A shop built thickness sander
For many projects, it's most expedient to find and purchase some good plans. Back in 2010, finding a set of thickness sander plans with automatic feed was proving to be difficult. For this project, I was unable to find anything and set about designing my own.
My thickness sander
Additional links:
Preview of Shigshop.com thickness sander plans.
Using the Shigshop.com thickness sander.
Customer built thickness sanders.
Purchase the Shigshop.com thickness sander plans.
Preview of Shigshop.com thickness sander plans.
Using the Shigshop.com thickness sander.
Customer built thickness sanders.
Purchase the Shigshop.com thickness sander plans.
The old sander
One of the first drum sanders I built was not a thickness sander. It was ok for surface sanding boards but required manual feed, which caused issues with the drum sometimes digging into the work making an uneven surface. It could also be tiresome to use if many board feet of material were required. I was never satisfied with the overall design and performance of this machine.
The old sander.
The new sander
I wanted the new sander to have an adjustable speed conveyor, and to be wide as my old sander, which got it's drum recycled on the new machine.
With a big bearing supporting a 5" diameter drum on both ends, there is little possibility of deflection and the 28" drum gives me plenty of capacity. Dual compression rollers keep the stock running true and flat through the machine. Heavy duty screws supporting the conveyor on all four corners, connected by a chain, makes vertical adjustments easy with no need for a locking mechanism.
The conveyor utilizes an 80 grit sanding belt running on rollers. Between the rollers there is a 1.5" thick platen built from mdf that has a piece of formica (countertop laminate) contact cemented to it's top. A 12v dc motor and controller provide power for the feed, while a 1.5 hp 1750rpm ac motor drives the sanding drum. Dust exits via a hinged hood to a central collector.
The sander sees action on almost every project.
To develop a set of plans and instructions, I rebuilt my original version of the sander to make it a little simpler. The new machine is as robust as the original, but eliminates the need to weld and has a few other small changes. The new one became version 2.
With a big bearing supporting a 5" diameter drum on both ends, there is little possibility of deflection and the 28" drum gives me plenty of capacity. Dual compression rollers keep the stock running true and flat through the machine. Heavy duty screws supporting the conveyor on all four corners, connected by a chain, makes vertical adjustments easy with no need for a locking mechanism.
The conveyor utilizes an 80 grit sanding belt running on rollers. Between the rollers there is a 1.5" thick platen built from mdf that has a piece of formica (countertop laminate) contact cemented to it's top. A 12v dc motor and controller provide power for the feed, while a 1.5 hp 1750rpm ac motor drives the sanding drum. Dust exits via a hinged hood to a central collector.
The sander sees action on almost every project.
To develop a set of plans and instructions, I rebuilt my original version of the sander to make it a little simpler. The new machine is as robust as the original, but eliminates the need to weld and has a few other small changes. The new one became version 2.
All controls are handy.
|
Sanding drumThe machine has a 28" x 5" sanding drum. The variable speed control and conveyor height adjustment crank are close at hand. Being able to easily open the hood to change and clean the sandpaper are nice features.
|
|
Conveyor rollersGetting the rollers aligned is critical. With an adjustment screw on each corner pushing against a bearing flange, it's straightforward, and the use of 4 bolt flange bearings mean those adjustments stay put.
|
|
Lift and other detailsConveyor lift adjustments are handled by an acme screw on each corner connected by a chain.
In this picture, you can also see the drum motor, and conveyor motor with related power supply and controller (under the plastic cover). |
Sanding a board
Here's an example of sanding a board.
This is a piece of regular 2x4 material that's been sitting around my shop for a few months. The sanding drum is set up with 180 grit sandpaper.
The first pass
The board has a slight cup to it. After setting the conveyor height so that the board just barely touches the drum, I take the first pass, which removes the highest section in the middle of the board's width.
The second pass
Here, I raised the conveyor 1/4 of a turn, which will remove about .020" of material. You can see that the board is now sanded closer to it's edge.
The last pass
And after another 1/4 crank turn, I run the board through again which gives me a perfectly sanded board.
Browse around and check out my other thickness sander pages. Here are some links...
