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If someone has a conical sanding disk maybe they could figure out how thick it is for me. I'm looking for the distance 't' in the drawing below. I'm designing a dust collection shroud for disk sanding and need to find the width I'll need for the various disk types. The flat steel disks are quite thin but I also have an aluminum disk and that will already need at least 3/4" total space for clearance with the ribbing it has on the back. I think the conical won't be much wider than that if at all but might as well prepare in case I get one someday.

It is slightly different than your drawing. The thick portion of the hub does not protrude beyond the rim as you've depicted it. So my 't' starts at the rim. I got 13/16".

- David

This was a bit beyond the capacity of my longest calipers, so take this with a grain of salt, but I measure 1/2 inch.

Uh Oh. DLB and I are way off. And I don't think I'm squaring with his objection to your drawing.

Are there different versions of the conical sanding disk?

Thanks guys.

My drawing comes from the product page: Shopsmith Exclusive Conical Sanding Disc

That's all I have to go from, I've never seen one. 13/16" should be fine. If it is only 1/2" I'll have plenty of room already.

davebodner wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:47 pm Uh Oh. DLB and I are way off. And I don't think I'm squaring with his objection to your drawing.

Are there different versions of the conical sanding disk?

We are way off, I'm thinking there must be different versions. The rim alone on mine is 1/2". Which might explain why on mine the thick part of the hub is not seen in that view. Not even close.

Ed - These are pretty cool. It is one of those things where you don't need it - then you try it once and you wonder how you lived without it. My only objection is that it really 'leverages' (pun intended) the whole table stability thing by putting a lot of lateral pressure on the table. And the angle makes it so you can't tie the main table to the extension to stabilize it. And the claim in the catalog that you can remove up to 1/8" in a single pass is, IMO, somewhat optimistic.

- David

I’ve encountered the same issue, and found a half-decent workaround in simply butting the main table up against the extension table.

YES there is a difference of some sort..

The disk itself (measured without the spindle is 51/64" thick.
To make this measurement, I removed the spindle from the disk, laid the disk flat on my workbench and measured the distance down through the hole to the workbench surface.

Adding the spindle creates a entirely different situation.
Then there is the Spindle

Thanks to everyone for all these quick responses.

I didn't know there was a removable spindle. It looks like once I have sufficient space for the aluminum disk and a sufficient gap for either side of the disk then the conical will fit. It's similar in profile to the aluminum disk except it's convex side is on the face of the disk instead of the back.

I'm sure I'll end up getting a conical disk some day. I'm not sure why I'd need to take 1/8" off a board in one pass when I have a jointer and planer. I imagined it was good way to finish sand the edge of a longer piece.

I hate to throw a "Monkey Wrench" into your plan but there is another consideration here and Dusty touched on it. Since the lower guards all attach to the end of the quill the total distance the face of a sanding disk is positioned is different for each one and should be considered. The Conical Sanding Disk is made with a longer hub for the Mark 7 and Mark V 520, 510 & 505. If you were to measure the distance from hub end to the furthest part of the disk face is 2-3/4". The Steel Disks measure 2-1/8" for the long hub and 1-3/8" for the short hub. The Aluminum Disks, both 6 and 12 ribs measure 1-3/16"