BS 75 (Belt Sander) extraction poor

[hklim5]

Hi all, new to this forum and hoping to work out if what I’m experiencing is normal.

I have the BS 75 belt sander hooked up to my CT 36 E AC at full power vacuum and I’m noticing that there is a lot of sawdust that doesn’t get vacuumed up.

I’m getting by with swapping the vacuum between the sander and the vacuum attachment every minute or so but it is a lot of work to do this. I’m hoping this is not the norm and that perhaps I’m missing something?

Appreciate if anyone can share their experience - hoping to hear that the norm is that saw dust is all vacuumed up (I have 90sq meters of floorboards to sand through and work up through grits so finger crossed)

Thanks in advanced

 

[Roachmill]

I've used mine connected to a few different extractors (SYS, MIDI, 26 and the cyclone) and not noticed any difference between them; they got most (75%ish?) of the dust. Theres normally a little dust left on the surface (hardly any really but I'll go over it with a vac between grits) and on the table around the edges. I've always used mine in the sanding frame which may (or may not) help.

 

[bertv]

Dust extraction is a lot better with an FSR-BS 75 Sanding Frame attached, is my experience. Also, when using the BS 75 in its bare form, I tend to use it outside… : )

 

[AlexThePalex]

hoping to hear that the norm is that saw dust is all vacuumed up

Unfortunately it is the norm with a belt sander that dust extraction is pretty bad. It is due to the shape of the belt sander, a large rotating belt that can't have any holes in it. The dust port has to be located at another point then where the dust is generated.

 

[ultane]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I've only minimally used mine, but always with the sanding frame. The DC was pretty good, but I was leveling marquetry, which isn't a lot of dust

 

[Michael Kellough]

Since you’re sanding a floor maybe you started with a very course grit. If so you might have clogged up the narrow passageway dust takes to get to the vac hose. Use a bent wire to see if anything can be dislodged.

That belt sander was designed about 40 years ago. At the time it was one of the few tools that even pretended to allow for dust collection. It could be better.

Another possibility is that the chute behind the belt has been degraded. It should extend close the work surface but if several belts have broken when it use it will get worn back. You can also extend it with some thin stiff stock and glue.

 

[aloysius]

You can't expect extraction to be as effective as with, say a mesh pad on a Rando.  There's only one extraction slit at the rear of the belt housing, meaning that any swarf that escapes sideways from the belt will be missed.

Also, when used on floors etc. which are often dirty or dusty, other unrelated detritis gets sucked up into the airways.  I've experienced partial blockage of the internal airways from dust, fluff & especially fibrous rubbish.  As your sander ages it pays to occasionally (yearly?) part disassemble the tool & clear out the internals.  At the same time you can check on the condition of the grease on the bevel geartrain & the drive belt too.

 

[hklim5]

Thanks for the input everyone. Sounds like a fairly common problem. I’ll have to see if I can inspect and clear any blockages I find.

 

[Milvus]

I agree with above comments. I have both bs75 and bs105 and dust collection is far worse than that of a Rotex.

Not bad idea to open it to look for obstructions, but be aware: main parts of the body are sealed by means of silicone caulking, no with a gasket. If you open it you will have to remove all caulking, renew it and wait for it to dry.

Regards.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Caulking in a powertool? Remarkeable.

 

[hoedma]

Dust collection on my BS75 was not very good, so today I checked the dust channel. Not very good was a bit of an understatement, it was completely clogged. So, I would advise you to just open it up and check the dust channel.

View attachment 1

 

[hklim5]

Thanks to everyone's input combined I've worked out a decent way of using the BS75 for larger sanding jobs. I thought I'd share what I ended up with in case it helps anyone else along the way. It is a combination of using a bent wire (bent paper clip) and servicing the tool.

I firstly looked at servicing the belt sander:

I was nervous about taking the sander apart so I managed to find this video that was very good:

Very useful for a good unclogging "caked on" sawdust but time consuming to carry out in the middle of working. (Lower grit sanding also meant larger clumps of sawdust "loosely" clogging the extraction point). Nevertheless, it was good for me to learn exactly where the extraction point was.

To save from having to service every hour,  I took Michael Kellough's advice and bent open a paper clip so that I could pick at the extraction point with the vacuum going. This was actually very effective and minimised the need to carry out the full service (I sanded about 70sq meters of blackbutt, 40 grit, 60 grit, 80 grit, 100gri - probably serviced 3 times all up with frequent use of the bent paper clip to unclog)

I'm a much happier owner of the BS75 now

P.S [member=5644]hoedma[/member] that is some serious clogging  [scared]

 

[Michael Kellough]

Dust collection on my BS75 was not very good, so today I checked the dust channel. Not very good was a bit of an understatement, it was completely clogged. So, I would advise you to just open it up and check the dust channel.

View attachment 1

Looks like Festool produced a new chassis for the belt sander. The original HolzHer casting had a finer scale grid.