# Shop Built Belt Sander Project



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

*Designing and Initial Build*

*Project Inspiration* 
A couple of months ago, Woodsmith magazine had a shop built belt sander on the cover which inspired me to try to build my own. I've been using a handheld Dewalt Belt sander with a stand as a bench sander but have been frustrated with the small sanding area. I also had to fix a broken shaft screw using super glue so I know that its days are numbered. The Woodsmith version was designed to take advantage of a lathe to drive the sander when the lathe is not in use but that won't work for me because one of the purposes I have in mind is lathe chisel sharpening similar to the Sorby sharpening system so I decided to borrow some of Woodsmith's ideas and design a standalone unit to utilize an old blower motor I have had sitting on a shelf for years. Instead of making a belt sander just for sharpening, I decided to make one that utilizes a 6×48 inch belt so that I can also use it for general sanding duty in the shop.

*Materials: *
The material I am using is mostly 3/4" AC grade pine plywood from the local home store. I thought about using Baltic birch plywood but decided that the AC plywood I have on hand was actually pretty good quality and mostly void free and would be much cheaper, especially if I make any mistakes or significant design changes along the way. I thought about using slotted or punched angle steel available at the home store for the carriage/tension mechanism but decided that I do not really have the metal working tools or skills to make all of the components needed. So plywood it is.

*Requirements and Design*
There are a few You Tube videos of other shop built belt sanders but most of them are either edge sanders, which would not be easy to use for lathe chisel sharpening or narrow belt sharpening sanders which makes them less useful. Most of the DIY sanders that I have seen that are general purpose belt sanders are built so that you have to basically disassemble the sander to change belts. I decided to go big and make one that uses 6×48" belts like the Woodsmith design and my design allows for quick belt changes very similar to the cheap harbor freight sander or the Ryobi sander. Instead of building it so that the belt carriage pivots between vertical and horizontal positions, I decided to make it fixed on the base to simplify the design and make it so that the entire unit base can sit either horizontally or vertically to eliminate the pivoting mechanism but still provide flexibility. I may even try to make it so that in can also be used as an edge sander by later designing a detachable table. and just rolling the whole thing over on its side.

I've gotten pretty good at using Sketchup to work through the design process and I drew up a plan. I decided to break it up into 2 parts. First, I designed the belt carriage/tensioning mechanism. I figured that if I can not get this to work, I might as well just go buy a belt sander. Second, I designed a base that would house the motor and provide flexible platform for general sanding as well as mounting jigs for sharpening.

Here is an image of the "final" sketchup design, though I continue to tweak it as I go and discover design issues as I build.










Note that the sanding table and support will be on a hinge and I am going to try using tool box latches to keep it in place so that it can quickly pivot out out of the way for belt changes. The circle drawn on the side of that support is for a dust collection port for the shop vac. I plan to eventually design some sharpening jigs that will either attach to the table or on the left side (far side in the diagram) of the base.

*The Build: Belt Carriage*
I started by cutting out the pieces for the side rails and tension box and then proceeded to make the rollers out of laminated plywood. Here are the parts ready for assembly:










I initially planned to use a single spring on a central threaded rod to provide tension on the belt but later decided that 2 springs spread apart would reduce torsion and providing better tracking. The tension box basically works like a very tight drawer. The springs are nested in pockets so that they are always trying to push "the drawer" open. If I were starting over, I would make the tension box drawer and pocket longer. This one is only 3.5" long and I am experiencing a little bit of racking that affects tracking. I may need to find some stronger springs to improve that. I would probably drill holes for the spring pockets a little farther apart as well. I may still try that if my tracking issues continue.
Here is a picture of the top of the carriage with the slide and spring assembly:










The rollers were made using the router table jig from Woodsmith Magazine:










The top roller has a slight crown to help keep the belt tracking in the center though I am not sure that it really helps that much on such a wide belt.

The bottom (drive) roller is epoxied onto a 1/2" steel rod with bearings mounted into the sides of the frame. The top roller has the bearings embedded into the ends of the roller. Note that the holes in the rollers were drilled into each of the plywood pieces before gluing them together to avoid needing a 7" long bit. The 1/2 rod was inserted during glue up to make sure that the holes were aligned. 









I borrowed the belt tracking adjustment from Woodsmith. A 1" dowel with a 1/2" hole provides a pivot point for the top roller axle and a 1/4" screw threaded through the axle at the other end raises or lowers that side to adjust tracking:



















*Final Carriage Assembly and Test*
After getting everything glued and screwed together it was the moment of truth. I clamped the edged of the carriage frame in my end vice, installed a belt and chucked my cordless drill on the drive shaft and gave it a spin.



















