Thread: Method for blade sanding with a drill press

Originally Posted by WMSheep

....SNIP...
Please, heed this warning
Mark

I'm a little confused. I definitely think there are safety issues with what I posted (see my disclaimer at the top), but not the ones you've mentioned. I think you might be misinterpreting the setup.

Originally Posted by WMSheep

The practice you are employing is placing side forces on the chuck

That's true, but mitigated somewhat because the shaft is supported at the bottom where it runs through the hole in the drill table, so there's no real torque being put on the bearings. There IS a straight sideways force, but a hell of a lot less than the thickness-sander conversions (for scale-making) I saw elsewhere. Also the sanding seems to work best with minimal pressure. I could fix it entirely by raising the table to maximum height (providing support at the top of the shaft just below the chuck) and supporting the shaft bottom at the drill base.

Originally Posted by WMSheep

There is also the question of what happens if the long shaft you are employing snaps - there you will have a length of broken metal flying off in whatever direction at a hell of a speed.

Do you mean the shaft itself? The shaft is wooden. The only metal in this setup is the blade itself but I can't really picture a way the shaft could break that would throw the blade. Even if the shaft broke, one half would still be in the chuck and the other half running through the table.

Originally Posted by WMSheep

Oh, I take it that you have the blade firmly clamped in some sort of jig too, and not just sitting on the baseplate of the drill press?? (Just knocked up a jig at home for less than £2, and that cost was for the magnets!!)

I'm not sure what you mean here. The blade never touches the baseplate or any part of the drill. I hold the blade by hand against the sandpaper drum which is spinning in the drill. That's actually the dangerous part, IMO, because my fingers are so close to the spindle and holding the blade. I've had the blade lurch in my grip LOTS of times so far without any damage, but from a safety point of view cuts are inevitable and protective gloves are out of the question so close to the spindle.

I made a magnetic jig, too, for using with a dremel, but I found five seconds with the dremel more worrying than 5 hours with the drill press rig. I may try using that jig to hold the blade against the drum to get my fingers out of harm's way, but I'll probably add another magnet, first, for extra holding strength.

Thanks for your criticism, although it's not just a case of being too cheap to buy a flex-shaft because that's not how the setup works. If anything it's more like avoiding a buffer/grinder.

Aah, I see the setup now.

Sorry, I misinterpreted the way things were running a little.

Think the only thing I would really add is the use of safety guards & gloves.

Mark

Once again, Many apologies

Originally Posted by WMSheep

Aah, I see the setup now.

Sorry, I misinterpreted the way things were running a little.

Think the only thing I would really add is the use of safety guards & gloves.

Mark

Once again, Many apologies

gloves will get you hurt..... i use this same method from time to time..... gloves will snag and pull your hand into the machine....... it really isn't as dangerous as most people think it would be..... the dowel really isn't spinning that fast....... and by him using wooden dowel the odds are if it did snag him it would break the dowel before injuring him.....

is it the safest way to do it?? NO...

is it dangerous?? a bit...

is it extremely dangerous?? also no.....

The Darwin Awards honor Charles Darwin who observed that each generation descends from those who survive. We commemorate those who give natural selection a hand by removing themselves from the gene pool. Our heroes sacrifice their very lives, thereby self-evidently improving survival chances of the children of the future. After all, evolution is for the children, is it not?

Originally Posted by dogface

The Darwin Awards honor Charles Darwin who observed that each generation descends from those who survive. We commemorate those who give natural selection a hand by removing themselves from the gene pool. Our heroes sacrifice their very lives, thereby self-evidently improving survival chances of the children of the future. After all, evolution is for the children, is it not?

hmmm.... what is YOUR occupation???

i mean to ask your area of expertise......

i mean to ask because i work as a maintenance mechanic for a major airline.... i started welding and metal fabrication 30 years ago working for my father in his metal fab shop.....

i have used lathes and milling machines and drill presses since the age of 13...

i say that because i doubt your work experience around moving machinery..... there are often times while doing machining where the machinists hands comes in contact with whatever they are working on while it still spins in the lathe.... *(and a lathe is MUCH less forgiving than a drill press..) sometimes even applying emory cloth to the material being turned.....

wood lathes spin at a fairly high rate of speed and you will see the operator sometimes apply stain with a rag to the wood being turned as it is turning.....

the setup he has with the drill press is a handy little setup... and i am sure he will use it for years without problems or incident because he is smart enough to pay attention to what is going on.....

your darwin award comment makes me think that your opinion is that we are idiots or somehow incompetent or just plain stupid when in fact some of us are highly skilled in our jobs...

