Shopsmith Forums

My used strip sander came with only the 1" flat platen. I am interested if any of you use the 1/2" curved platen and consider it worth having.

Also, any photos of the curved platen I have found are too fuzzy to see any detail. Could someone post a couple of photos, say from front and back?

tia!

Peter,

I have both the 1/2" and curved platens but to be honest I have never used them. In part because my strip sander has an alignment issue due to an incompletely machined housing. Yes, I know I should call Linda about this.

What little wood I have sanded was all handled easily by the standard platen. Most of my sanding has been on metal, in particular my lathe tools. The strip sander is such a superb sharpening system that I leave it in this configuration and only reinstall the table and standard platen when I need to sand something else.

If no one gets photos posted I will add them later, my wife has the camera today.

Troy

prmindartmouth wrote:My used strip sander came with only the 1" flat platen. I am interested if any of you use the 1/2" curved platen and consider it worth having.

Also, any photos of the curved platen I have found are too fuzzy to see any detail. Could someone post a couple of photos, say from front and back?

tia!

Anything else?

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The radius is about equal to that of a quarter dollar.

Great pictures especially with the ruler, thank you jpg40504.......I am going to try to make one for myself.

Troy thanks for your comment. I am not sure how often I would use it but like the idea of having one, but reluctant to pay $25 for it.

Looking at the pictures, it appears that the curved portion is just above the slot in the table when mounted. I assume the moving belt sort of takes a half rounded shape so you could sand inside (concave) corners easier. I did read about "stoning" the edges of the belt in the owner's manual.

prmindartmouth wrote:Great pictures especially with the ruler, thank you jpg40504.......I am going to try to make one for myself.

Troy thanks for your comment. I am not sure how often I would use it but like the idea of having one, but reluctant to pay $25 for it.

Looking at the pictures, it appears that the curved portion is just above the slot in the table when mounted. I assume the moving belt sort of takes a half rounded shape so you could sand inside (concave) corners easier. I did read about "stoning" the edges of the belt in the owner's manual.

If I were to make one, I think I would make it from both a flat piece and a round stock and weld them together. I do not know how to get a good curve like that from thick flat stock without a BIG press!

It appears from jpg's second photo that the face of the center of the curved part is flush with the face of the flat that has the mounting slots, ie the exact center of the belt is on the same alignment it has with a flat platen. (hard to explain) A photo taken edge on of the curved platen would confirm.

I agree a BIG press would be needed to form it from a flat piece of steel. I am thinking of soldering a half a piece of 1" dia brass pipe to a flat piece of brass but need the edge on photo to confirm the alignment, please!

prmindartmouth wrote:It appears from jpg's second photo that the face of the center of the curved part is flush with the face of the flat that has the mounting slots, ie the exact center of the belt is on the same alignment it has with a flat platen. (hard to explain) A photo taken edge on of the curved platen would confirm.

I agree a BIG press would be needed to form it from a flat piece of steel. I am thinking of soldering a half a piece of 1" dia brass pipe to a flat piece of brass but need the edge on photo to confirm the alignment, please!

It is! A 1/4" depth is on the 'original'. That provides a 1" wide arc for the 1" belt. The back side is cut parallel to the flat plate. This provides immediate relief from the platen interfering with the workpiece at the edge of the belt.

thank you jpg

I will post a picture of my version eventually.

prmindartmouth wrote:My used strip sander came with only the 1" flat platen. I am interested if any of you use the 1/2" curved platen and consider it worth having.

tia!

Yes, hadn't used the curved platen until recently. It is a 1" platen. It has recently taken the place to drum sanders for curved parts of small cars I am now making. Today used it to sand a couple of variable radius curves for a part of a toy "Skid Steer Loader. I find it works good with light touch on such curves.

If you wanted my recommendation, it would be to buy a curved platen from SS, then make a couple more with different radii.

I have two 1/2" flat platens. They also come in handy sometimes. I modified one of these by shortening the top fork in order to fit through small holes. However, I found internal sanding to be very hard on my plastic idler wheels.

Bill Mayo is kindly going to check for me if he has this curved platen, but in the meantime I made one. It is made of steel and just rivited together. It seems to work ok but having done so, I'd rather have the genuine article. Here is the picture I promised:
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