I had a little bit of a tracking issue but finally was able to get the belt to track down the middle without constantly tweaking. Very small adjustments in the tracking screw make a huge difference. There is a little bit of racking in the tension box and I may see if some shims or strong springs may help reduce that once I get the base built but for now I am happy with the the way it works.

Next, I'll build the base and attach the carriage to the base.

Thanks for reading.


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## kaerlighedsbamsen (Sep 16, 2013)

Lazyman said:


> *Designing and Initial Build*
> 
> *Project Inspiration*
> A couple of months ago, Woodsmith magazine had a shop built belt sander on the cover which inspired me to try to build my own. I've been using a handheld Dewalt Belt sander with a stand as a bench sander but have been frustrated with the small sanding area. I also had to fix a broken shaft screw using super glue so I know that its days are numbered. The Woodsmith version was designed to take advantage of a lathe to drive the sander when the lathe is not in use but that won't work for me because one of the purposes I have in mind is lathe chisel sharpening similar to the Sorby sharpening system so I decided to borrow some of Woodsmith's ideas and design a standalone unit to utilize an old blower motor I have had sitting on a shelf for years. Instead of making a belt sander just for sharpening, I decided to make one that utilizes a 6×48 inch belt so that I can also use it for general sanding duty in the shop.
> ...


Looks promising. Love homemade machines.
Hope to read more about this project!


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

Lazyman said:


> *Designing and Initial Build*
> 
> *Project Inspiration*
> A couple of months ago, Woodsmith magazine had a shop built belt sander on the cover which inspired me to try to build my own. I've been using a handheld Dewalt Belt sander with a stand as a bench sander but have been frustrated with the small sanding area. I also had to fix a broken shaft screw using super glue so I know that its days are numbered. The Woodsmith version was designed to take advantage of a lathe to drive the sander when the lathe is not in use but that won't work for me because one of the purposes I have in mind is lathe chisel sharpening similar to the Sorby sharpening system so I decided to borrow some of Woodsmith's ideas and design a standalone unit to utilize an old blower motor I have had sitting on a shelf for years. Instead of making a belt sander just for sharpening, I decided to make one that utilizes a 6×48 inch belt so that I can also use it for general sanding duty in the shop.
> ...


Liking the design so far. I was contemplating that sander in the magazine too but decided, like you, that if I build one, I'll make it standalone so it doesn't tie up my lathe when I use it. Looking forward to your progress!


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## Carpintero2019 (Jul 28, 2019)

Lazyman said:


> *Designing and Initial Build*
> 
> *Project Inspiration*
> A couple of months ago, Woodsmith magazine had a shop built belt sander on the cover which inspired me to try to build my own. I've been using a handheld Dewalt Belt sander with a stand as a bench sander but have been frustrated with the small sanding area. I also had to fix a broken shaft screw using super glue so I know that its days are numbered. The Woodsmith version was designed to take advantage of a lathe to drive the sander when the lathe is not in use but that won't work for me because one of the purposes I have in mind is lathe chisel sharpening similar to the Sorby sharpening system so I decided to borrow some of Woodsmith's ideas and design a standalone unit to utilize an old blower motor I have had sitting on a shelf for years. Instead of making a belt sander just for sharpening, I decided to make one that utilizes a 6×48 inch belt so that I can also use it for general sanding duty in the shop.
> ...


Hello, good afternoon, I would be very kind to send the Sketchup files with the plans to my person "[email protected]" thank you very much, regards.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

*Building the Base*

Building the base for the sander.

*Base Design Requirements*

Because I want to be able to do quick belt changes, the belt carriage has to be mounted on one side so I want the base to be rock solid. The motor mount needs to be adjustable to allow the belt to be loosened if necessary without too much trouble and the base should protect the motor from dust. The table/rest should provide a solid platform for sanding both vertically and horizontally but needs to move out of the way for belt changes. It should also provide a port for dust collection. Here is the Sketchup drawing of the base and motor mount with the table/rest pivoted out of the way.










The carriage is bolted to the vertical board that sticks above case and will have about 1/2" clearance underneath. I probably could have made the base out of 1/2" PW but I didn't want there to be any flex in the belt carriage mounting.

