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I'd like to share a few details of my recently-built sander, with comments. None of the ideas are original.


Using a softwood wedge in a slot in the drum was a technique from a thickness sander 'kit' (LMI??) I built about 20 yrs ago. It's effective and less cumbersome than hose clamps and screws.


Direct drive eliminates a lot of messing with belts and pulleys. If you are building a smaller sander, you can make it a 'tabletop' model using direct drive. This is a commercial flex coupling; on my first sander I used a chunk of heater hose and hose clamps. Both work.

Using epoxy and filleting blend makes an easy job of joining curves. The 'pipe' for the dust collector hose is a section of shipping tube, but epoxy sticks well to ABS and PVC as well (roughen before bonding).

This curved hood looks effective, but I've lost my handy spot to stack work in progress. The old 'flat-top' on my previous sander was better.

Having the 'table' sloped at the most common thicknessing position helps coarse sawdust make its way to the floor, rather than accumulating.

I'd forgotten how useful a thickness sander can be... the weekend I spent building 'sander central station' is worth it.
Cheers
John

Cool! Thanks for posting! Is your drum phenolic?

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Great ideas you have there John. That seems like a really well build and executed machine!

Indeed, the thickness sander is the one machine I sorely miss from my 'arsenal'... To me, it seems that every pieces of wood that goes into the construction of a guitar has to be thicknessed one way or another...

I sure wish I had one!

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Very good John,

The drum looks to be ali with phenolic end caps, what ever it does look to be a very affective machine.

Cheers

Kim

[QUOTE=Billy T] Cool! Thanks for posting! Is your drum phenolic?[/QUOTE]

I'm too cheap to use stuff like phenolic for a drum sander!
The drum is made of stacked disks of veneered particleboard and lumber-core plywood. When I decided to get back to guitar building I went to an auction and picked up some old case-type furniture (desks and such) for $2 and $5 and knocked them apart for the lumber. Great for workboards, etc. as well as tools like this.
I think the end disks have mahogany veneer/mahog plywood. I trued up the ends with a turning tool once I had the drum spinning- not necessary but it looks a bit better.
John

Thats sweet John! I will be able to post some pics of my thickness sander soon, its one of those crappy belt drives though. I copied the shopnotes plans and it will eventually run on its own motor although it will be powered by my tablesaw initially - til I find one,
I made it 18" wide so it would accept most any guitar top or back I could throw at it. I should have gone your idea though - very simple and effective.
Cheers
Charliewood

[QUOTE=charliewood] Thats sweet John! I will be able to post some pics of my thickness sander soon, its one of those crappy belt drives though.
I made it 18" wide so it would accept most any guitar top or back I could throw at it. I should have gone your idea though - very simple and effective.
Cheers
Charliewood[/QUOTE]

Charlie-
Nothing wrong with belt drive- it does keep the mass lower and makes things more stable. At some point, I think I might put some sort of storage in the space under the sander(s), and having that space open is a plus.
Gotta put some (locking) wheels on that puppy first, though.
Finding motors is the key- make friends with the guy at the dump/recycling yard, perhaps?
John
John

Very nice machine John and thanks for the "wedge in a slot " tip, i'll probably switch to that instead of carpet tape!