Widebelt sanders can be used to sand and prepare surfaces on solid wood and composite boards. When searching for an industrial widebelt sander, consider the width of the largest pieces you work with and what infeed height would be required. More specific aspects of your application to consider may include:

Calibrating: If you need to calibrate solid wood pieces, you’ll want to find a widebelt sander with a steel sanding roller. This feature will help you remove hard and soft sections of wood evenly. Materials like particleboard will need something softer, like rubber rollers.

Vintage wood: If your shop does a lot of work that requires a vintage or worn look, cutter block and band saw aggregates can give you effective results. Similarly, for stock with various grain patterns, you may consider a sander with orbital sanding aggregates.

Irregular shapes: Laser cameras and sensing rollers are good features for applications that frequently work with pieces of wood with irregular shapes. These features can sense where a piece of material puts different pressure on the abrasive belt. This helps the operator adjust the piece to accommodate for varying shapes.

Production line incorporation: While it’s common for wide belt sanders to have an adjustable feed table, you can find machines with height-adjustable rollers instead. This feature is effective for incorporating machines into a production line. In this case, the feed table could line up with the conveyor or table before it, and the head would be adjusted as needed depending on the piece’s height.

Small pieces: You may consider looking for a sander that has vacuum transport belts to hold smaller pieces in place and prevent them from chattering under the abrasive belt.

Source: Jarid Hockert is the marketing manager at Timesavers LLC. For information on Timesavers call 800-537-3611 or visit Timesaversinc.com. A longer version appears on the company's website.