Converting band saw to belt sander

[STAR]

I am not sure where to put this so I opted for here. I have an old 10 inch Ryobi band Saw that has been retired from service with a dishonourable discharge.
I believe many have converted this unit into a productive belt sander. A good friend who sometimes frequents this forum is doing the conversion for me because he likes to tinker with machinery.

He wants to put a 25 mm belt on and to do that he has to make three new wheels to replace the ones on the unit. One has a key and the other have bearings. His idea seems to complicate the conversion to me.

Is their a simpler way to do this using the original wheels that are on the band saw?

Pete

[rodmy]

Star, no idea what length of sanding belts needed for Ryobi. Perhaps Carter Products may be of some use.

goodluck

80" Sanding Belts (4pack) by Carter Products

[STAR]

Star, no idea what length of sanding belts needed for Ryobi. Perhaps Carter Products may be of some use.

goodluck

80" Sanding Belts (4pack) by Carter Products

Thanks for the reply. The belts at this stage are not the issue because I have a contact that can tailor make them as well as my friend who can do it as well. But I will put your reference in my Shed Work Book.

I was just looking for advice on how to do the conversion, I was led to believe that that was the fate of this machine. Surprisingly no replies. Not to matter, I received a PM from a friend who has already done the conversion so I am not stuck.

The friend who is doing it for me is very mechanical and is working through the issues. I was trying to find an easier way for him , but he is a perfectionist and does not cut corners.

Thanks again.

Pete

[Toymaker Len]

Perhaps you could strip off the covers and give it a run with the standard wheels and see how they go ? I've always thought that it would be a cool idea to use a sanding strip in the place of a bandsaw.

[BobL]

What about finding a 1" wide BS blade and grind away the teeth and then glue strips of sand paper to the band - better still glue some velcro strip onto the blade. That way you could run the blade at high tension and wouldn't have to worry about a backing plate for the sanding belt.

To grind away the teeth how about (Gulp) use an angle grinder with a grinding disk and VERY carefully apply the spinning disc at a suitable angle to the moving BS blade. It sounds dangerous but I would not hesitate in doing this if I needed to

[vk4]

You can have belts made to size , the only thing is that you need to buy a qty, the belts are made from a 300mm width cloth and split down . so you would have to by in lots of 12.

Check with your local abrasive suppliers, If they cannot /will not get the belts made for you please PM me and I will give you the names of some outlets that can help.

Jeff