# Disc sander ... plan B ... or is it C?



## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

*Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*

I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.

Anyhooo…. I did manage to finally build my shop made disc sander. YEA ME!

On the first attempt I was using a like-new Baldor 110v / 1725rpm motor but unfortunately I realized it was less than a quarter-horsepower, so it was WAAAY underpowered. In just trying to sand the edge of the disc, I was all but stopping it with my hand-held sanding block. 
.








.

I did have several other motors in my shop, and they were 110v, but they both ran at 3450rpm which is much too fast for sanding. This gold-colored one came from a commercial floor sander and it is a BEAST, but it simply ran too fast for this application.
.








.
My search for a suitable (spelled F-R-E-E) motor took me several places and each one came up zero, but they each gave me another lead for another place to try. On about the 4th or 5th stop I ended up in a local junk and scrap metal dealer. When I told him what I was looking for at first he said "Nope, dont have anything that small. All I have around here is some 3-phase motors"

As I was walking out of his office, his son spoke up and said "Hey Dad. What about that motor under the workbench. I think that's a 110." So out to the shop we go, and sure enough there it sits. 
.

110volts, 1725rpm, and it's 3/4 hp. Fantastic! How much you gotta have for it?

.








.
So the old guy says "You mentioned you have a couple big motors but cant use them. Depending on what they are, I might trade you because I'm gonna sell 'em as scrap anyway. " 
As luck would have it, I just so happened to have thrown them in my trunk before leaving on this quest. 

Long story short, he gets the 2 motors I have and I go home with this nice running (and VERY usable) Dayton motor for my disc sander! 
.








.
So I drill and tap the pulley to match the disc I had already made to fit the other motor's pulley 
.








.
And now I just had to lay out the dust shrouding and the sanding table setup. 
.









.










.









.
Next was figuring a way to keep the dust from just "riding with the disc" and coming back up out of the other side and all over me.
.








.








.
Once I had the basic layout, I put the table on with the extended arms past the disc, and I noticed that the disc was ever-so-slightly out of round. (Even though there was negligible vibrations, it bothered me). I tried a sanding block but that sanded the whole edge and not just the high-spot. So, not having a lathe, I decided to try and mount a chisel as a cutter and see if I could "Turn" out the high spot.
.








.








.









.









.









It's still not perfectly round, but I got out about 90% of the offset and now it has little to no "wobble. "Can you say "Wood Butcher?" Yes, I thought you could… LOL
.
And now it's just a matter of finishing out the shrouding with a few scraps to help enclose and direct the dust so it'll basically eject out the bottom .
.









.









.









To make the paper changing easier I mounted the table with an old piece of piano hinge I had, but that didnt open fully because the screw-heads are placed directly opposite each other. 
.








.








.
So I used 2 separate hinges and now the table opens fully and I can change the sandpaper without having to hold up the table at the same time.
.








.
The wife had a Dr appointment down in Knoxville so we stopped in at HF to see what they had in 12" sanding discs. (Yeah I know, everybody says their sandpaper sux, but I was anxious to at least try this baby out.) They were out of the 12" size but they had some 10" so I bought a pack just to give this thing a go.
.








.









.
Works like a charm! YAAA-HOOOOO! 
.
One thing I noticed was it was throwing a good bit of dust out the left side so I made a "Chute" to sorta wrap that disc on the left side, to better throw the dust into the bottom under the table.
.








.

I used a scrap of 1"X12" oak I had to make the final tabletop. Gave it 3 coats of Tung oil and then a good coat of Turtle wax …because I cant find my can of Johnsons paste wax :-(
.








.

The yellow safety tape wont stick to the waxed table, so I'm gonna use a red sharpie and mark the right side of the table as a reminder to NOT GO THERE 
And there you have it. The longest blog in history … because I'm not smart enough to figure out this multi-part blog thingy. 
I'll just be happy if this thing doesnt get wiped out in cyber space when I hit the "Post this blog" button!


