Hmmm.
I have two pairs of 1X42 sanders already! Two Rockwell Delta, and two Arco.
Rotating the dowels wouldn't be hard. I've read about doing with an
electric drill.
This would actually be a bit like centerless grinding, too.
Thanks for the idea! This has real promise.
Doug
"Greg Postma" wrote in message
...
Well Doug, this is your lucky dayG
To test the machine before I exported it, I ripped some stock to square
blanks the I used a router table to make the rough dowel blanks and
then ran them through the dowel sander.I used 120 grit belts and the
finish was smooth.
The aluminum plate ran about 200-250 rpm (my best guess).
If you want to cobble together a machine like the Lobo dowel sander, I
think that with a little ingenuity and a couple of these
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=2485
and a method of rotating the dowel blanks as they passed between the
belts, you could make some accurate dowels
DougVL wrote:
Greg -
Thanks! I've heard about cutting half-rounds twice on a moulder.
That's
one of the "plans" I doubt I'll be able to use at home, though. I
realize
you weren't suggesting that part, but I just wanted to mention for other
readers that it would need a special-sized cutter for each diameter
needle
or arrow, and I hope to make 8 or 10 different sizes.
The pictures of the machine do really help a lot! Pretty ingenious,
rotating a belt sander or two around the workpiece! How fast does the
aluminum plate turn?
(However, I think this device is a bit more complicated than I'm ever
likely
to build.)
Doug
"Greg Postma" wrote in message
...
Doug, strange you should ask about dowel sander, I just rebuild one for
export.
Here is my take on take dowels in a production environment.
1. Wood is run through a molder that cuts half the dowel and then the
wood is run through again to finish the rough dowel blank.
2 The rough blank is run through the dowel sand (see www.Exfactory.com,
and search for item number SD 10275) this shows a dowel sander. Look at
the pictures, especially picture 3. This picture shows 2 groups of 3
rollers on an aluminum plate. Each group of rollers has 1 driven roller
and two idler rollers. The driven roller has a shaft that extends
through the aluminum plate and the shaft has a gear that rides on a
stationary gear. As the aluminum plate if rotated by a small electric
motor, the driven roller turns the sanding belt.The idler rollers can be
adjusted to to change the gap between the two belts, for various size
dowels. The dowels sander pictured can handle diameters from .4" up to 3
3/4".
Hope this helps and if you have any questions that I might be able to
answer for you, please feel free to contact me off list
Greg Postma
DougVL wrote:
I've been looking for ways to make small dowels. Well, really they'll
be
knitting needles and arrows.