Making a disc sander Media
Published: 12 years ago
This video is a start to finish look at how I made my disc sander from scratch. At first it sounded like a fairly easy project, but as things usually go, it took a lot longer than I was anticipating. The first thing I did was order a 1HP motor and GS2 VFD (variable frequency drive) from www.AutomationDirect.com, I was very pleased with their selection, pricing, and free shipping to Canada. After that I went ahead and started making my own sanding disc out of aluminum. I used a 10" x 10" plate of 1/4" aluminum and the hub was 2" dia x 2" long aluminum round bar. I got the idea from an article I read on CNCCookbook:
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCDiscSander.htm
Using my Tormach milling machine I was able to mill the square plate into a round disc that is 8.75" diameter and drill a few bolt holes through the center. Then I drilled and tapped those holes into the hub. Once I got them bolted together I tried it out on the motor and noticed some serious vibration, no surprise because a 2 piece setup like this is not naturally balanced, or flat. So I chucked it up in my Grizzly G0602 lathe that I converted to CNC, even though I'm using it "manually" here. I turned down the OD a little bit to true it up, then tried facing the disc to make it flat. Due to the large diameter and thin stock, it chattered a LOT. Using a good insert definitely helped. Once I got it "good enough" I was able to make good use of the machine for a few weeks. I decided to get a proper disc from http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/, it is totally worth the $83 they are asking! Once that came it, of course it worked great right away, then I had to make a sanding rest so that I can set my parts down on it while sanding. Using some old aluminum square bar I had laying around I was able to rig something up without too much time and effort spent.
All in all, it works quite well. I probably spent $500 on stuff, Beaumont sells a finished unit for $890 that isn't a bad deal at all if you want a plug and play option, and their extra adjustable work rest looks awesome. But mine does exactly what I wanted it to do. Definitely takes some practice to make nice parts every time, but most tools require that.
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCDiscSander.htm
Using my Tormach milling machine I was able to mill the square plate into a round disc that is 8.75" diameter and drill a few bolt holes through the center. Then I drilled and tapped those holes into the hub. Once I got them bolted together I tried it out on the motor and noticed some serious vibration, no surprise because a 2 piece setup like this is not naturally balanced, or flat. So I chucked it up in my Grizzly G0602 lathe that I converted to CNC, even though I'm using it "manually" here. I turned down the OD a little bit to true it up, then tried facing the disc to make it flat. Due to the large diameter and thin stock, it chattered a LOT. Using a good insert definitely helped. Once I got it "good enough" I was able to make good use of the machine for a few weeks. I decided to get a proper disc from http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/, it is totally worth the $83 they are asking! Once that came it, of course it worked great right away, then I had to make a sanding rest so that I can set my parts down on it while sanding. Using some old aluminum square bar I had laying around I was able to rig something up without too much time and effort spent.
All in all, it works quite well. I probably spent $500 on stuff, Beaumont sells a finished unit for $890 that isn't a bad deal at all if you want a plug and play option, and their extra adjustable work rest looks awesome. But mine does exactly what I wanted it to do. Definitely takes some practice to make nice parts every time, but most tools require that.