I recently bought a $39 Central Machinery unit from Harbor Freight specifically for grinding guide feet.
I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be a great tool for the job.
It's sturdy and reasonably accurate. It came with an 80 grit belt which is quite aggressive for this application.
I ordered some finer belts from another source which I think will improve the process.
Overall I am very pleased with this addition to my shop.
This is far and away the easiest way to grind guide feet I have ever found.

David,
X100 on the use of the belt sander.
I generally use either 150 or perhaps 220. I just did about 40 guides yesterday and used 220 grit.
Here is a fixture that I made from a piece of rod blank and a machine screw to hole the guide when prepping the foot. I trim the blank length so that when I slip the machine screw through the blank and the blank, I just have about two turns of the wing nut to make the machine screw tight. That way, it only takes a second to move from one guide to the next when prepping the guides. Also, I use a grinder to grind the head of the machine screw both flat and thin That way, the head of the machine screw does not get in the way when prepping the foot.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

By the way David, as you likely already know you will find a thousand other uses for your sander around the shop.

I always use the sander to sharpen all of my fillet knives, shop knives, shaper blades, house knives and a thousand other things. I always keep a variety of sanding grits on hand ranging from 50 grit to 1200 grit. It only takes a couple of seconds to change belts, so just use the belt grit that is needed for the task at hand.

Roger


p.s.
Another thing that I did for the sander was to use a piece of angled aluminum to make a bracket to hold a light. The nut that secures the cover on the side of the sander, also secures the lamp bracket. It is nice to always have excellent light when sanding.

Thanks Roger.
I have one of the Mudhole tools for holding small guides which does the same thing.
The lamp is a good idea. I just put a halogen desk lamp next to the sander when I use it. Works fine.

David

I know guys like the belt sander for guide prep. I opted for the 3 1/2" bench grinder, also from Harbor Freight and also about $40. It has a 100 grit wheel and a polishing wheel and is pretty easy to prep a bunch of guides and polish all the surfaces with one tool. I use locking forceps to hold the guide feet when prepping.

Everyone has their own favorite tool. This one works well for me. The belt sander will have lots of other uses around the shop so enjoy!

Terry

Terry,
There is one work that describes what I like most about using a belt sander to guide prep as well as to sharpen knives and do other grinding chores.

"Straight".

i.e. the sanding belt, with its associated backing bar gives the user a flat level surface for sanding and material removal.

Any time that a circular grinding wheel is used, you have to contend with a CURVE.

i.e. when you want something straight - like a guide foot, or a sharp knife -it is many times easier to do it on a "Straight" surface, compared to a "Curved" surface.

Roger

Hey Roger,

With guide feet, I don't find this to be an issue. I tend to work more on the sides of the guide feet and less on the point so I can achieve a sloping, semi-rounded thin point at the end of the guide foot. I used to shoot for a flat/shallow foot but I like the looks of the small rounded point. The grinder is a good tool for this and it's small, and fits in my shop nicely at the end of the wrapping bench.

When I started using more of the "universal" snake brand guides, I observed how Mike has tooled these and he has the same end shape, a sloped, but round/pointed end that allows thread to climb up the foot with no prep. I've changed a bit to achieve this shape on all my guides and it's worked well.

For knives and lathe tools, I have an 8" slow speed grinder for just the reason you mention, although a flat surface like a belt sander, or one of those "Worksharp" round sanders would be even better. Guide feet are such a small area that the curved surface does not impact my final desired shape.

Both of these tools work well. If I had a belt sander, I would use it for guide prep but I'm happy with the grinder and the results I get. I also like the polishing wheel on the same tool so I get a finished guide with a quick 2-step process.

Terry

Terry,
Just a thought.
I always prep the guides holding the guides at right angles to the spinning belt.
As a result the fine sand paper leaves grooves running across the guides.

I very much prefer to leave these grooves on the guide. Each of the grooves, actually act as a thread catcher to keep the thread from slipping off the guide and or keep the guide from slipping out from under the thread.

After prepping, I normally recolor the guide to be the same color as the guide was before starting the prep.

Be safe
Roger

yeah, I hear you Roger. I like them smooth so I can pack thread easily and move the guide around if needed.

To each his own process I guess.

Tight wraps buddy.

Terry

I used a belt sander for years, but only on heavier guide feet. I found it too fast and too aggressive with lighter guides. For those, I use a Dremel tool with sanding discs, I have much better control with this, and don't get any "burning" on the foot. With the Dremel, I can also use Cratex rubber wheels to clean up the rounded bottom of guide feet, especially when I don't wish to use CP and want the silver or gold color of the foot to remain pristine.