Shop built Oscillating spindle sander

Dave Black

Member
Messages
638
Location
Central PA
I decided I didn't like the spindle sander I build a few years ago, that one was built in a bit of a hurry out of a small drill press, so I decided to start from scratch. I dont have any build pictures to show the process but its pretty straight forward. I started with an I beam shape made of plywood, on one side I mounted 3/4" bore pillow block bearings to hold the arbor. The arbor is 3/4" cold rolled bar stock that I cut bolt threads onto the end. On the other side of the I beam I mounted the motor, there is a slot through the I beam so the belt can go between the motor and arbor. The whole plywood I beam assembly is mounted to the frame of the machine with ball bearing drawer slides. I got 4 slides and added the ball cages and bearings from the 2 extra slides. That makes the slides more rigid. I used a small gear motor for the oscillation, there is a small crank arm on the shaft of the gear motor, and a rod goes from the crank arm to a stud on the I beam. There are ball bearings on both ends of the rod to reduce friction and let the gear motor work more easily. I also added a spring that helps to hold the weight of the motor and arbor. I used an extra piece of plastic covered mdf for the table of the sander and devised a "zero" clearance insert for the different sized drums. This machine will handle rubber drums from 1" up to 4" in diameter and 9" tall. I can also stick 3/4" sanding sleeves right on the arbor. I have a 4" dust port on the machine and it does a really good job. I left an extra 1/4" all the way around on the zero clearance inserts to help with the dust collection and it works well, I guess they are not really zero clearance inserts then, maybe 1/4" clearance inserts? For some reason the image uploader rotated the pics all wrong, sorry
IMG_0529.jpgIMG_0528.jpgIMG_0527.jpgIMG_0525.jpg
 
can you explain how the oscillation works a bit more? and how do you get the different drums to fit on a 3/4" shaft? i have toyed with the idea of making a edge sander but just havnt got started
 
Nice job Dave! Would also love to see some additional pics of the internals. :thumb:

BTW...looked for options to rotate your pics, but the forum software doesn't have that option. :dunno:
 
I took some more pics to help explain how it works. Once again the image uploader rotated the pics. The oscillation works more or less the same as a gas engine. The gear motor with the arm on the shaft acts like the crankshaft, the piece between "crankshaft" and the bolt near the v belt acts as a piston rod and the "carriage" with the main motor and arbor acts as the piston. The rubber drums I bought all have 3/4" bore so all I have to do to switch the drums is loosen the nut and slide the rubber drum and sanding sleeve off the arbor.
IMG_0533.jpgIMG_0534.jpgIMG_0535.jpgIMG_0536.jpgIMG_0537.jpgIMG_0538.jpgIMG_0540.jpgIMG_0543.jpg
 
the pics are right side up on my computer, but when I upload them they all turn...

You need to turn your computer sideways before you upload the pics. :D

Seriously, not sure why that's happening. I've not been able to reproduce the problem. :huh: Great-looking sander, though.
 
vaughn the only time i have seen this act like that was when the pictures were turned in picture viewer and then doesnt hold the rotation.. but if rotated in PS and resaved they do. thanks for the additional info dave on your sander.. where did you find a source for the rubber drums?
 
vaughn the only time i have seen this act like that was when the pictures were turned in picture viewer and then doesnt hold the rotation.. but if rotated in PS and resaved they do.

Ditto.

Are you on a Mac and using Preview to rotate the photos? I've had similar things in the past, so I never use Preview to rotate. I always pull up Gimp. I expect any other image editor will do it.
 
I am using mac, i didn't rotate any of the pictures myself though. They are iphone pics, maybe that has something to do with it?

I got the rubber drums from supergrit, They are about 3/4 of the way down the page on the right side listed in red.
http://supergrit.com/products/products_rolldrumsleeve-drumssleeves.asp

I have a 1/2hp motor on it and it seems to be plenty, most of the commercial units have a 1hp I think but so far 1/2hp has been fine.
 
i think they use 1750 rpm motors dont they dave? and variable speed wouldnt be of any use my eyes either... that is one of the best looking home made tools i have seen in some time..
 
i think they use 1750 rpm motors dont they dave? and variable speed wouldnt be of any use my eyes either... that is one of the best looking home made tools i have seen in some time..
I used a 1725 rpm motor. My belt drive is a very slight reduction to the arbor, 1500 or 1600 rpm, only because those were the pulleys I had.

Thanks, I think it turned out quite well.
 
Top