oscillating spindle sander sleeve trick

Dave Kauffman

Member
Messages
180
Location
Fort Washington, PA
I often have a tough time getting the sanding sleeves on the oscillating spindle sander spindles. Either the sanding sleeve is a bit small, which is probably the case, or maybe my spindle is just a tad too big. (it's a Grizzley G1071). In either case, this is one of those "it may as well be a mile" deals because even a little tight and those suckers just won't slide onto the spindle. You can only beat on them so much or they will deform or break apart. I tried silicon with some success, and then even better success using talcum powder. Couple of times ended up cutting the sleeve in half as that's all I could push onto the spindle. Since most of what I sand is less than 2 inches thick, that was not a problem. Still it was difficult though to get the sleeve on. Finally hit on something that worked well... a tailpipe expander. Auto parts stores sell them, but some are pretty pricey. Found this in a HF store, was cheap, but since I'm not cranking down on a metal tailpipe it's overkill and it works great. Insert the thing into the end of the sleeve and crank it open till the sleeve is stretched open a bit, then sprinkle the inside of the sleeve and spindle with talcum power and it slides in much easier. HF sells 4 or 5 different size expanders down to 1 inch I think, this one is for the 2 inch sleeve, which is the one I use the most.

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