Shopsmith Forums

Hi,

Credit for this project goes to the Sand Flee people as well as reible's old posting on "Sand Almost Free."

I've been lusting for a Sand Flee but haven't been ready to buy it yet. However... I did just get the 6-inch Drum Sander. I went to work making a miniature Sand-Flee of my own.

I had an old 500 tie-bar & trunnion. I took 5 inches out of it and used J-B Weld to put it back together. After painting it gray, it looked pretty nice.

I continued and fashioned a box on top the trunnions. The very top of the box utilizes some old cherry cabinet-door panels which I found in a neighbor's trash. The tapers came in very handy as you can see.

I added a Dust Port and also used the 6-inch Drum itself to make the final tweaks on the top panels.

It worked GREAT! There is a bit of runout in the rubber drum (not the aluminum basis of the drum) but with the Trunnion system I could level the table just right over the length of the drum. See the pieces of walnut; one is still rough-bandsawn, and the other is after some passes across this drum & table. Dust control was GREAT, just nothing came out!

Cheers,

Well done, Chris!

Looks GREAT, Chris! You deserve a big ATTA BOY!

Totally sweet, innovative.
The finished board looks great, and the nuhobby sandflee-inator (so we don't infringe on trademark rights):D looks professional too!

You guys never cease to amaze me. Kind of like my Mark V and my Mac, the answer to any question about " Can IT do this?" is always "yes, it can, but can I?'.

Hi,

It was nice to see this thread again and I'm glad that we have people willing to experiment with home built tools. Chris did a great job!!!

When I was first interested in this type tool I was just fooling around with a design but you know it turned out to be a useful tool in the shop. Even at the smaller size it works for a lot of projects.

For those that missed the initial postings you can check it out at:
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=863

All of the information that I did at the other forum is no longer there due to a change in the software used for the board. I don't have a copy sorry. But the pictures are in place and if you have questions feel free to ask.

Someone not long ago ask if I still used it... the answer is yes! Hey for an afternoons project it well worth the effort.

Ed

VERY NICE........IMHO there is no better feeling than bujilding a quality tool that does a great job from parts in your inventory. I never understood woodworkers that bought things like router tables, work benches and other tools that are things I think should be built at home ,,,unless you just dont have the time, there are exceptions:rolleyes:

Thanks for your kind words.

I think I'm about 50/50 split on a few of our passions. Earlier I had no patience for making jigs or tools, but that patience is developing. Similarly, sometimes I'm too much into the tools & catalogs and leave attractive piles of wood waiting [longer] for some project destiny. Acquisition vs. usage, it's a ongoing tension! Both are fun....