Belt Sander Grit Survey

[LCHIEN]

WHat Grit do you keep as your "to go" sandpaper on you primary belt sander?

[cork58]

I have a belt sander around here someplace but can't remember where it is.

[dbhost]

I believe my eb4424 came with 80 grit and I have just gone back with 80. Generally speaking, I use the belt sander for shaping, then smaller Sanders for removing scratches...

[lrr]

You mean you can get medium and fine grit for a belt sander?

[rcplaneguy]

Belt sanders are reserved for fast stock removal in my routine, so no need for medium/fine grits

[cwsmith]

I have only two, the Ryobi bench top BD4600, which I believe is around 100 or 150 grit (it's still the same OEM belt from 2005).

My old hand-held Craftsman 315-11720 (1971?) is a 3 x 21 and mostly has had 100 grit on it.

I bought that thing when I was rather young and significantly inexperienced. Very aggresive, I've used it only rarely for cleaning up old, and very rough stock.

CWS

[Stytooner]

You mean you can get medium and fine grit for a belt sander?

I use worn 80 grit belts for finer work.

[Pappy]

120 normally but obviously that changes with the job. 60 - 80 for fast removal and up to 220 for rare smoothing work before the ROS gets used.

[capncarl]

I keep a 60 grit on my 6x48 machine and 80 grit on the 4x36 machine.