Greetings,

Building segmented vessels has produced the need for yet another tool.

Using a 1/4" sheet of plate glass and PSA sandpaper works - but eats
up a lot of time and energy, and the results aren't _quite_ perfect.
The tiny segment edges tend to round over very slightly - even using a
supporting jig/fence. I'm not certain if it's the sandpaper deforming
slightly under pressure or the wood tilting slightly on successive
strokes, but it was there nevertheless.

I looked at available Disk Sanders and their predictably poor Chinese
construction, and built this instead. Not particularly difficult to
build, but using a piece of perfectly flat plywood scrap is important.

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...skSander01.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...skSander02.jpg

All you need to know to replicate this idea is contained in the
photos. No, we don't use no steenkin plans... ;-)
Total cost was about $25.00, excluding the PSA sanding disks.
The majority of the cost was the extra 6" faceplate.

Pundits may notice that the platform height is a little low, but I
have reasons for this. There are other jigs, with both single and
compound angles, that ride on this table.

The wooden sanding disk is held to a trued 6" faceplate by imbedded
T-nuts and machine screws from the back. I don't trust wood screws
enough to do otherwise. The T-nuts were then covered with a thin
layer of epoxy/filler and lathed smooth. I placed an outer rim of hot
glue around the disk/flange junction so that subsequent disassembly
and reassembly would result in proper alignment. The glue doesn't
stick to the cast iron.

Although I used a geared protractor to tune the platform to _exactly_
90 degrees to the face of the sanding disk, if you simply flip the
opposite ring half over, they will mate perfectly even if your angles
are off slightly.

As always, use common sense using this or any other power tool.
Shoving a piece of wood into the rising rear edge of the disk is
liable to result in it flying across the room. Keep a firm hold on
your stock and don't press too hard. Either way, I've not had a
problem with insufficient power or the lathe slipping when sanding
much of anything, much less small segments. It does produce massive
amounts of dust, however. A DIY dust hood is in order.

Does in seconds what was taking _many_ minutes otherwise.
The nicest thing about this setup is that the speed is variable,
rather than being stuck at 1750 or 3600 RPM.

FWIW,

Greg G.

Hi Greg, That's a very useful sanding set-up. It's less elegant, but
you might want to skip the face plate and thread the disc itself since
you'll need to face it anyway. Adjust the register extension with
washers or a turned filler. A tap made from a bolt slightly undersized
for your spindle with cutting-threads made by filing three length-wise
sharp edged grooves might suffice for threading wood discs to fit your
lathe. Some suggest strengthening the disc's threads with superglue, but
I just moisten them with a little water before use and they stay tight.
Of course, cleaning the spindle after each use is a must. Or better
yet... just do it your way, which you know works for you!

Merry Holidays and Happy Christmas.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Arch said:

Hi Greg, That's a very useful sanding set-up. It's less elegant, but
you might want to skip the face plate and thread the disc itself since
you'll need to face it anyway. Adjust the register extension with
washers or a turned filler. A tap made from a bolt slightly undersized
for your spindle with cutting-threads made by filing three length-wise
sharp edged grooves might suffice for threading wood discs to fit your
lathe. Some suggest strengthening the disc's threads with superglue, but
I just moisten them with a little water before use and they stay tight.
Of course, cleaning the spindle after each use is a must. Or better
yet... just do it your way, which you know works for you!


Geez, and here I though I had an original idea.
I guess I should get out more...

As for the wooden threads, with the time I would spend finding a
1"x8TPI bolt, much less modifying it to act as a tap, I could buy the
faceplate. And I'm not too sure I trust threads cut into plywood all
that much. But I may try it next time I need something quick and
dirty.

I didn't have to true the disk. In fact, being that it is plywood, it
probably would have made matters worse. I was concerned that the
seasonal changes in humidity would result in warping with a solid wood
disk. I did sand it slightly to knock off any high spots. It was
just flat, high quality plywood. I checked the runout with a dial
indicator and it was around .0025", which is plenty close for me.

The water trick is cool. I think I first saw Del Stubs use that one
in a bowl turning video. Or maybe it was the first time I used a
water based stain... ;-)

Arch, Merry Christmas to you as well!
SWMBO flew to her folks for the holidays, leaving me here with
numerous pets, tools, and a stack of wood. I didn't want to pry $350
from my wallet enough to go, and don't really care for flying in
commercial jets anyway. Looks like I won't even be getting the
leftovers from dinner. :-|

But Santa already brought my present. Rudolph et al. couldn't get it
into the air, so I picked it up myself. Santa gave me the left half,
and I bought the other... ;-)

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...SantasGift.jpg

Ho, Ho, Ho!


