Disc Sander Question

Michael J. Spangler

Michael J. Spangler

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
2,181
what do you guys think about the 4" disc sander from harbor freight. all i need is something small for quick touch ups to keep perfect 90 degrees on bolster and handle material so everything fits tight.
have any of you worked with one of these? thanks
 
I don't know, I'd be interested in hearing others thoughts on this as I'm looking for a good disk sander for the same thing. I would think it's under powered, but then I'm using an 8" disk mounted on a washingmachine motor right now so what do I know? :D
 
well the way i look at it is that you're just going to be working softer materials like woods and brass and such. so the heavy work can be done on the belt grinder and just touch it up to make the perfect 90 degrees o the little machine. i think the 12" disc are overkill for something like that.
they do also have combos of 6" disc with a 4" wide belt sander on it.
which is pretty nice for taking care of flats after HT
 
I don't know how I'd like the 4", I like the 8-9" as I use sheet sandpaper on it with 3M spray adhesive. The price is right, I may have to get one and try it.
 
I'm real close to finishing my vertical 9" disc sander with quick change discs. It'll be just like my horizontal sander in that you'll be have several discs with different grits of paper glued up and ready to go so when you're working on a project you just switch from coarse to finer grits. I'm also making wedges at the degrees that I grind things at like the lock area of my blade which is 8degrees and I'll make another at 30 degrees or so for dovetailing bolsters and handles. and what ever else is needed. The wedge will just sit on top of the base of the stock support and be lined up with index pins and it will make all the grinding a no brainer and pretty much as easy as it can get to keep everything the right angles every time. Naturally I'll also have a stock support that's square to the disc too.
After it's finished I'll take lots of pix and post a thread so everyone that wants a good disc sander can build one for themselves. My motor is a 1 horse Baldor and it happened to be reversible which was great cause that will allow me to flat grind small blades on the sander as well.
The biggest plus is having the quick change discs.
You don't have to waste paper by changing it out before it's used up and you don't waste time by tearing off the paper and cleaning the disc every time you need a different grit.
I already had the motor but I see them on Ebay all the time for less than 50 bucks and the disc I'm using for the base was $89 I think from K&G, it's the turned steel disc, not the cast aluminum one. I think even if you had to buy everything you could build it for less than $225. I know that sounds like a lot for a disc sander but when you figure the amount of use it will get and how much quality it'll add to your knives, it isn't much at all.
I'll stop fartin around and get the thing finished so I can post the pix and such for you guys in case you might want to make yourself one.
Take care everyone!!
Michael
 
Hurry up and quit fartin around Michael, we want to see it! :D

Seariously though I've been thinking along thouse lines as I do need a good disk sander and I've got a 3/4 horse motor and an 8" aluminum disk, I was just trying to figure out a tiltable table that wouldn't be too time consuming to build.

Then again for 250.$? Tru Grit has a precsion disk sander without the motor. Kinda pricey but nice.
 
ok rene roy says he had one and it sucked. i'm going to hold out for the disc from rob frink and buy a motor from ebay. will i'll send you a picture of a cool way to set them up.
 
send me the picture too Michael.....
 
Here's some pix for ya!
Got the sander bolted together and got all the discs made up. Now all I need to do is make the wdges and the square stock support and glue up some sand paper and I'm ready to go.
This thing runs so smooth you can't even hear it. Absolutely no wobble or imbalance in it even with the laminate discs mounted to it.

discsander.jpg


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In this picture you can see the two 1/4" index pins and the two threaded holes in the steel disc that the bolts go into that secure the laminate discs.

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I bought a section of counter top at Home Depot to use for these discs. The laminate on it is super tough. I drilled the holes for the index pins in the steel disc and then laid it on the laminate disc and drilled 3/4's the way thru. Then I super glued the index pins into the holes in the steel disc. This made sure the laminate discs would stay lined up and I drilled the holes for the bolts and also traced the disc. I then rough cut the laminate discs and used my router with straight cutting bit with a guide bearing to finish the discs off to match the steel disc as exacting as possible. They came out very nice.
Well, If you have any questions, shoot me an email. CooperKnives@earthlink.net
I'll post some pix of the wedges when I get them made. I was thinking of recessing some magnets in the bottoms of them as a way to secure them to the 6 by 4 steel tubing but I'm not sure if that would work well or not.
Take care folks!
Michael
 
Great photo's Michael(L-6), that gives me an idea if I can come up with the scrap steel. One thing that's been holding me back is lack of thick stock, but I think I've got some 1/4" plate in the scrap pile.
 
Thanks Will, Michael!!
If you're in need of a steady source of steel, find a local metal fabrication shop and visit them and just happen to have a couple of your knives with you. :)
The shop I go to has a dumpster where they pitch their drop offs and the gent that runs the shop lets me look thru it some times.
You're right Michael, it was easy to build, very simple. The section of heavy angle iron makes sure the disc is near square to the base so you won't have to shim the stock support much at all if any. I used the heavy steel so the sander would be super stable. I can't stand working on machines that vibrate or try to move around on me.
 
Hey guys, John Leitch has a better idea than mine!!
He used a 1/4-20 stud as the single indexing pin in the center of the disc to keep everything lined up and covered the back side of the lamainated discs with that thin adhesive backed magnet material like they use to make signs for car doors.
Instead of having to mess with two allen bolts everytime you want to change discs, you just spin the old one off and spin the new one on.
Excellent idea John!!!
Michael
 
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