----------



## ous (Feb 17, 2011)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


I made a home made disk sander that is 36 inches. This is a wonderful unit as I can cut fast to a pencil line on the outer edge because of the faster rim speed and then smooth the work on the slower Center portion. I used 1 inch plywood mounted to a wide flange and a 1 1/4 inch shaft with self alining pillow block bearings. I glued 1/4 inch felt to the face of the plywood and then routed a rabbit 1/4 inch deep around the outer rim of the wheel to receive a thin metal rim. The metal rim when screwed or bolted will hold the sandpaper in place and be indented about 1/8 inch behind the face of the sandpaper. The felt will dissipate the heat almost completely and reduce burning. I get my sanding belts from shops that have wide belt sanders free when they discard them. There is a lot of life left in the belts. I change my paper about once a year. The wheel goes through the table into a trough with a suction line attached. I can send a picture if you wish. I hope this is written well enough that you can visualize what the unit looks like.


----------



## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Hello joein10asee,

May i ask: "do you have a lathe?" When your answer is yes I can help you


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


the 12" is the smallest i would go
anything smaller is just a toy (IMO)
and wear out and clog quickly

H&L is great 
for the reasons you stated

here is a good place to shop too

http://www.industrialabrasives.com/12-hook-loop-discs-00400-p-1099.html

they have a 'red line' that looks better 
might check it out


----------



## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Dutchy, nope. I saw several made using lathes and I see that is an easy way to go, but no lathe here.

Patron, What's H&L? Is there a web site?

Thanks.


----------



## CarlBob (Jul 28, 2011)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Joe;
I have 2 lathes and you know how to get to my place….


----------



## CarlBob (Jul 28, 2011)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Suggestion:
Go to YouTube and type in "homemade disc sander"... Lots of ideas and construction methods…


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


H&L = hook and loop


----------



## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Ok, I cant figure out how you guys do the multi-part blogs so all the links show above, so I'll just keep on adding to it down here.

Today I went out to the shop to do some more on the disc sander. First I cut a circle out of 1" X 12" oak to use as a backer plate for the piece of 3/4" plywood that will become the sanding disc. Once that was roughed out on the bandsaw I needed to sand the outter edge so it will be perfectly round and not be unbalanced. 
.









So I took the small pulley off the motor, drilled and threaded 2 holes to mount it to the oak circle. I put this back on the motor and wired the electric. Gave it a quick on/off and there didnt seem to be much vibration, So far, so good. 
.









.









Started sanding the rough edges off the edge and all was going ok. I was using 40grit paper and as I sanded I could feel the small vibrations ebbing away. I switched to 100grit and wanted to make a nice smooth edge, so I put a bit of pressure on the edge of the disc and right away it started *SLOWING DOWN *! Oh no, now what?

The more pressure I put on the sandpaper the slower this thing ran. So i unpluged it and laid it on the side to once again look at the spec plate on this motor. *DAMN*! When I first looked at the plate a few days ago I could have *SWORN *it said 1/2hp. But now, upon closer look (with a magnifying galss this time) I can see it says *.17hp *... Yep. This damn motor isnt even a quarter horsepower. No wonder it doesn't have any balls! Well CRAP! Back to the drawing board.

But wait! I seem to remember I have another electric motor under a bench or on a shelf somewhere in here. Yep, there it is. This monster used to power a commercial floor sander. 
.








.
I have no doubt this one will be strong enough. But I see it spins at 3450rpm which I believe is too fast for a sander. So I'm gonna try putting something on it to drop the speed in half. I'm not sure if a rheostat type will work of if I'll need to call the manufacture to see if perhaps I can switch some of the wires around to slow it down.

So TODAY'S LESSON is, do your due dilligence. Make sure what you THINK you have is really what you have 
Oh well, stay tuned.


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


i see you got the 'series' thing working

now this build will be all connected

way to go joe


----------



## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


Nope, dont think I do Patron. I think I somehow erased the whole part 1 that I started with. The message above was what I THOUGHT would become part 2 but it looks like that didnt work either.

I see the link to Part 1, but I'm not at all certain how I got it there

Color me dumb!


----------



## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

JoeinGa said:


> *Disc sander - Temporarily on hold- updated 02/11/13*
> 
> I STILL dont think I've got this whole multi-part blog thingy figured out yet. So here I am trying to see if I can actually make a "part 2" ... which should actually be part 3 or 4.
> 
> ...


What the hell? I just spent two hours doing an update to this, yet it shows the "last activity" as 3 days ago… I dont understand


----------

