Thickness Sander

[Murphys Bread & Beer]

Has anyone here made their own thickness sander, and if so, how did you like the results?

[Marty Jacobson]

I was starting to build my own, but then the Grizzly 16" was on sale for $750, which was about what I was going to spend on the build, so I bought it. It's a good deal even at the current price.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/16-Drum-Sander-w-Rubber-Conveyor/G1079R

[j. condino]

The Guild of American Luthiers published a blueprint of a shop made thickness sander by the late Ted Davis; it is also in the Big Red Book series. I see a lot of the Deta and Jet type machines on Craigslist for very reasonable prices. I bought an 18" Delta thickness sander and a nice canister type floor standing dust collector with under two hours of use on it for $600; better yet a friend of mine bought the 10" Jet model thickness sander for $50!

Lots of folks will argue the fine points among these small machines, but they are all pretty similar in the end. For a small shop running a few hundred linear foot per year they are nice. As a mandolin builder, I use it maybee an hour a year. For building flat top style guitars, it is in use all of the time. As a double bass builder, I still rent a 1/2 hour of time from the local cabinet shop about twice a year on their giant machine.

j.
www.condino.com

www.kaybassrepair.com

[kjbllc]

the results will be as good as you put the time in. Its pretty basic, if you know a machine shop guy he can turn a piece of pipe for you mount bearings make table etc. so if you have friends and more time than money it works out well. It is nice to have the auto feed but you can do without . good luck

[thistle3585]

I bought an 18-36 Palmgren from a importer in Chicago for $500. It is the same 18-36 that Grizzly and Crafstman sell but with a different label. I have been happy with it for the last year, but I did have a problem with it this week and it looks like I might need a new bearing for the drum. What I like about this machine as opposed to an open ended Performax or similar is that the table moves up and down instead of the sanding head. I found that the Performax drums tend to sag and sand unevenly. I'm about ready to get rid of this one and get a dual drum unit.

There is an 18-36 on craigslist for $325 in Cleveland. I doubt you could make one for that much.

[slausonm]

Has anyone here made their own thickness sander, and if so, how did you like the results?

Been a while since I've been on the site. I made this thickness sander. Haven't done plans for it yet, but it works well. Good for small production too slow if you are doing multiple builds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goOm0EomstA&list=UUTDN540QY4_vrNNJ1l59P4A&index=17&feature=plcp

[pfox14]

I got a used Jet 15" drum sander for $400, so I never considered building my own. They are not that expensive to buy even new.

[Marty Jacobson]

Slausonm, I saw your video when I was planning to build my own, and it was very helpful for me.

[Cush]

I made one about 15 years ago, and I'm very happy I did. I got the plans for it from a book from Wood magazine. It is titled Woodworking tools you can make. It came out in 1997 so I don't know if it is still in print. It is constructed from wood so the cost for me was mostly just the motor, a 3\4 or 1 hp. and some pillow blocks. There is no power feed so it is limited but it works well for tapering head stocks and other operations where a partial pass under the sanding drum is needed.

[P Josey]

I built this one a number of years ago and wouldn't be without it. I bought the drum, the belt, and pillow blocks as a kit from Stockroom Supplies.The kit also came with 2 rolls of sandpaper that I'm still using. The rest was built with material from the hardware store and the 1/2 hp motor I had on hand. As Cush mentioned, there are a lot of things I use this sander for that you can't do with a power feed and I am more than happy with it. My suggestion would be to build your own and enjoy.
9433694337

[craigw]

I made one about 15 years ago, and I'm very happy I did. I got the plans for it from a book from Wood magazine. It is titled Woodworking tools you can make. It came out in 1997 so I don't know if it is still in print. It is constructed from wood so the cost for me was mostly just the motor, a 3\4 or 1 hp. and some pillow blocks. There is no power feed so it is limited but it works well for tapering head stocks and other operations where a partial pass under the sanding drum is needed.

I also built my thickness sander from the Wood magazine plans. The blueprints that I have says that it is from the October 1985 edition, under "Build Your Own Surface Sander for under $150". It's a nice diy project and the unit works just fine, especially if you're on a budget.
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[slausonm]

Slausonm, I saw your video when I was planning to build my own, and it was very helpful for me.

