Sanding Storage

[Burt Alcantara]

How are you storing your sanding supplies? Mine are in bags (Vince's) all over the place. It's getting worse because I have 1" & 2" discs and thinking of getting some 3" as well. On top of that, I have sanding pads, extensions, sticks and some I'm constructing.

As per my usual mode of operation, I put something down and it's vanished into the Event Horizon. I use grits from 80 to 800. Just discs at the moment.

If you have pics, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Burt

[Jim Kountz]

Go to Lowes and look in the storage aisle for these blue caddies with tilt out boxes. They are super cheap like $5 or something and each one has six of the tilt out boxes. I labeled each one for a different grit and had an extra left over for holding the mandrels. You can screw them to the wall or they have mounting tabs for pegboard.
Now for my other sanding supplies I took an old filing cabinet. I made some dividers out of 1/8" hardboard and sectioned off one drawer to hold the various grits of sanding discs for my ROS. The other drawer I did the same thing for sheets and the final drawer hold the sanders themselves.
Works great for me.

[Todd Burch]

I built this sandpaper cabinet several years ago. Works great. The trays all slide out in dados. It's about 50" tall I guess. My plan was to mount it on the wall, but it has been sitting on the floor just fine for quite a while.

Todd

[Jonathan Harvey]

I use regular school binders with plastic inserts. I put each grit in it's own plastic section and label them accordingly.

[Jon McCoy]

I keep the discs in small peanut butter jars, labeled on the lid and side for grit and size. SWMBO favors one particular brand, which only comes in one size jar, which is handy. Those jars, pads, sticks, handles, and the HF drill all fit into a medium-sized clear plastic lidded tub, which goes on the shelving near the lathe. Having to pull it down and put it away after each sanding process is my price for having it all in one place.

For sandpaper rolls, I banged together a bottomless box of 1/4" ply similar to the cardboard ones sold at Rockler/Woodcraft, but holds an array of 1" wide 25m long rolls -- 80 grit through 600 grit. Having them handy in a row keeps me from skipping grits when sanding spindles. I don't try to "save" little pieces anymore, just toss in the trash bucket and grab the next one.

For ROS discs, I made a small organizer from a magazine article a while back. Basically a set of 6" squares of 1/2" ply, with dowels to keep the discs on the square. Then a vertical box with shelf rails to keep them sorted.

I bought a pile of different sizes of clear lidded plastic tubs, trying to regain some organization near the lathe. A small one for all the extra chuck parts and unused jaws. A long shallow one for my captured hollowing rig. Several contain popular project parts & templates, like candleholder rings or kaleidoscope parts or oil lamp inserts. Forcing myself to put things back in the box is hard, but easier than hunting through the bench debris to find something. As long as the containers are clear, it's simple to find what I need.

[Jim McFarland]

Newbie turner here and doubt this will help you but has worked very well for me over the last couple of weeks. 80 through 1200 g pre-cut to the sizes I use plus room for MM pads and wax. Small spindle turning only to date and primarly pens.

Main requirements for me are (1) fit in limited space but still (2) provide ready access to the grits for my sanding schedule. I do the turning, turn off the lathe, collect the 6 sheets for my schedule, pull the vac hose over for dust collection, then restart the lathe to sand.

Again, I doubt it will do much for you guys with the "big iron" but might help other mini-lathe newbies.

[alex carey]

I do the same as Jonathan.

[George Guadiane]

I use those tilt out trays for my discs, but I couldn't find them at Lowe's
For sheets I am using a file folder BOX. I tried the accordion thing, but blew it up in short order, I tend to over stuff.

[BILL DONAHUE]

These storage bins are available at Craft Supplies and they work well for me. Cost about $14.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/woodturners/Images/products/main/tilt-a-bin.jpg (javascript:PopupPic('/products/large/tilt-a-bin_l.jpg');)

[sascha gast]

I do the same as Jonathan.

yup, that's what i use as well, but the larger version so I can fit more sandpaper

[Allen Neighbors]

I have a small swinging shelf attached to the side of my grinder. On it sits a group of ten cashew peanut cans with plastic lids. I painted the cans and the lids are marked with the grits. The cans each hold a full pack of 50 of Vince's 3 1/4" disks, grit side down. When I need a fresh disk, I pop off the lid, and stick my little inertia sander against the disk, one comes out. Works well.