Shop made 12" disk sander

Allen Bookout

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902
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Punta Gorda, Florida
I suppose that this goes in new tools---it is new to me. I was reading a book named "Building Woodshop Workstations" by Danny Proulx, and he had a design for a shop built 12" disk sander. I had an old 3/4 hp motor laying around, as a lot of us do, some spare MDF, a piece of 3/4" plywood, some wood screws and glue and I was in business. The only things that I had to buy were a couple of knobs, a threaded rod and two press in threaded inserts. This thing runs as smooth as glass. I did face sand it and blanced the disk with some stick on lead tape that you use to balance tennis rackets. What a great tool for almost nothing.
 

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I have thought about building one for a long time. Thats pretty neat. You did a good job on that.

Just thinking out loud here. If you could change the pivot point then the table wouldn't get so far from the disk. Going to have to remember this when i get around to build one.
 
Nicely done. Allen. I've got an old motor or two this idea would work well for. One of them already has a 10" or 12" (I think) abrasive wheel (feels like about 20 grit...really coarse), but I'd replace it with a wheel similar to yours. I like your simple solution for a table to hold the workpiece. :thumb:
 
Thanks Jeff! I think that you are right, the design could be reworked to make it work better with the angles. As you can see from the hole, I got the pivot point wrong the first time and it would not open wide enough. May be make the box a little narrower or something to allow for a 45 degree angle with a seperate replaceable table---or something. I had thought about making an add on table with the angle up instead of down. I do not know if you would run into trouble or not by traping the wood between the table and the disk. The box is nice as it allows for dust collection from a hose connected to the back. The one thing that I am going to do is to put an adjustable stop at ninety degrees.

Thanks Vaughn! I guess that old motors laying around can come back to life.
 
Pretty slick Allen, the 3/4 hp will have plenty of oomph! I'd be a little leary of the lead tape flying off and hitting someone though. Can you use lightning holes instead?

You are right about it having plenty of oomph, it sure has plenty of that. You are right again about the tape flying off. It happened the first time that I started it up. I should have mentioned that I used a staple gun to secure it. It was nice to have the sticky when adding the lead a bit at a time to get it balanced.

You got me on the lightning holes. What are they? I am sure that if you suggested it they must be the thing to use.
 
Staples are the way to go - I didn't think of that. I was thinking of how they balance machine drive pulleys by drilling holes in them to remove weight. It probably wouldn't work with wood to well...:eek:
 
Lightening vs. lightning. ;) [The Spelling Ninja strikes again.]

Here's a pic of the one that was built into my bench when I "inherited" the bench from LOML's dad:

Sander 500.jpg

I've since removed it, but I think mounting it in a box like yours would be a good approach. :thumb:
 
.... Now that I like. Very nice, you have given me some ideas for the future, Allen. Although, I think I would use a sealed motor and would strongly consider a dust collection system for it. How did you hold the sandpaper disk on? Did you varnish or shellac or polyurethane it?


Well thought out and well done :thumb:.


Boyd


I suppose that this goes in new tools---it is new to me. I was reading a book named "Building Woodshop Workstations" by Danny Proulx, and he had a design for a shop built 12" disk sander. I had an old 3/4 hp motor laying around, as a lot of us do, some spare MDF, a piece of 3/4" plywood, some wood screws and glue and I was in business. The only things that I had to buy were a couple of knobs, a threaded rod and two press in threaded inserts. This thing runs as smooth as glass. I did face sand it and blanced the disk with some stick on lead tape that you use to balance tennis rackets. What a great tool for almost nothing.
 
