URGENT: Small thickness sander build

[RedShirtGuy]

I find myself suddenly needing a small/temporary thickness sander either for 50mm wide stock or completed picture frames in the vicinity of 270x220mm. My bladed thicknesser is poo and sanding the ripped stock or frames by belt sander or linisher is causing troubles in eveness.

I've been looking at making a decent sized sander for quite a while, but for the moment I just want to quickly hack something small together to get me through this current predicament.

I have a spare motor from a hobby bandsaw that I'm thinking I could make up to sit on a small torsion box just for this job:

1/5 or 1/6 HP
50 Hz / 2A / 240v
1420 RPM

Do y'all think it's enough for the widths I've mentioned? Even if I made it dedicated to just the ripped stock (50mm), I could more easily carry on from there...but naturally being able to do a whole frame would be better...or at least easier...

I don't care so much about awesomeness...I just need my ripped stock and finished frames to be clean, even and level and I can take the low grit scratches out by hand easier than trying to level everything out in the first place.

Hoping to have it done by Monday (2/11/15), but we'll see...keep posting any ideas even if it's past the deadline...

Ta much :)

(Oh, and I'm also very happy to pay someone local for their time/cost to use their sander for a batch if it comes down to it...)

[switt775]

Found this on Pinterest, it may be a solution to your problem.362424

[RedShirtGuy]

Well ain't that a clever idea!!
I could certainly knock something like that up for the linisher quite quickly.
Many thanks.

[hurcorh]

Found this on Pinterest, it may be a solution to your problem.362424

This is why I love the internet.. Thanks.

[orraloon]

I used a sanding drum on the drill press with a fence. 80 grit worked well. Some dust extraction is needed otherwise the paper clogs in no time at all. The drum was about 75mm deep so you could go almost that wide. The better you can maintain a constant rate of feed the better the result.

Regards
John

PS this is almost the same as the setup I used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWaF1ibGEwY

[bsrlee]

What Oraloon said.

There are several old plans on the 'Net for a basic sander based on a drill press and a moveable fence, most are referenced as for 'luthiers' sanding laminations or similar. The fancier ones have a platform with a hole in it so you can use the drill press' spindle advance to move the sanding drum to use a fresh area on the sandpaper and a simple bolt advance for the fence to control thickness.

[mark david]

It does look quite ingenious but there are a couple of issues with it.
Firtstly I would be worried about trapping a piece of wood between a fixed fence and a spinnning belt.
Secondly you don't have any real control over the thickness,as gravity is working against you.

If you could invert the whole thing and have a method of winding the belt sander up and down.you can then use featherboards or something spring loaded to hold the timber down.That way you would have full control and accurate thicknessing.

[NCArcher]

PS this is almost the same as the setup I used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWaF1ibGEwY

This is what the bowyers use to sand laminations for the bow limbs. I haven't seen that dust collection before though. Looks like it would work well.

[RedShirtGuy]

Secondly you don't have any real control over the thickness,as gravity is working against you.

That's what I've been thinking. Plus a proper thickness sander has quite a small/thin point of contact on the board rather than a comparatively lengthy belt.
I've been trying a couple of different things with light linishing and clamping (with my final effort glued up and drying now). If I still don't have luck I think that a quick and easy drill press jig should get me through nice and quickly.

Thanks for the input folks :)

[orraloon]

This is what the bowyers use to sand laminations for the bow limbs. I haven't seen that dust collection before though. Looks like it would work well.


It was for bow lams that I made mine.
Regards
John

[doug3030]

If you have a lathe, make up a drum to turn between centres which can be covered in sandpaper and make an adjustable platform to support the stock that clamps to the bed of the lathe. A google search would give you many examples. For the width you are looking at a sanding drum that is meant to be chucked in the drill press could be chucked in the lathe instead.

The benefit of doing it on the lathe is the rigidity between the chuck and the bed, which is not there in a drill press. It would also allow you to make a drum and platform to take on much wider work, but vibration may become a problem if you go too wide, depending on how well the other components are made.

Cheers

Doug

[orraloon]

I have given the lathe idea some thought also for larger pieces. I did find some play with the drum on the drill press if you try a heavy cut. For light work the drill press does the job if you take things easy.
I think one of these old GMC lathes would make a nice drum sander.
Regards
John

[doug3030]

I think one of these old GMC lathes would make a nice drum sander.

If this could be substantiated it would probably the first time anything branded GMC made a nice "anything"

CHeers

Doug

[Evanism]

A dust idea I found on Pinterest if you were to use the drill press....

362667

[doug3030]

A dust idea I found on Pinterest if you were to use the drill press....

362667

Looks interesting, but I feel that it may be a bit restrictive as far as airflow being able to get through the confined spaces to actually carry the fine dust away. Remember its the dust we cannot see that we need to collect the most.

Also you would need a different size pipe junction for each different sized drum.

Once again far better than no dust collection at all

Cheers

DOug