*The Build *

The motor mount is attached on one side with 2 hinges to allow it to pivot for belt tension adjustments and I am using 7.5" hose clamps to hold the motor to the mount. I actually made the bottom out of an old table leaf, instead of plywood, that a neighbor gave me that turned out to be particle board with hardwood veneers but it was free.










I cut rabbets and groves in the bottom and sides for the back, sides and carriage mounting to provide more rigidity and this made everything go together nice and square as well. I first just clamped everything together just to test that everything fit together well. It turns out that the motor mount itself actually helps make the carriage mount very rigid even without the clamps I had to make the curved motor mounts about 1/2" shorter to give me more room to pivot the motor. I also changed the design so the the top on the base will be 1/2" plywood instead of the 3/4" I used everywhere else to give me more room. It'll be tight but it should work. Just in case, I will make it easy to remove the top to give me better access.










I decided that I had better not glue everything together in case I need to make adjustments later so everything is simply screwed together. With the rabbets and groves, it is very solid. Here it is with everything but the top and doors screwed on.



















Unfortunately, I didn't think about being able to remove the belt without taking the motor off. If this proves to be a problem, I may have to cut an access hole in the back. I probably needed another 1/2" to be able to slide the belt over the end of the motor shaft.










The carriage is attached with 6 crown bolts and t-nuts. It is very solid and doesn't flex at all. I could probably sit on the carriage without it flexing. I didn't think through in advance where to run the power cord out of the box. The switches (there are 2 toggle switches because it is a 3 speed motor) will come out of the right side but this would be the top when sanding vertically so would not be good to have the cord sticking out of the top. I may have to put a hole in one of the doors to accommodate the power cord-still TBD.

Next, I will make the pivoting table/rest, paint it, get the wiring hooked up and complete assembly.


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## SirFatty (May 5, 2012)

Lazyman said:


> *Building the Base*
> 
> Building the base for the sander.
> 
> ...


Nice work, an interesting project!


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

*First Dust*

*Finish the Base:*

After getting the base screwed together and the carriage mounted on it, I decided to go ahead and paint it before installing the motor and getting it wired. I used the same kind of paint as they did in the Woodsmith sander article (Rustoleum Hammered). I got too impatient and should have spent a lot more time sanding. I found that it also takes a ton of paint to achieve the hammered affect and it works best when applied on horizontal surfaces. It might have also helped to prime the plywood first but the paint can said that was only needed on metal. The edges of the plywood did not accept the paint well and the plies that are end grain either sucked in or repelled the paint so they just turned a dull gray instead of the hammered black. It was a mistake to paint some of the surfaces where the belt rollers and belt rub. I eventually had to sand some of the paint off. Next time, I would spend a lot more time with surface prep and prime the plywood. I decide to make the top that divides the carriage from the motor compartment out of hardboard to maximize the clearance between the belt and the base (still needs to be painted). It just slides in place and I may use magnets to hold it in place. It has to removable to be able to get to the underside of the carriage.



















I attached some rubber feet designed for large guitar amps and speakers that I hope will help dampen vibration and noise amplified through the work bench this will be sitting on. Once I build the sanding platform, I will put some on the end as well so that it can be used in the vertical position. The end of steel bar that releases the tension on the belt for belt changes was dipped in Plasti-Dip that I bought literally 20 years ago and never opened. It looked like about half of the solvent had evaporated but it still seemed to work okay.










*Wiring and Mounting the Motor:*

Wiring went as expected-nothing too magical here. I am not sure I like the toggle switches I installed. The are a little too easy to turn on accidentally when moving it around which is a little scary if your hand is near the belt when it happens. I couldn't find a 3 speed dial switch locally that could handle more than a few amps, at least without spending a lot more money, so I went with these toggle switches instead. I may replace them later.










I had to put some electrical tape on the capacitor because the connectors were ever so slightly exposed which I discovered the hard way. Ouch! I still need to clamp it and the wires down inside the base.

At the the max speed the motor is pretty loud, partially because it is basically sitting in a big plywood resonating chamber. I may trying putting some rubber between the motor and the mount to see if that helps any.










*Testing and Tracking:*

After putting in the motor, I attached the pulleys and belt , mounted the tension springs and box, put a sanding belt on and gave it a test. Initially everything worked very well. I was able to adjust the tracking with the adjustment screw and everything worked just fine. Success! or so I thought. I turned it off and went inside to eat lunch. When I came back out and turned it on again, I could not keep the belt on the the darned thing.