Boyd,

Thanks for the comments. I have not finished it yet as I wanted to see how it performed before proceeding. I will probably just use polyurethane as I have some sitting around with no plans for it. The self adhesive stick on sandpaper is holding just fine on the bare plywood. I let it sit for a day between uses just to see. I am using Klingspor self adhesive disk for the test run. Actually it does have a dust collection system as shown in the photos below. There is a two and a quarter hole in the base below the motor where a standard two and a quarter vacuum hose will plug in. I made sure that there was no dust on the motor and sanded for a few minutes with the vacuum turned on and and the end of the sanding period there still was no dust on the motor. It seems to work very well. I think that you are correct that a sealed motor would be desireable but I had this one laying around and from what I can see I think that it will be fine. I would think that if I tried to enclose it I would have to be careful of the design so that it would not overheat but I have no experience in that area so I do not know for sure. As you can see from the third photo I could enclose the box even more behind the disk but for now I see no reason to unless I am going to sand without the vaccum attached. I did a little sanding in that configuration and there was a fine dust coming out of the back and onto the motor.

Thanks again for the kind words! Allen
 

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.... That is really nice, Allen. Job well done, thanks :thumb:.

Boyd


Boyd,

Thanks for the comments. I have not finished it yet as I wanted to see how it performed before proceeding. I will probably just use polyurethane as I have some sitting around with no plans for it. The self adhesive stick on sandpaper is holding just fine on the bare plywood. I let it sit for a day between uses just to see. I am using Klingspor self adhesive disk for the test run. Actually it does have a dust collection system as shown in the photos below. There is a two and a quarter hole in the base below the motor where a standard two and a quarter vacuum hose will plug in. I made sure that there was no dust on the motor and sanded for a few minutes with the vacuum turned on and and the end of the sanding period there still was no dust on the motor. It seems to work very well. I think that you are correct that a sealed motor would be desireable but I had this one laying around and from what I can see I think that it will be fine. I would think that if I tried to enclose it I would have to be careful of the design so that it would not overheat but I have no experience in that area so I do not know for sure. As you can see from the third photo I could enclose the box even more behind the disk but for now I see no reason to unless I am going to sand without the vaccum attached. I did a little sanding in that configuration and there was a fine dust coming out of the back and onto the motor.

Thanks again for the kind words! Allen
 
There used to be a removable spray adhesive that auto body repair people used to attach sanding discs to their D.A. sanders. I don't recall what it was called, and don't know if you can still get it. You would spray the sander surface, slap on a disc, and when the paper wears out, pull it off and repeat. With something like that you could use ordinary sandpaper cut to size for your disc sander.

I have a 1HP Baldor that I picked up for $10 last summer at a garage sale down the street. I haven't figured out what to do with it yet, but a big disc sander sounds like a good plan.

Thanks for the idea, Allen!

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Don,

Thanks for the great offer. What a nice guy. I will send you a PM. The one that I made is working fine for now but you never know what might show up in the future. That would have saved a lot of time making sure that it was flat, round and balanced. I checked my shaft size and it is 5/8". You have a great head start already having the disk ready to go.

Kevin,

Thanks for the comments. If you do not already have a disk sander I think that you will like it. Not to much trouble to build. I have some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive that I have used for the purpose of attaching sandpaper before and it works fine. I just spray on one surface and it is removable. I have not had to use it on this unit yet but it is standing by.

I finished it up by coating the MDF with Ace oil based sanding sealer and painting to brighten it up a bit and seal the surface. Then I mounted it to a flip top base that I built. I have the Ridgid spindle/belt sander on the opposite side.
 

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Allen, that's a nice arrangement you have :). And looks nice too.



Don,

Thanks for the great offer. What a nice guy. I will send you a PM. The one that I made is working fine for now but you never know what might show up in the future. That would have saved a lot of time making sure that it was flat, round and balanced. I checked my shaft size and it is 5/8". You have a great head start already having the disk ready to go.

Kevin,

Thanks for the comments. If you do not already have a disk sander I think that you will like it. Not to much trouble to build. I have some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive that I have used for the purpose of attaching sandpaper before and it works fine. I just spray on one surface and it is removable. I have not had to use it on this unit yet but it is standing by.

I finished it up by coating the MDF with Ace oil based sanding sealer and painting to brighten it up a bit and seal the surface. Then I mounted it to a flip top base that I built. I have the Ridgid spindle/belt sander on the opposite side.
 
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