Has anyone used one of the Porter Cable BG8 wet/dry belt sanders?

[Trboatworks]

I am looking at one of these- sort of a monster
Anyone have time on these?

Thanks

 

[AndyF]

My son purchased one last year and uses it for some fab projects. It is a beast and works really well.

 

[M. Moore]

Nice! I just looked at some used ones for sale online. I had never seen that design before. Beefy and the table is interesting as well. Not sure why but it appears the table moves?
I converted a glass sander to a wet metal grinder and use it all the time. An 8“ belt would be even better as mine is only 4”.
The wet grinding doesn’t cool the part that much but it does keep the dust down. I wonder how they manage the swarf buildup in the cabinet? The water combined with the fine grinding particles turns back into a solid over time. I have to use my air chisel to clean off the buildup every so often.
I would buy one of those but have never seen one for sale in 40 years of buying tools. (in this area)

 

[Trboatworks]

A guy I just bought a machine from has one for sale.
Not much money- Asheville NC

 

[tomjelly]

make sure you can get belts for it, I wonder how much they would cost if they have to be custom ordered?

 

[Ries]

make sure you can get belts for it, I wonder how much they would cost if they have to be custom ordered?

I am sure Klingspor will make you any grit belt you want for it. Since the adhesive that holds belts together has a shelf life, pretty much all the belts I have been ordering from Klingspor since the late 80s, for any of my sanders, are "custom"- that is, they stock some of the most popular sizes, but make many many belts to order every day.

 

[tomjelly]

The shelf life thing is real; anyone figure out a way to glue up belts? I have a huge bunch of 2" ones that just fall apart at the seam that I just use for sandpaper but it would be nice to use them as actual belts...

 

[Cyclotronguy]

I have one and have kicked the speed up to 6500+ SFM and it runs a 24 grit belt. It eats steel so fast it's simply scary.

 

[M. Moore]

Interesting about the speed change, what was the factory speed? I had to increase the glass sander speed as glass is a lower sfm than steel. I run 80 grit on mine for a reasonable cut speed but a nice finish as well.

 

[Trboatworks]

This is the sander.
It’s in NC near Asheville.
I just picked up another machine from this guy and he is good as gold.
Let me know if anyone is interested and I can send contact info.
Asking $1500
He says there are a large number of belts with the sander.
He also has a Max 20” universal double disk sander.
Contact me if you want photos.

 

[M. Moore]

Wow, I would be over there in a minute if it wasn’t such a long drive……
Looks like it has had some belt tracking issues at some point, or operator error. Bubba strikes again?
I would like to know how they handle the dust buildup issue with the wet sanding.

 

[Trboatworks]

Yeah- I wondered if that is repairable without too much trouble.
If I bought it I would just weld it in with some bronze rod and a tig torch.
I guess it’s also possible that door is cast aluminum- easy enough to weld up also if so.
On dust- as far as I understand it that base is a accessible sump which catches the grind debris.

There is a Fastenal close to the seller.
I bought a 800 pound machine and he ran it over to them.
$200 to ship from Asheville to Annapolis.
I also just sent a heavy welder from Annapolis to SD for $250 with Fastenal so getting this unit shipped with them is possible and might not break the bank.

The seller was great to deal with so if any information is needed drop me a line and I will hook you up.

 

[Trboatworks]

This is the disk machine he has.
Nice gear but I also don’t have the room for it.
$1000