After removing and replacing the belt and the tension box several times, I finally realized that I had a slight bit of racking in the tension box and that when I adjusted the tracking screw, the head would rack so that it basically didn't change the roller's angle. I tried putting some shims in the tension box to reduce the play and that helps some but the belt would not consistently track down the center. It would work for a few minutes and then slowly start moving.

Next, I took out the 2 large springs that were sitting in the pockets and instead put a single spring on the center threaded rod and along with the shims, that seemed to help. This was my original design and the nice thing about this is that I can now adjust the spring tension with a nut on the threaded rod. I found that it worked better with less tension but it still wasn't perfect. The tension box was still slightly racking to the right (towards the side with doors on the base). What finally worked is to jam a small spring on the right side between the carriage head and body that puts enough tension on it to keep it from racking.










Now, very minor adjustments to the adjustment screw is all it takes to get the belt to track down the middle. Once aligned, it now appears to stay there even after breaking for lunch. We will see if this continues to work. If it does, I may need to figure out a way to keep the spring in place because it is just held in place by the tension of the spring. I may try adding some more shims to see if I can eliminate the racking altogether but for now it is usable. If I were to build another one, I would change the design so that the tension box is about twice as long in hopes that racking would be less of an issue.

Another set of 80 grit belts arrived from Amazon and they are about 1/4" shorter than the ones I have been using to test with-they are actually the correct 48" length. Since the final size of the carriage and tension box was based upon the first set of belts that I bought, this makes the new belts really tight to put on so I may need to make some minor adjustments to fix that. Should not take much to tweak that by sanding off a bit off the end of the the tension box on my new belt sander. Oh wait…

Next, I have to make some slight adjustments to the doors so that they close properly, finish painting and add a latch to the doors. I will build the table/sanding platform and start using it! The sanding platform will incorporate the shop vac connectors for dust collection. I made the mistake of intentionally installing the carriage so that it is not parallel to the base. This means that I will have to tweak my design so that I can make the sanding platform perpendicular to the belt. Doh! I also plan to eventually design some attachments that I can use for sharpening, similar to the Robert Sorby sharpening system.


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

Lazyman said:


> *First Dust*
> 
> *Finish the Base:*
> 
> ...


Nice build, thank you for sharing this piece


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Lazyman said:


> *First Dust*
> 
> *Finish the Base:*
> 
> ...


Thanks Norman. It has been fun. I really enjoy the design and troubleshooting process, though the belt tracking was a little frustrating for a while. After this project, I am thinking about making some other shop tools as well. I still have a few details to add. I am building a platform/rest to hold the piece you are sanding which will also provide dust collection and I have an adjustable sharpening tool rest on the drawing board as well that I am modeling after the Sorby Pro-edge system. I'll post updates as I add features.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Lazyman said:


> *First Dust*
> 
> *Finish the Base:*
> 
> ...


Sweet. I just love it when I make something and it actually WORKS! Great job!

Wondering … how hot will it get inside the box with the motor inside? Maybe a small exhaust fan to help it from overheating?


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Lazyman said:


> *First Dust*
> 
> *Finish the Base:*
> 
> ...


I was wondering about the motor heat too so once I got the tracking working consistently, I ran it for about 20 minutes straight to see if belt tracking changed with long run time and checked the motor casing with an infrared thermometer during and after the test. The motor housing got up to about 105 degrees F but the air temperature inside that box only climbed a couple of degrees at most during that time. Of course it was about 68 degrees in the shop at the time of the test. I also pointed the gun through the openings in the back of the motor and all of visible surfaces and windings were under 100 degrees.

I will continue to monitor and if heat build up becomes a problem, especially next summer when it can get to high mid 90s before I give up working in the shop, I will look into adding an exhaust fan though that will probably result in more dust getting sucked in to the motor compartment. It could be that all it takes is a vent to let the heat out through convection. A "Lazyman's" exhaust fan might be to leave the doors open and point a box fan at it when it gets hot here in Texas. Frankly, I think that I will very rarely run it for more than about 5 minutes at a time and since blowers motors are rated for continuous duty, even 20 minutes should be okay unless the ambient temperature is above about 100 degrees.

I am still working on dust collection for it and one thing that occurred to me is that I could drill a small hole that would cause a little bit of air to be sucked out of the motor compartment. This thing generates a ton of dust at 935 FPM so I will rarely use it for more than a few seconds without hooking up the shop vac.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

*Finishing the Sander with Dust Collection*

I finally got around to posting the completion of the sanding platform with dust collection. Dust collection is working very well with just a shop vac.



















