I figure some of you out there must have done this before!

I just got an Optimum D650 lathe (see link 1), and I’d also like to have a 12“ disc sander in my shop, but in my country (Germany) they are quite expensive, even used. I’m thinking of trying to kludge one on to back of the lathe, and mount a tilting table to the back cover (see link 2). This would save space, and I’m not that busy at the moment.

The biggest problem is that the end of the spindle is not threaded, and there’s not much to attach to back there. My idea is to mount the disc plate to a long rod which goes all the way through the spindle bore and is then held by the chuck. Since the spindle bore is only 26mm, I’d need to make some sort of adapter ring to make everything stable (See drawing – link 3). I feel like this should work, if a bit quixotic. Any ideas on whether or not I’m on the right track, or if there would be another way to attach the disc to the spindle? Ideas on the tilting table? I'm planning on doing everything with aluminum, since I don't have a milling machine.

Since I must regularly open the cover to change speed and feed rate, the whole business must be easy to remove. The cover is fairly beefy, so I think with some reinforcement bars I can mount a table which would work well enough.

Thanks for all constructive replies. Please no safety warnings! Also, no. I don't have to worry about voiding my warranty. The machine is twenty years old!

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