Greg G.

Greg G. wrote:
Greetings,

Building segmented vessels has produced the need for yet another tool.

Using a 1/4" sheet of plate glass and PSA sandpaper works - but eats
up a lot of time and energy, and the results aren't _quite_ perfect.
The tiny segment edges tend to round over very slightly - even using a
supporting jig/fence. I'm not certain if it's the sandpaper deforming
slightly under pressure or the wood tilting slightly on successive
strokes, but it was there nevertheless.

I looked at available Disk Sanders and their predictably poor Chinese
construction, and built this instead. Not particularly difficult to
build, but using a piece of perfectly flat plywood scrap is important.

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...skSander01.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...skSander02.jpg

All you need to know to replicate this idea is contained in the
photos. No, we don't use no steenkin plans... ;-)
Total cost was about $25.00, excluding the PSA sanding disks.
The majority of the cost was the extra 6" faceplate.

Pundits may notice that the platform height is a little low, but I
have reasons for this. There are other jigs, with both single and
compound angles, that ride on this table.

The wooden sanding disk is held to a trued 6" faceplate by imbedded
T-nuts and machine screws from the back. I don't trust wood screws
enough to do otherwise. The T-nuts were then covered with a thin
layer of epoxy/filler and lathed smooth. I placed an outer rim of hot
glue around the disk/flange junction so that subsequent disassembly
and reassembly would result in proper alignment. The glue doesn't
stick to the cast iron.

Although I used a geared protractor to tune the platform to _exactly_
90 degrees to the face of the sanding disk, if you simply flip the
opposite ring half over, they will mate perfectly even if your angles
are off slightly.

As always, use common sense using this or any other power tool.
Shoving a piece of wood into the rising rear edge of the disk is
liable to result in it flying across the room. Keep a firm hold on
your stock and don't press too hard. Either way, I've not had a
problem with insufficient power or the lathe slipping when sanding
much of anything, much less small segments. It does produce massive
amounts of dust, however. A DIY dust hood is in order.

Does in seconds what was taking _many_ minutes otherwise.
The nicest thing about this setup is that the speed is variable,
rather than being stuck at 1750 or 3600 RPM.

FWIW,

Greg G.

$25? That much? I did something similar a couple of months ago when I
needed a sander to do fine adjustments in the tops/bottom panels of
Shaker boxes. My entire expenditure was the cost of the sanding disk or
about $4. The "table" and all the rest came from scrap particle board
and mdf that was lying around the shop. The faceplate was one of the
small ones that use the interchangeable hub (can't remember the name and
I'm too lazy to walk to the shop at the moment). Sticking the hose from
the DC under the table even gives me pretty effective dust collection.
Of course my table has a permanent 4-degree tilt to it which is
important for its intended purpose and which makes it useless for
anything else but I've still got enough scrap from building my kitchen
cabinets that I could make ten more of them if I needed them. Amazing
what happens when you are basically cheap and have run out of shop space
for yet another tool...

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Greg wrote:

As for the wooden threads, with the time I would spend finding a
1"x8TPI bolt, much less modifying it to act as a tap, I could buy the
faceplate. And I'm not too sure I trust threads cut into plywood all
that much. But I may try it next time I need something quick and
dirty.


I bought three 1x8 taps on e-bay for about $9.00 including shipping. Once
you have the taps and an appropriate size spade bit, there are all manner
of things you can make. See Darrell's web site for ideas.

Merry Christmas & enjoy that saw!

Greg, I can't believe you were that good. Is the coal underneath for
ballast?

TomNie

"Greg G." wrote in message
...
Arch said:

Hi Greg, That's a very useful sanding set-up. It's less elegant, but
you might want to skip the face plate and thread the disc itself since
you'll need to face it anyway. Adjust the register extension with
washers or a turned filler. A tap made from a bolt slightly undersized
for your spindle with cutting-threads made by filing three length-wise
sharp edged grooves might suffice for threading wood discs to fit your
lathe. Some suggest strengthening the disc's threads with superglue, but
I just moisten them with a little water before use and they stay tight.
Of course, cleaning the spindle after each use is a must. Or better
yet... just do it your way, which you know works for you!


Geez, and here I though I had an original idea.
I guess I should get out more...

As for the wooden threads, with the time I would spend finding a
1"x8TPI bolt, much less modifying it to act as a tap, I could buy the
faceplate. And I'm not too sure I trust threads cut into plywood all
that much. But I may try it next time I need something quick and
dirty.

