When you need to get the best possible finish without damaging the surface that you are working on, a belt sander provides the ideal solution, and provided you are able to properly control it, it will strip layers of paint or rust effortlessly, leaving you with a clean and smooth surface that is ready to be treated or worked with.  Of course, the problem with conventional electrically powered belt sanders is that they have a significant and cumbersome weight to them, but this is completely overcome with the availability of the latest generation of air belt sanders, which offer more power than ever, and are extremely lightweight in comparison to commonly available alternatives.

The main uses for air belt sanders tend to be in heavy duty sanding jobs, when you must remove large quantities of surface damage, clear old paint or rust from an area, or smooth out the imperfections left by a weld.  When faced with this kind of heavy duty sanding, you need a tool that offers a very high speed belt movement, but remains completely stable in use to minimize any potential damage to the surface, or to the sanding belt, which could cause injury.

Ideally, the air belt sander that you choose needs to be completely adjustable to make setting it up for individual jobs, and reacting to the changing conditions of the surface easy.  It is also important to be able to change the sanding