Glad it helped! I still use this one for thicknessing the peg head on the necks, but when we do the mass production in class it is too slow for 20+ instruments. I found a used open end machine for a great price locally, so we use that for all of the other sanding. If I were only making a few at a time, my home made machine would work just fine.

[andyschwartz]

Just after I left Roberto-Venn in 1997 I worked for a machinery manufacturer, and I went a little overboard in engineering and fabricating my own, based largely on the ones we used there, only way more precise in adjustment. I actually sold a few, as I had to make several to make it cost worthy. It's a heavy sucker though. The frame is entirely steel.

These are really old photos. This sits on a base, where the motor is mounted, and since then, also has a vacuum port on the hood.
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[j. condino]

Nice work Andy; that's no Swiss army knife and Dremel tool project.


Plenty of folks have shown that it can be done at a reasonable price and with different options. So far none have admitted the total time committment, which can be significant. The real question you've got to ask yourself is that, given the DIY options and the avaiability of them on the secondhand and bargain new market, do you want to spend your time making a sanders or do you want to spend your time making mandolins??? I'd call it a luxury for a mandolin builder, not a necessity. As you get into larger instruments, it becomes more useful.

j.
www.condino.com

[andyschwartz]

My post above should have read 1997, not 2007...oops...There were not many commercially made options available at that time, let alone second-hand, especially ones with a table and drum width and height adjustment which would allow for very thin and wide work, such as guitar backs and tops, which is where I was coming from. I agree though, projects like this can take much time investment on any scale. Though it may seem like a luxury to some to have, I couldn't imagine thickness-ing many things without it.

[Marty Jacobson]

Andy, that's a beautiful machine. Plasma cut?

[David Houchens]

Talk to some local wood/cabinet shops in your area. I found this one sitting in a corner of a shop not being used. The owner had a couple of instruments that needed repairing. Great swap.94347
I got this for around $800 worth of repair.

[andyschwartz]

Andy, that's a beautiful machine. Plasma cut? Thanks. Actually yes, The side frames are plasma cut and the rest is just machined and cut steel bar. The table top is Phenolic, which wears incredibly well and stays somewhat slick feeling. I would definitely do some things differently, like maybe weldments in places to cut costs. One of the things I had experienced on some other machines was slight flex in the thinner table surfaces (some even sheet metal) when fed into the drum, so I made sure that was impossible in my support of the phenolic top.

[slausonm]

...Plenty of folks have shown that it can be done at a reasonable price and with different options. So far none have admitted the total time committment, which can be significant. The real question you've got to ask yourself is that, given the DIY options and the avaiability of them on the secondhand and bargain new market, do you want to spend your time making a sanders or do you want to spend your time making mandolins??? I'd call it a luxury for a mandolin builder, not a necessity. As you get into larger instruments, it becomes more useful.

j.
www.condino.com

Since I built the CNC router from scratch that I machined the parts of my sander from do I need to count that time? :) If I were to estimate the design time it would be 4-5 hours and another 3-4 build time for the sander. My router took way more time.

Sometimes it is about the learning experience and seeing if you can do something AKA the challenge. I will admit that I am not trying to make a living making instruments, so making a sander from scratch while trying to make a living would be difficult. My motivation is to have tooling to be able to teach kids and let them go home with something that they can say they made themselves.

Love the metal frame on the andyschwartz machine. Awesome!

[Murphys Bread & Beer]

Wow, those are some nice sanders. Thanks for all the comments. There is just a certain satisfaction that comes from building something yourself, cost is a factor but sometimes personal satisfaction and pride in a job well done is priceless. I'm in no hurry for a sander, I'll keep my eyes, AND ears open!

[oldwave maker]

I started putting a homemade sander together, then found the now discontinued performax 22-44 that clamps on a radial arm saw. $300, clamped to my unused saw, great for sides and veneers. Precut belts are still available. Would have to do some feed table improvement to do hardwood flat backs, used to rent time on a big machine for that.