Elyasaf's strip sander

Elyasaf built the 1"x42" strip sander, but powered with a drill. He built it mirror imaged so that the normal rotation of the drill was the right direction for the sander.

Elyasaf writes:

Hello Matthias

Just finished building the belt sander. as usual: plans, detailed instructions and the sketchup model is a comprehensive package that gives everything i need and much more. thank you for that, and thank you for the reasonable price.

Here is a video of the sander at work. the dust collection is amazing. no visible dust while working! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra2wZh9P5SY

I also published it on lumberjocks: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/205594


some notes:

Using an old drill for a motor was a great idea. it reduced many parts, such as the main drive wheel, belt, covers etc. it also added an important feature of speed control, as you can see in the video. the only thing is that it is crucial to align the drill correctly, and it's not very easy. I had to take apart the drill clamp after gluing it due to misalignment. but after I got the hang of it, it was quick and easy to finish. mirroring the sander wasn't necessary. the drill goes both ways. oh well...

Buying a 4-way power strip with 3 meter cable that comes with an integral switch costs less than buying a switch alone, and as a bonus you get a lighted switch.

The area of the knobs at the bottom front feels quite tight to me. it seems that more torque is needed to clamp the table firmly in place, but there is not sufficient room for a bigger knob.

I'm not sure why the main pivot rod is 5mm while the hole in the main frame is 6mm. I made both 6mm and used 6mm rod.

Matthias comments:
Oops - shaft and hole should be same size (5 mm) I'll fix that in the plans.

Even reversible drills are sometimes better turning forward than reverse, so mirroring it may still have been worth it.


More projects by Elyasaf:


See also:


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