*(not saying we are fool proof because we are not... accidents still happen and craftsmen with many years experience still do stupid things with out thinking....)

i find your post offensive and think you should apologize....

It's actually calmed down a bit (smoother) since I changed the way I attached the trailing end of the sandpaper, and a bit more when I shifted up a gear to 2000 RPM. I also started using less pressure.

The drum is practically harmless. I can grab it with two fingers while it's spinning to slide it up or down the shaft.I usually drag my wet fingertip on the spinning drum to clean & wet the paper. Definitely not worried about safety from that angle.

why? holding a straight razor by hand against a spinning drill press with a wood rod and jury rigged attachment of sand paper. why do I think if anyone in any kind of machine shop business would allow this the would be crazy.
I've had the blade lurch in my grip LOTS of times so far without any damage, but from a safety point of view cuts are inevitable and protective gloves are out of the question so close to the spindle.

they even know it's just a matter of time.

using the same type of setup for almost anything else wouldn't be a big deal but you are talking a straight razor. I hope there is no one else in the same room. I also hope he's wearing a heavy leather apron and a full face shield.

Originally Posted by paco664

hmmm.... what is YOUR occupation???

i mean to ask your area of expertise......

i mean to ask because i work as a maintenance mechanic for a major airline.... i started welding and metal fabrication 30 years ago working for my father in his metal fab shop.....

i have used lathes and milling machines and drill presses since the age of 13...

i say that because i doubt your work experience around moving machinery..... there are often times while doing machining where the machinists hands comes in contact with whatever they are working on while it still spins in the lathe.... *(and a lathe is MUCH less forgiving than a drill press..) sometimes even applying emory cloth to the material being turned.....

wood lathes spin at a fairly high rate of speed and you will see the operator sometimes apply stain with a rag to the wood being turned as it is turning.....

the setup he has with the drill press is a handy little setup... and i am sure he will use it for years without problems or incident because he is smart enough to pay attention to what is going on.....

your darwin award comment makes me think that your opinion is that we are idiots or somehow incompetent or just plain stupid when in fact some of us are highly skilled in our jobs...

*(not saying we are fool proof because we are not... accidents still happen and craftsmen with many years experience still do stupid things with out thinking....)

i find your post offensive and think you should apologize....

Originally Posted by dogface

why? holding a straight razor by hand against a spinning drill press with a wood rod and jury rigged attachment of sand paper. why do I think if anyone in any kind of machine shop business would allow this the would be crazy.
I've had the blade lurch in my grip LOTS of times so far without any damage, but from a safety point of view cuts are inevitable and protective gloves are out of the question so close to the spindle.

they even know it's just a matter of time.

using the same type of setup for almost anything else wouldn't be a big deal but you are talking a straight razor. I hope there is no one else in the same room. I also hope he's wearing a heavy leather apron and a full face shield.

did you even read his first post where he clearly said he only does this on totally dull razors...

But doing this with anything other than a totally dull razor is insane, and gloves would probably make it MORE dangerous with hands wrapped around a high-torque spindle.

Hmmmm Gents, we need to ease up here...

Goggles gave more then enough safety warnings in this thread...

Simple facts are, taking pieces of sharp steel, and combining them with spinning machines is not that safe at all.. PERIOD

Please read the entire thread, before you decide to post
Please understand that Restoring razors is Dangerous.
Heck shaving with them ain't all that safe...

But do not make this thread into anything personal...

TIA

I'd agree that this is not the safest of setups, but using it is not the mark of Cain set upon anybody's forehead. There are some ways I think it could be improved.

The vertical drum isn't the most natural of positions in use. A lathe would be easier, but you need a paper or sheet-metal guard to keep sanding grit from the bed and saddle, where it will cause abrasion.

Wood-turners do indeed apply stain, wax or polish to spinning objects. They take great care that the pad used has no projections that can grab, and for this purpose an edge is a projection. I would expect that pad to go flying at least once in a lifetime, and nobody remembers. But with a straight razor (and razor-dull is unlikely to be dull for other purposes) you are playing in the big league.

Side loading on a bench drill is not advisable, and yet people do it with greater loads than this, and all that happens is that they may, after a long time, noticed progressive looseness of the bearing. I can't see any reason why the spindle needs to be wood, or of a diameter as small as 5/16in. A four-bolt flange beaaring, with a sealed ball race,could be bolted to the four slots in the drill table.