Belt sander Repair

[Bob Gray]

Recently I was given an older well used runner sharpener. The platen (surface that the sanding belt runs over) was shot. The old one was steel and had fairly deep groves in it. Replacing the steel platen would have been a real pain so I went with what I used on the new Bob Rast style sander I built. Remembering from my teen years that the only thing that would scratch glass was a diamond, that’s what I went with. I bought a 1/4” thick piece of glass from a local glass shop for about $15 (cut to fit). To attach it I covered the bottom with fiberglass carpet tape.  My new one is in its third season and the surface is still like new. I strongly recommend this if you have to replace your platen, just try not dropping the machine.
Bob