scott59

Hi all scott59 here. I am in Washington State. been looking for ideas on building a tubing bender and dies and a 2'' x 72'' belt sander Thanks

Hi scott59 - welcome to HomemadeTools.net :welcome:

Tubing bender, belt sander, yup, we can help with that.

Here are some links for ideas:

Homemade Tube Benders - HomemadeTools.net
Homemade Belt Sanders and Grinders - HomemadeTools.net

For a belt sander, you can start by sourcing a treadmill on Craigslist. These will usually be free, or close to free, and they'll usually be lightly used - the person getting rid of the treadmill will probably not exactly be an Olympic runner. :) You can verify this by examining the state of the treadmill belt, and looking at how worn the most common buttons or controls are.

The treadmill can provide two things: first, a drive motor for the belt sander, with accompanying speed controls. And, some treadmills include a second incline motor; that's the motor that alters the incline of the treadmill, so that someone can simulate walking or running uphill. That incline motor can be used for tensioning the belt.

Along the lines of free exercise equipment on Craigslist - also look for a free weight bench. Cut up that bench, and that's your belt sander frame.

No speed controls - think about using a step pulley. No tensioning motor - one trick is to put the drive motor on a hinging plate.

At that point, consider your wheels. On the high end, you can buy a pre-made wheel kit. Lowbuck solution: you make your wheels from wood. Mind the crowning, and consider that a crown can wear down over time from abrasion from the belt backing.

Then consider tracking. This is commonly accomplished with a well-placed and easily-turned eye bolt. Tracking is often slightly adjusted as speed is changed.

So your bones are: drive motor, tensioning, frame, wheels, tracking.

At that point, you can consider accessories: grinding rests, disc sander or buffing wheel add-ons, wheels or casters for portability, and a well-placed bin for gathering sparks.

Tube bender: bender
Belt sander: DIY Knifemaker's Info Center about halfway down under "knifemakers info pages" dropdown select "2X72 belt sander"

You might want to check out the Chopper Builders Handbook page, there are plans for a couple different types of benders there.
Index
Scroll down the page to the Downloads section and you can find them there.



Whoops looking back at tenneseeZ's post I saw he already covered it

If you're willing to settle for a non-2x72 belt sander, and you already have a bench grinder, Carlos B had a very clever solution: https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...9223#post88882

Thanks for the info great ideas.