Laguna Super Max 3-Pack Box 120 Grit Aluminum Oxide Medium Sandpaper Sheets for Metals, Woods, Plastics

I like the SuperMax sander. It performs well with boards under 12” wide. It does save time with sanding, as advertised. But the belts I’ve used have ripped apart at the thin ends long before I need to change them, sometimes after very little time of use. This perhaps can be attributed to a failure on my part to make the belts super snug on the drum. Easier said than done. Changing the belts is no easy task, unless you have small fingers that happen to have the strength of free climbers, that is to say, very strong fingers. The clipping mechanism that holds the belt in place at each end of the drum necessarily must exert enough spring pressure on the belt to keep it in place during operation, which makes sense but that same clip must be held open while you insert the end of the belt beneath it. That is managed easily enough on the open end of the sander. Not so easy at the other end, where the space is limited and where it is difficult to exert enough leverage with your fingers to keep the clip open long enough to insert the end of the belt. On top of which, the belt only allows you about an inch of length to insert it beneath the clip. If I don’t slip that inch beneath the clip within about five seconds, the spring proves too strong for my fingers and I have to release it, wait a bit, and begin again. It’s at the one-inch point on the belt where it rips. The only saving grace of this failure is that you now have industrial grade sand paper that you can put to other use.