Yet another function I discovered my SS can perform!
I replaced the throat plate with the dust extractor fixture for the drum sander and cut a piece of Contact brand non-slip shelf covering to fit the table. (It is the basically the same stuff as the router mats, but about a tenth of the price.) Connect the dust extractor and volia! a nice way to control the dust when hand-sanding plus it gives you a flat surface that won't mar your piece.
Having just recently joined the forum, I am going through all of the previous posts and find this very interesting. I have been thinking about making a downdraft box for hand sanding but I think I will try this first. Maybe it will save me the trouble.
I just tried this today and found it worked quite well considering the small hole that is causing the downdraft. Besides picking up dust as you sand, running the piece (if it small enough) over the hole cleans off the piece quite nicely. If I had one suggestion it would be to support the main table with the fixed extension table and tubes connecting them to reduce pressure on the main table. I didn't do this but will the next time as I tend to apply a lot of pressure to my sanding block.
If nothing else, this trial really showed the benefit of a downdraft system to reduce sawdust as you sand.
paulmcohen wrote:Yes, it is a throat plate with a hole in it and a connection to a shop vacuum.
Thanks! I mis-read your "Thread Starter". When you said "the dust collector attachment for the drum sander" - - my mind stopped working at the word attachment. So I immediately thought of the "Disk Sander Dust Chute. Since this part is intended only for models earlier than 505"s - I wondered how it fit on your 520. Duhh!!
O.K. now I will try this sanding dust collection idea with my "Drum Sander Table Insert".
Thank you for your very good inovation, and for passing it along!!:)
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
