On Mar 28, 4:22*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Mar 28, 3:47*pm, "Leon" wrote:





"Mike Marlow" wrote in message

...

Doug Miller wrote:
In article
,
DerbyDad03 wrote:

Is my disc tapered because it was designed that way or is my disc
tapered due to poor workmanship?

You bought it at Harbor Freight. You paid 80 bucks. Do you *really*
need to
ask that question? :-)

Since there certainly appears to be an "object" known as a tapered
disc, could it be that this is what comes with the HF Disc Sander or
are tapered discs only used on table saws?

Obviously that's "what comes with the HF Disc Sander" -- the question
is
whether it's intentionally so.

Seriously, though: the disc should be flat. Maybe not dead flat -- a
disk
sander is not, after all, a precision tool -- but it should *not* be
out by 1/16" across an 8" disk.

Actually there is quite a bit of information on the net about why a
sanding disk should be tapered. *So far, I haven't seen anything that
really answered the OP's question, other than opinions about HF, and some
well intended guesses. *The one advantage that a tapered disk holds over a
flat disk is that it allows you to feed stock in as if you were ripping
it - which you could not do with a flat disk. *I'm not so sure at all that
it should not be 1/16th of an inch across its surface.

I can assure you that a bench top disk sander sands in the wrong dirrection
for feeding stock as if you were ripping it. *One on a TS is a different
matter but this is a sander where you feed the stock pretty much into the
disk at a 90 degree angle. *You want to use this machine for shaping curves.
or angles.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"You want to use this machine for shaping curves or angles."

Which is specifically why I purchased it and also why I don't think
the "taper" impacts the *main* task I'll use the machine for.

That said, *if* it a bench top disc sander could be used for other
purposes (e.g. jointing) and the taper is going to prevent that, then
perhaps I need to "upgrade".- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

FYI...the main purpose for this machine (at this time) is for rounding
the corners of 1/4" x 1" flat aluminum stock. Essentially turning
rectangles into long ovals.

I make brake mechanisms for Soap Box Derby cars and each brake
requires 4 pieces of 1" flat stock of various lengths, for a total of
16 corners that need to be rounded to a specific radius. (I have a
spool of thread that gives me the perfect radius on the 1" stock)

I started rounding the corners with my bench grinder, but that
resulted in too much heat (read: too much melted aluminum that needed
to be filed smooth)

I then tried my belt sander secured to my workbench in a jig - which
worked much better than the grinder - but holding the pieces by hand
was still cumbersome and tiring.

That led me to the benchtop disc sander and it's built in table. With
80 grit sandpaper, the corners round off very quickly and then a quick
touch-up with a worn belt on my belt sander removes all the sanding
marks from the stock.

That's why I say that the taper is not an issue - for this task - but
if I'm limited by the taper from using the machine for other tasks
that a bench top disk sander is normally used for, then I might
consider replacing it.