The platform pivots out of the way for belt changes while in either the horizontal or vertical positions though you have to move the sander to the edge of the bench so it can swing out of the way. I need to add 2 more feet to make it more stable in this position. By swinging the platform out of the way while in the horizontal position, you can also run longer boards across the belt from end to end.



















Dust collection doesn't work quite as well when I use the top roller to sand an inside curve but it does collect most of the dust. Note that sanding with the top roller works very well. I was worried that tracking could be a problem while using the top roller but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I do have to adjust tracking when I change belts but I think that is because each of the different grades of belts is a slightly different length. I also made some shims out of a soda can to improve the racking that I was getting which helped a lot. Tracking is working very well though occasionally, it does seem to suddenly track to the side for no apparent reason. Adjustments with the tracking knob quickly pull it back into alignment.

Check out my Youtube summary and project postings here




http://lumberjocks.com/projects/201706

I still have plans to make an adjustable tool rest but that may have to wait until after the holidays.


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## kaerlighedsbamsen (Sep 16, 2013)

Lazyman said:


> *Finishing the Sander with Dust Collection*
> 
> I finally got around to posting the completion of the sanding platform with dust collection. Dust collection is working very well with just a shop vac.
> 
> ...


Thank you for a long and thorough writeup. Enjoyed the read and got a lot of ideas for myself. Great looking machine that looks like it could get a lot of use and enjoyment!


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Lazyman said:


> *Finishing the Sander with Dust Collection*
> 
> I finally got around to posting the completion of the sanding platform with dust collection. Dust collection is working very well with just a shop vac.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I've already used it quite a bit, even before I added the table and dust collection attachment. Makes me wish that I had built one a long time ago and this was really fun to design and build. I figure that it probably costed me about $100 +/-, including the plywood but not counting the motor since it was a salvage from an A/C repair, which is still less than half the cost of the Harbor Freight 6×48 sander and has a much smaller shop footprint. Even used, most of the other 6×48 sanders are all well over $300. Reviews I have seen on the HFT one are pretty sad and with the quick belt change feature, dust collection and better tracking adjustment on mine I think it beats the HFT hands down.


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## jkinoh (Mar 16, 2013)

Lazyman said:


> *Finishing the Sander with Dust Collection*
> 
> I finally got around to posting the completion of the sanding platform with dust collection. Dust collection is working very well with just a shop vac.
> 
> ...


Nice project. I made one when I was getting into the hobby (almost 40 years ago). Used a couple wringer washer rollers that I salvaged. They actually are great for a sander. I think the shaft that the rubber is molded to is 1/2", which worked out well. Along the way I purchased a Delta belt/disc combination sanding station, but still often use the homemade one (storage cabinet under it!).


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Lazyman said:


> *Finishing the Sander with Dust Collection*
> 
> I finally got around to posting the completion of the sanding platform with dust collection. Dust collection is working very well with just a shop vac.
> 
> ...


Thanks jkinoh. The wringer rollers is a great idea. Getting hard to find those these days. I looked around for something to use as rollers but ultimately making them was pretty easy.

Making a disk sander was actually my first thought when I started thinking about using the blower motor to make a machine. My fear was that the 1/2 HP motor would not be strong enough for a disk that was large enough to be useful. I thought about including a small disk in this design but decided that it would make it more difficult to rotate between the horizontal and vertical positions and also make the bench footprint significantly bigger. On the commercial versions, the disks are either too small to be that useful or they interfere with the full use of the belt.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

*First Improvements: Lathe Tool Sharpening Jigs*

One of the things that inspired me to make a belt sander was seeing YouTube videos of the Sorby Proedge™ Sharpening system. I struggled with getting consistent edges on my lathe tools and had messed up one of my bowl gouges more than once. I knew that I would not be able to get good results on my lathe unless I got better at sharpening and if it wasn't quick, easy and repeatable, I would wait longer than I should to freshen the edges. The Sorby Proedge™ system is crazy expensive so here is the first iteration of my version of the Sorby sharpening system. I first made this add-on indexed table for basic sharpening that allows me to quickly select pre-set angles:










I used Sketchup to draw up a template for drilling holes at specific angles and put threaded inserts into the holes for quick and accurate table angles of 90, 80, 60, 45, 35, 30, 25, 20 and 15 degrees. Note that there are actually 2 holes in the arm for the holes that would be too close to put all in the same arc. It is not visible because the bolt head is hiding it.










The table has a slot to accommodate different jigs. I still need to make one that will hold my skew chisels at the appropriate angle but his one can be used with gouges that have simple edge profiles on them and with square nose scrapers and chisels by holding the chisel flat on the table against the side of the V-block.

