Shopsmith Forums

Can this be done with a Shopsmith sanding disk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QmDvJb ... =81&t=425s

A conical sanding disk will work better. There are also rotary planers.

edma194 wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 8:02 pm A conical sanding disk will work better. There are also rotary planers.

Have you done this with a Conical disk? I can see where they would work better.

I am seriously considering buying the disks in the video but not for this purpose.

I know about the rotary planers. Right now, I resaw and sand off the saw marks.

I have used a conixal sanding disc with a sled and the table fence to flatten narrow frame parts glued to a plywood panel.

It worked well though took me a couple times to learn to keep it flat against the table and fence.

I might add an L shaped auxiliary fence to give me more room between mtge fence and the disc to better hold the piece next time (1/8" panel).

I WOULD NOT ATTEMPT THAT WITH A FLAT SHOPSMITH SANDING DISK.

Trapping the work piece between the table and the disk would make the work piece very hard to control. A good way to propel a flying object.

What size stock are you trying to arrive at? And starting from what size? If you have large enough stock to resaw it why would you want to sand it down to size instead of just finishing it?

IMO , if you add a micro bevel to your shop chisels you would need 2 angled blocks .

edma194 wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2023 9:32 am What size stock are you trying to arrive at? And starting from what size? If you have large enough stock to resaw it why would you want to sand it down to size instead of just finishing it?

I make small items that have pieces as thin as 1/8-inch. I have boxes full of short hardwood cutoffs with all sorts of thicknesses. A box where I want all the sides to be the same thickness comes to mind. I would resaw it to get the required thickness and sand it flat. To do this with a conical sander would be another tool in my box.

If your workpieces are thin, the standard SS 3” sanding drum makes a very serviceable mini drum sander. Just mount the sanding drum to the spindle, and leave your machine horizontal. Drop the table down beneath the sanding drum, and adjust the gap to the desired workpiece thickness.

You have to feed the workpiece into the drum from the back side of the machine, of course, so that the sanding drum is pushing against the feed direction. Then just grab a scrap of wood that’s as thin or thinner than the gap, and use it to push the workpiece all the way through. Easy peasy. The geometry is just like a regular drum sander, but without a feed belt.

You can thickness stock that’s up to 3” wide in one pass. You can also thickness wider stock in multiple passes, shifting it laterally between passes.

...or splurge on the Shopsmith 6" drum sander.

Yes, I have used this technique. It definitely works. You want to take thin passes -- barely making contact between the drum and the stock. Even still, it makes piles/clouds of sawdust that the dust collector struggles to keep up with.