Mike Cruz
08-02-2009, 9:50 PM
Well, as some of you may know, I upgraded my band saw recently. This left me with 2 motors (the orginal 3/4 HP motor from the BS and a second one, a 1.5 HP that had gotten damaged...cosmetically...in shipping but was otherwise perfect...long story...but the bottom line was that I had two motors). I was going to sell them, but realized that I still had two pieces of equipment I needed for my shop...a 12" disc sander, and a drum sander. So I decided to use the motors to build a sanding station for the disc and drum sanders.
To be honest, I don't know how much (if any) money I saved, but I DID get just what I wanted in likely less space than "bought" units.
I got the 12" disc from Ebay (about $35 with shipping) and the drum sander attachment on Ebay ($46). Of course there was plywood (already had that) and hardware...dust collection hose and fittings...stuff to make the disc sander table...bolts, yada, yada, yada. So again, I don't know how much money is actually IN this thing, but I can tell you there is a LOT of time in it. It may not be pretty, but there was a LOT of thought into it. The dust collection hoses were going to be run internally, but externally won out, partly for ease of initial installation, but also in case they ever (for whatever reason) needed to be accessed.
The drum sander is run by the old 3/4 HP BS motor that is run on 110. The disc is run on the 1.5 HP Leeson motor that is wired for 220. When I realized that I only had one 220 plug on this wall...to the right of the entryway (bad shop design, I know) I had to do some creative thinking. So as not to ever have an electrical inspector ever accuse me of putting in a new outlet in/on the building without permission, I decided to put an outlet on a machine. That plug goes to the wall, power is fed from the plug to the switch, and from the switch to the motor. My band saw goes into the plug on the side of the unit.
The disc sander table is not adjustable. Honestly, in the 5 years I worked in a professional shop, I never had the need to adjust the table. So instead of spending a whole lot of time thinking up yet another thing to design, I simply made it a flat stationary table.
Here are some photos:
First pic is of entire unit. Second and third are of the drum sander. Fourth shows the disc sander. Fifth shows the back...showing the motors with the trap door to get to "innards" like bolts and switches etc.
Oh, dimensions of box are roughly 48" H X 18" D X 24" W. The disc table is 16" X 12".
And of course, questions and comments are welcome (don't be too hard on me ;) ).
To be honest, I don't know how much (if any) money I saved, but I DID get just what I wanted in likely less space than "bought" units.
I got the 12" disc from Ebay (about $35 with shipping) and the drum sander attachment on Ebay ($46). Of course there was plywood (already had that) and hardware...dust collection hose and fittings...stuff to make the disc sander table...bolts, yada, yada, yada. So again, I don't know how much money is actually IN this thing, but I can tell you there is a LOT of time in it. It may not be pretty, but there was a LOT of thought into it. The dust collection hoses were going to be run internally, but externally won out, partly for ease of initial installation, but also in case they ever (for whatever reason) needed to be accessed.
The drum sander is run by the old 3/4 HP BS motor that is run on 110. The disc is run on the 1.5 HP Leeson motor that is wired for 220. When I realized that I only had one 220 plug on this wall...to the right of the entryway (bad shop design, I know) I had to do some creative thinking. So as not to ever have an electrical inspector ever accuse me of putting in a new outlet in/on the building without permission, I decided to put an outlet on a machine. That plug goes to the wall, power is fed from the plug to the switch, and from the switch to the motor. My band saw goes into the plug on the side of the unit.
The disc sander table is not adjustable. Honestly, in the 5 years I worked in a professional shop, I never had the need to adjust the table. So instead of spending a whole lot of time thinking up yet another thing to design, I simply made it a flat stationary table.
Here are some photos:
First pic is of entire unit. Second and third are of the drum sander. Fourth shows the disc sander. Fifth shows the back...showing the motors with the trap door to get to "innards" like bolts and switches etc.
Oh, dimensions of box are roughly 48" H X 18" D X 24" W. The disc table is 16" X 12".
And of course, questions and comments are welcome (don't be too hard on me ;) ).