I need to find a way to beef up the angled bracket. The plywood flexes just enough that you have to be careful not press down on the table too much. I may have to make the table long enough so that I can put a pivot point on the other side of the sander. I think that I am also going to shave about 1/2" off the width of the table. A few of my cheaper/smaller chisels are a little short, especially when the table is at an extreme angle.

The next jig I made was for sharpening fingernail edges on bowl gouges. These were particularly difficult to do well on my grinder, even though I made a clone of the Wolverine jig. I modified the Wolverine clone jig to work with a bar and boss system that provides a much more stable way to pivot the tool from side to side.


















Repeat-ability is achieved by setting how far the tip sticks from the end of the jig-in this case 2.5". You can technically vary the angle on the holding jig as well and theoretically I could drill another hole higher on the boss to get a longer fingernail profile but that is way beyond my beginner status. While I am still working on my technique, it is super easy to sharpen a fingernail profile. It literally takes 15 seconds to freshen the edge and the results speak for themselves. 









One advantage that this method of sharpening has over grinding wheels is that it does't leave hollow edges. This bowl gouge originally had a standard profile that I had messed up pretty badly trying to put and then maintain a fingernail profile on it with my grinder jig. With this new setup, I was able to very quickly reset and bring it to this fingernail profile. This takes considerable grinding but using a belt sander, it is much easier to keep the steel from over heating than it is with a grinding wheel and the jig made it very easy for a beginner like myself to do without removing more material than necessary. The angles I used are a little arbitrary but it worked very well on this small practice piece of really hard live oak I turned to test out my new profiles: 


















If you want to see how the Sorby Proedge™ system works, go look for You Tube videos that demonstrate how easy it is to sharpen using their system. You will see my inspiration for this setup. I certainly wanted one, that is until I saw the price tag.

Thanks for looking.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Lazyman said:


> *First Improvements: Lathe Tool Sharpening Jigs*
> 
> One of the things that inspired me to make a belt sander was seeing YouTube videos of the Sorby Proedge™ Sharpening system. I struggled with getting consistent edges on my lathe tools and had messed up one of my bowl gouges more than once. I knew that I would not be able to get good results on my lathe unless I got better at sharpening and if it wasn't quick, easy and repeatable, I would wait longer than I should to freshen the edges. The Sorby Proedge™ system is crazy expensive so here is the first iteration of my version of the Sorby sharpening system. I first made this add-on indexed table for basic sharpening that allows me to quickly select pre-set angles:
> 
> ...


Dang… nice work there. I need to work on my lathe tools sharpening skills also !


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

Lazyman said:


> *First Improvements: Lathe Tool Sharpening Jigs*
> 
> One of the things that inspired me to make a belt sander was seeing YouTube videos of the Sorby Proedge™ Sharpening system. I struggled with getting consistent edges on my lathe tools and had messed up one of my bowl gouges more than once. I knew that I would not be able to get good results on my lathe unless I got better at sharpening and if it wasn't quick, easy and repeatable, I would wait longer than I should to freshen the edges. The Sorby Proedge™ system is crazy expensive so here is the first iteration of my version of the Sorby sharpening system. I first made this add-on indexed table for basic sharpening that allows me to quickly select pre-set angles:
> 
> ...


You made me glad  with this contribution!!


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Lazyman said:


> *First Improvements: Lathe Tool Sharpening Jigs*
> 
> One of the things that inspired me to make a belt sander was seeing YouTube videos of the Sorby Proedge™ Sharpening system. I struggled with getting consistent edges on my lathe tools and had messed up one of my bowl gouges more than once. I knew that I would not be able to get good results on my lathe unless I got better at sharpening and if it wasn't quick, easy and repeatable, I would wait longer than I should to freshen the edges. The Sorby Proedge™ system is crazy expensive so here is the first iteration of my version of the Sorby sharpening system. I first made this add-on indexed table for basic sharpening that allows me to quickly select pre-set angles:
> 
> ...


Thanks guys. The fingernail jig is really an amazing addition. It is almost fool proof and believe me I would I know. Using the Wolverine clone was really tough for me but with this, it is hard to mess up. In fact, if I didn't have a belt sander, I would probably make a fingernail jig that works the same way for my grinder.

I just realized that I did not give credit to Marius Hornberger. I used his free plans for the Woliverine clone jig that I modfied for use with the bar and boss attachment. I basically replace the leg his plan with a dowel.


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