Home built Drill Press Thickness Sander.....
Hello all,
Here is a link to a home built thickness sander you can use for wood or steel. This is my first version and the second is already in my head!.
I tried this and succeeded in getting a piece of wood to a thickness of .04" with a variance in thickness of approx .0075 so getting a piece to 1/8" will be no problem.
The sanding drums came from Harbor Freight Tools. I bought them because I can use any sheet of sandpaper or old sanding belt, just cut it to size and insert it into the slot in the sanding drum, then tighten the "key" in the slot. I did not take a pic of the "key", sorry, it comes with the drums (set of 4) for $30.
ChrisL was here today and took the pic's for me so blame him!:)
Spazola, ( Charlie Lewis), was the inspiration for this so to Spazola a real big THANK YOU! It works just fine!
Here is a link to the set of pics
Thickness_Sander - a set on Flickr
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3441/...7eba5508_t.jpg
Pics of the thin piece of wood are also in the set.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/...a11f51c6_m.jpg
To adjust the fence closer to the sanding drum simply tighten the bolt you see in this pic. That makes the fence move closer & closer to the sanding drum and the wood gets thinner & thinner. This is not a fast process but it is very controllable.
The bolt is a 1/4"-20. 20 turns per inch or .05" for each full turn. When you turn the screw 1/4 turn the distance is .0125. But since the drum is half way back between the adjustment bolt and the hinge then the change is 1/2 of that or .00625. (approx)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/...1dee56ee_m.jpg
If you have any questions feel free to ask.