Belt Sanders

[Acousticraft]

I have a heavy duty 4" Hitachi sander that I have had for about 25yrs that still works perfectly.

I have a board set up so It mounts on its side for edge sanding. I can clamp it down to a table then its ready to go. I even use an old vacum cleaner for a dust extractor when doing a lot of sanding such as shaping braces and bridges for an acoustic guitar. It gets more use in this configuration than as a normal belt sander.

I have had thoughts about making up some mounts and an adjustable table to use it for thickness sanding. Has anyone done this with their belt sander. I would be keen to see their setup.

I have even thought of making a thickness sander but I wouldn't probably use it enough to justify the work/cost involved for this sort of project.

[brian d]

Hello Acousticraft,

I'm currently working on a design for a compound radius jig for a belt sander, which could easily be adjusted to use as a thickness sander for small items.

Here's the basic idea. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You may save me from mistakes before I get to the next stage.

Start with a table that sits a little below the level of the sander bed (It needs to be below for the radius sanding, for thicknessing it can be at the same height). Build a jig consisting of a plank that goes horizontal with a beam at right angles. put two holes in the ends of the right angle beam. Two rectangles with vertical slots for the ends will be bolted into the right angle beam. This allows adjustability for height. If you put the whole thing on the table and drop the plank onto the level of the sander, and lock it in position that will give you your zero mark. You can then mark in a scale on the insides of both end pieces. Then you can just set it at , for example 2mm to get a 2mm thickness. double sided tape the piece to the bottom of the plank and run the whole thing over your sander. Voila!

Here is a rough sketch of the idea. Sorry for the rough and rushed nature of the sketch, but even a bad picture paints near 1000 words.(clickable thumbnail)

Let me know what you think.

cheers,

brian

[Acousticraft]

Yes it sounds very possible the way you have designed yours.

My idea Ive sketched out on paper is that the sander is suspended above a table and would be mounted on two long pieces of angle iron and be adjustable by using fully threaded studs which would be bolted thru the table with a nut and washer either side. The angle iron mounts would need to be 600-700 long so a guitar body could be put thru in a series of passes that would sand the whole width of the body. The 4 mounting studs would need springs on them so the sander is always forced up-wards off the table and wing nuts would adjust the height up and down. I am thinking the sander is probably more efficient if kept level thru its up and down travel so the spring loaded pressure plate under the belt is also level. I'm not sure about fine tuning the height adjustment to get it even unless a gauge block is used to level it up

A body can then be slid under the back of the sander between table and belt in between the mounting studs. The mounting stud spacing would determine the max width of wood that could be sanded across its surface in a series of passes. I would probably put a narrow edge guide strip either side to guide and stop a wide piece of wood hitting the studs/springs as you push it through.

I cant see why I couldn't make this idea work. The angle iron/studs would need to be heavy enough so it doesnt flex under load and make the sander jump around.

[brian d]

If you have a drill press, LMI has a sanding disc that attaches to it to use as a thickness sander. It works in much the same way as a safe-t-planer, but with sanding instead of cutting.

cheers.

brian

[Acousticraft]

I cant imagine a drill press sander taking off what a belt sander can. My sander is a powerful beast and I don't think you would ever stall it.

Anyway I cut 2 bits of angle iron 25x25x3mm at 700mm long and drilled holes at the ends to fit 10mm studs.

My front mount for the sander will be where the screw in front hand grip is and I will make some brackets to fit the screws on either side of the switch hand grip and weld them to the angle iron.

I need to find 4 suitable springs and make up some extended wing nuts so they are above the height of the angle iron for easy adjustment.

I have an off cut of heavy 30mm MDF so I will set it up on that. I was wondering whether I should put thin sheet metal on as wearing surface or glue on some kitchen bench top laminate on the table surface.

[Woodenspoke]

I cant imagine a drill press sander taking off what a belt sander can. My sander is a powerful beast and I don't think you would ever stall it.

Anyway I cut 2 bits of angle iron 25x25x3mm at 700mm long and drilled holes at the ends to fit 10mm studs.

My front mount for the sander will be where the screw in front hand grip is and I will make some brackets to fit the screws on either side of the switch hand grip and weld them to the angle iron.

I need to find 4 suitable springs and make up some extended wing nuts so they are above the height of the angle iron for easy adjustment.

I have an off cut of heavy 30mm MDF so I will set it up on that. I was wondering whether I should put thin sheet metal on as wearing surface or glue on some kitchen bench top laminate on the table surface.

I have a real thickness sander, it requires two belts; one drum to sand and a wide slow belt to drive the wood. The issue is driving the wood across the belt sander while not having to hand feed it. The idea is easier than the execution using such a small device. Rails and a flat surface to hold the board seems a more logical solution while moving the belt sander, plus you can sand a wide Board.

Woodenspoke

Edited June 16, 2007 by Woodenspoke

[Acousticraft]

Yes thanks Woodenspoke,

I have been thinking about the feeding of the board under the sander belt and thinking I might be better to have the wood fixed down sitting against a stop block. On the ends of the 2 lengths of angle iron mounted to the sander, I could have some height adjustable Castor wheels then the Sander can be freely moved around while maintaining a fixed height above the wood.

This could be a lot safer solution as you then have full control of the sander with your hand on the trigger switch.