't see any logic in the position it offers.

I did try it because it shows it in that location and it was impossible to hold against the roller.

 

[pedrobedro]

I bought one of these grinders a few years ago and didn't like the belt sloping back so I slotted the holes so it can be used in a more upright position, just my preference probably. I got some decent belts of eBay. I find the tracking fiddly but once it's working it keeps on working and I can run the belt to either side or central on the platen. It doesn't take much to slow the belt down but with a rough belt and some patience it is quite good.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I had a play with the tracking and must admit it is very effective, can adjust the belt alignment easily, also agree the motor would benefit from a bit more power but it is what it is..a cheap hobby sander that could be handy.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Bought a packet 5 sheets £3.99 from Screwfix:

A different machine altogether, the noise has reduced significantly, nice and smooth when applying the work piece to the sheet and removes the burrs from flat bar no problem at all.

I am now very pleased with it, will probably keep my other bench grinder for rough work and this one for the finer detailed things.

I was aware of the spinning grinding wheel at the other end and my left arm not being a great distance from it, may knock up a quick guard/cover to remove any risks when using the belt side of the machine.