belt sander?

[graffian]

I am thinking of making a belt sander.
I have some 20mm thick ali shapes that need the edges grinding, they have been cut out on a bandsaw and want final shaping.

Any particular type of belt needed for ali?

I seem to remember wax or tallow being used to stop
the linisher picking up ali, is that right?

What sort of belt speeds are best?

 

[hotrodder]

Belt flavours... aloxide is fine, zirconia is better but more noticably so on harder materials which tend to break down the grit exposing fresh edges rather than just blunting 'em whereas ally is obviously more prone to clogging stuff than blunting it hence wax/tallow etc.

Belt speeds are discussed here... http://www.abrasive-systems.co.uk/cloth_belt_abrasives.html, most commercial kit aimed at metalworking tends to top out at a little over 30m/s with two speed kit often being something like mid-high teens and 33m/s

 

[graffian]

That's about twice the speed I was thinking, but I had no real idea.

 

[pedrobedro]

I use some Zirconia fibre discs and a squirt of penetrating oil on the aluminium and it works well.