Disc Sander Sled Version 1

glenn bradley

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I have been taking advantage of the fact that my buddy that helps me schlep larger pieces around the shop is on a cruise to Mexico. I had him help me move a couple items into the house to make room for yet another shop re-org. He comes back next week but, in the mean time I have been hitting the 'round-2-it' list. I have been after some sort of material control sled for the disc sander ever since I got it. I finally decided on this design which holds the material and allows an X / Y motion.

Here's a horrible picture of the dovetail guide bar material. Normally these are installed with screws into an 1/8" wide saw kerf. I had to recess the guide bars into the base a bit for my purposes.

Disc Sander Jig v1 (1).jpgDisc Sander Jig v1 (2).jpg

Here is the other "half" of the jig and a shot of the opposite faces.

Disc Sander Jig v1 (3).jpgDisc Sander Jig v1 (4).jpg

It goes together like so. The little blocks on the bottom, extreme right side, are stops to keep me from sanding the jig as well as the part ;-)

Disc Sander Jig v1 (5).jpg

It allows for things like miter "adjustments" that might take till lunchtime if done on a shooting board. It will handle any number of quick tasks that I am always trying to do with a miter gauge which sometimes works well and sometimes works not-so-well. The benefit, for me, is material control.

Disc Sander Jig v1 (6).jpgDisc Sander Jig v1 (7).jpgDisc Sander Jig v1 (8).jpg
 
That's pretty slick there, Glenn. :clap: great idea and implementation.

But what are these "miter adjustments" you speak of? Why not just cut it right on the money to begin with? :D
 
Nice table Glenn I am just having a hard time fathoming out the need to have the lower part. I can see you have it to be able to move the upper table away from the wheel however even though i know you just grabbed a piece to demo how it would be sanded at an angle my issue is with two layers to the sled you have raised the sander disc usable surface up past center by quite a bit narrowing down the usable width but more important to me is that your edge of that piece that is overhanging is not supported so when you sand it like you have it set up wont it be tending to sand non 90 as the piece flexes slightly while sanding. I dunno just dont look right to me to be away from the disc like that. May just be a bad example and i dont get why you would want to come away from the disc like that.
Thanks for posting and showing how its done.
 
That's pretty slick there, Glenn. :clap: great idea and implementation.

But what are these "miter adjustments" you speak of? Why not just cut it right on the money to begin with? :D

Well duuuuuh . . . if I cut the miters perfectly the opposing parts won't line up on my out of square carcass . . . ya silly :rofl:

To Rob's post; elevating the material is a concern and does indeed reduce the usable area of the disc for sanding. I made the sled as thin as I could get away with and still get X / Y movement. Movement toward the disc allows material removal and movement parallel to the disc face (sliding back and forth) reduces sanding marks/burning. So in use I would apply pressure towards the disc face while moving the material back and forth from the outer edge of the disc toward the center and back out.

For example here is an end sanded by being held against the disc:

Disc Sander Jig v1 (10).jpg

And here is the same end sanded while moving back and forth across the disc:

Disc Sander Jig v1 (9).jpg

This leaves a lot less hand work for me on exposed end grain like you see on G&G finger joints and so forth ;-)
 
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Very innovative Glen!

Just a thought & using the last picture to explain it, plus assuming the disc is rotating CCW when looking at it face on: Would it help if you swapped the clamps so that the RH clamp currently shown is placed closest to the disc? That way the clamp would better resist the upward motio of the disc, perhaps eliminating any vibration & making the piece more secure??? The downward rotaion on the left side would hold the piece against the table allowing that clamp to be further away. Just a thought.
 
Very innovative Glen!

Just a thought & using the last picture to explain it, plus assuming the disc is rotating CCW when looking at it face on: Would it help if you swapped the clamps so that the RH clamp currently shown is placed closest to the disc? That way the clamp would better resist the upward motio of the disc, perhaps eliminating any vibration & making the piece more secure??? The downward rotaion on the left side would hold the piece against the table allowing that clamp to be further away. Just a thought.

Good stuff Al. The example was just a quick "setup" shot but, I do not know that I would have considered your very valid points once I got to using it for real. I will factor that in during clamping the material down now. Thanks!
 
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