Can you put a rheostat on a belt sander?

[scratchshipnut]

Has anyone tried to put a speed control on their belt sander? I have a ryobi and would love to be able to run it at about half speed

[RNfanDan]

Has anyone tried to put a speed control on their belt sander? I have a ryobi and would love to be able to run it at about half speed

It would take quite a robust voltage divider to handle the job--much greater than your average varistat. It's not the voltage drop, it's the steep current demand inherent with running a device on reduced voltage. It also places a strain on the motor, particularly if it is being torqued very hard.

[les]

What would be your application to need to do that??

[commodore4]

shipkitnut, HI. I don,t know if you should even try with the RYOBI. I have a very old belt/disc sander that I did it to and it was easy.I just bought a floor pedal control from a sewing machine and it works just fine.I use real low speeds for plastic and if I need the regular speed I just plug the darn thing into a regular outlet.The nice part of doing it this way is some sewing machines are made to do heavy fabrics and the foot control gives finer control.All you have to do is plug the RYOBI into the foot control and plug the foot control into the outlet.Simple fix and won,t damage the RYOBI.It hasn,t damaged my sander. commodore4

[Akula]

Hello

I use this for the dremel belt sander I have.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=43060

Bob