Hanging Sanding Belts

Having designed and built the hangers for my sanding disks, the next objective was to organize and store my sanding belts. These shown are sized for Porter Cable's 371 belt sander. Larger belts will work on the same system adjusted in size for whatever belts you use. Originally, I was planning to have a simple horizontal piece with slots to slip the belts into, but found that they did not always stay put, especially when the sanding station was being used or moved.

Sanding Belt Holders

Sanding Belt Holders

I tried to keep it very simple. A 1/2" ply rib attached to a 1/4" masonite hanger plate holds the belts while a 1/2" cap strip overhangs at the top to keep the belts from slipping off. Since the cap strip keeps the belts in place via gravity, you can size the ply rib short enough to make removing the belt(s) easy. Too long and it is hard to remove the belts, but too short and they can curl when not in use. Build a sample for your belts to get the right proportions before making a bunch of them.

Organized wood shop

Note that I kept the hanger plates fairly narrow. I wanted them wide enough to hang flat on the pegboard, but not so wide that too much space was wasted. I also rounded the edges of the cap strip to make getting the belts off easier. These were simple to make once the dimensions were worked out, and I made up enough to store each grit that I keep on hand.

I am designing these as I go, figuring out what will work with the sanding station I laid out in the first post of this series. I certainly invite you to add your thoughts or send along ideas that have worked well for you. Please feel free to add your comments here on the blog, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter. Let us know what you think! -2Sand.com