18" Thickness Sander

[Nick Jonkman]

For many years I had wanted a thickness sander. So I started collecting material for it over the years. Last winter I set out to build one. I got a fine sanding belt 18" x 48" for the feed, I believe it was from Grisly Tools. I had an 18" x 4" vellcro drum made by Stockroom Supply. These form the heart of the machine. I first tried welding 4 nuts for the 3/4" screws to plates but it seemed to be impossible to get them to line up so you could get smooth elevation. So finally I went wrooting through my workbench drawers and found a piece of UHMW about.1 1/2" x 1 1/4" and about 18" long. I cut it in half and clamped them on top of each other and drilled the holes for3/4" course thread in my small vertical mill/drill This way the holes were guaranteed to be parallel And that worked out perfect, besides UHMW is self lubricating. The motor is 1 1/2 HP running on 220 Volt which keeps it purring. The feed belt is powered by a 12 Volt DC geared motor 1/2HP and has a gear box output of 15 RPM. I found that motor on E-Bay at a very reasonable price and brand new. The 12V power pack was from an old tent trailer. Basically a transformer with a 4 diode bridge. The rest is all standard materials.