I didn't have to true the disk. In fact, being that it is plywood, it
probably would have made matters worse. I was concerned that the
seasonal changes in humidity would result in warping with a solid wood
disk. I did sand it slightly to knock off any high spots. It was
just flat, high quality plywood. I checked the runout with a dial
indicator and it was around .0025", which is plenty close for me.

The water trick is cool. I think I first saw Del Stubs use that one
in a bowl turning video. Or maybe it was the first time I used a
water based stain... ;-)

Arch, Merry Christmas to you as well!
SWMBO flew to her folks for the holidays, leaving me here with
numerous pets, tools, and a stack of wood. I didn't want to pry $350
from my wallet enough to go, and don't really care for flying in
commercial jets anyway. Looks like I won't even be getting the
leftovers from dinner. :-|

But Santa already brought my present. Rudolph et al. couldn't get it
into the air, so I picked it up myself. Santa gave me the left half,
and I bought the other... ;-)

http://webpages.charter.net/videodoc...SantasGift.jpg

Ho, Ho, Ho!


Greg G.

Lobby Dosser said:

Greg wrote:

As for the wooden threads, with the time I would spend finding a
1"x8TPI bolt, much less modifying it to act as a tap, I could buy the
faceplate. And I'm not too sure I trust threads cut into plywood all
that much. But I may try it next time I need something quick and
dirty.


I bought three 1x8 taps on e-bay for about $9.00 including shipping. Once
you have the taps and an appropriate size spade bit, there are all manner
of things you can make. See Darrell's web site for ideas.

Point well taken, but I needed it now and wouldn't have wanted to wait
on shipping. As for the 6" faceplate, it is detachable and was
already on hand. It is not a permanent part of the sanding jig.
So perhaps I should have stated:

Cost $2 for some T-nuts I didn't have on hand. Is that better? ;-)
Everything else was made from scraps I had laying around.
The platform's metal hold down bracket was fashioned with a grinder
and drill from a pallet clamp removed from the new saw. It fits
precisely into a slot on the underside of the lathe bed.

I purchased the 6" faceplate this past summer - to attach a large
9"x10" chunk of green Cherry. It is not permanently attached to the
sanding disk, but simply screws on with machine screws from the rear.
I wanted a larger faceplate that was bigger than the 3" faceplate the
lathe was equipped with. Two-piece 4" faceplates cost $14 each, plus
the $33 hub. So for $22, I got a well made OEM 6" hub/faceplate to go
with that little 3" thing that came with the lathe.

Besides, it takes all of 10 seconds to set this up for use - same way
every time. I don't have to mess around with wooden threads pulling
out, wobbling, unsupported disks, or spacers to keep the headshaft
from poking through the face. Well worth a measly $22 to me.
After all, time is money.

Merry Christmas & enjoy that saw!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

I'm sure there is a special place in limbo for people who peek at
their presents before the actual Holiday, but I have used it this
month already. Loads better than the sad old thing it replaced...

Now if I can find a way to finagle a Poolewood lathe next year... ;-)


Greg G.

Tom Nie said:

Greg, I can't believe you were that good. Is the coal underneath for
ballast?

TomNie

Funny thing, I wasn't good at all! Not in the least!

The saw is a Delta refurb, so it wasn't nearly as expensive as a new
saw. But the fence, table and all the accessories were brand new, and
you can't tell it from a new saw. Must have been a dealer demo unit,
as even the screw holes were virgin. This was the second saw,
however, the first was so hammered up by the "factory" I returned it.
The dealer is local, so it was a matter of driving 5 miles to hump
another one home. They picked up the bad one.

But to answer your other question, the coal is in my stocking and on
my dinner plate. We won't be able to afford food this year. ;-)

The pile of stuff under the saw table is self-harvested Cherry and
wormy Pin Oak planks.

FWIW,

Greg G.

I have almost exactly the same setup on my lathe.

I've made one like that as well, works great for me. Now, if I could
only find a way to easily bulid a 6" wide belt sander that sets up
quick on the lathe, I could get rid of the monster 6x48 belt/disk
sander and free up more than a square yard of my tiny shop space!
Doees anyone out there know of a plan for such a thing, free or paid?

I've seen a drum sander on a lathe. Turn the drum as needed; turn a
separate "idler" pully to hang behind it and keep the belt tight. The
lathe turns the main drum; a weight keeps tension on the idler.

Hmmm... I could probably do a belt sander on my lathe with the
pivoting motor, if I can figure out how to hold the other end.