Sanding Station

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This is a sanding station I made specifically to create a co-planer space for my Flat Master v-sander and my oscillating sander to sit on that allowed out feet onto my assembly table.

The carcass is 3/4 ply, held together with pocket hole screws. I banded all the edges with walnut for color contrast and then added birch splines to the banding as a accent. The whole thing rests on 4" poly castors.

There's an end door (under the oscillating sander) that houses a stand alone dust collection system. It's just a bucket head vac and a bucket top thein-style separator, but both tools are connected to it and it works well enough. Both main tool and the vac system are tied together with a machine-start switch so the vac comes on with the tools and stay on about 8 seconds after they turn off. Which I think helps a lot with keeping the light dust down. ***Since the original build, I’ve pulled out these bucket heads and piped the whole thing into my main DC system. Now I use that section for storage of other sanding goodies…specifically wheels and extra belts. 

Leveling the tools so everything lines up was a bit of a chore, and I had to cobble together a leveling system on them to make it all work..and math…

There are two drawers for hand sanding tools and storage, which is awesome because I've got a fair amount of sanding tools.

I finished it in straight amber shellac. My goal, if you can call it that, was to see if I could reproduce that 50s 'shop furniture' color pallet…in an effort to match my shop cabinets which were taken from an old university chemistry lab years ago when they were demo'ing it. To be honest, it's not my favorite style of finish, aesthetically, but it came out the way I wanted it to so I'm happy with that.

This was a fun, functional project that has paid me back 10x over. Having the Flat Master set up the way it is has become my go-to method for level sanding. I added an extruded piece of aluminum track that is dead nuts square to use as a clamp on fence so it also functions like a gentle joiner. Having it coplaner to my assembly table also makes it a great extension for larger projects. 

Overall a great built for me functionally!

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

11 Comments

Very  neat Build that you will enjoy using looks good a very practical useful project. How do you kite the Flat Master v-sander  I have thought about adding one to my shop.

-- Soli Deo gloria! ( To God alone be the Glory)

Well built cabinet, and serves the purpose, well done.

Main Street to the Mountains

I love the flat master. I’ll grant that it takes just a bit of learning to use, since it’s manual feed, but it’s not at all hard and I got a piece of extrusion that I clamp down to use as a fence if I really need perfect consistency (the fence gives a bearing surface to push against which helps control feed rate. Weird concept but it works really well). 

The abrasive paper last for a very, very long time because of the way the machine is set up. Once properly set, per the instructions, I’m to understand that the hook and loop paper pulls away from the spindle every so slightly as it turns and that creates an air gap (albeit very slight) between the paper and the spindle which reduces heat build up, and since there isn’t a hard contact point it reduces clogging and any chance of burning. I can’t speak to all the engineering on it, but it sure works well! 

The spindle is some sort of a non-static forming plastic, so sanding dust drips away into the hopper below. I have mine hooked up to my Oneida Supercelll so I see essentially no dust whatsoever ever (that that high static pressure certainly helps with that I’m sure). 

I have the 24” mode which I keep loaded with two separate grits (180 and 220 right now), 12” a piece. If I had room, I’d get the largest model so I could keep 12” of three grits on it, but honestly what I have works just fine. And when I’m working on something wider, I just spin on a precut piece for 24” width and I’m in business in just a minute. 

As I mentioned in the project post, i geeked out and made the whole thing co-planer with my assembly table. This way it serves as an outfeed table for larger projects and the flat master doubles as a table extension for the assembly table. 

I can see the benefits of a traditional drum sander, specifically the controlled feed, but I really don’t find manual feeding all that hard, for me, the other benefits and ‘easy parts’ of the flat master more than make up for it. Plus, since the table is flat on both sides (front and back of the spindle) it makes it easy to keep things square since it’s supported. Not that I’d want to use it this way (since it would be so slow) but, with a fence, you could actually use it to joint the edge of a board square to the face like a jointer. 

I also like that it’s from a small family company 👍🏼 If Craftisian 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Nice! I'm working on a cabinet/stand design for my spindle sander. The current challenge is figuring out how to fit everything inside the cabinet.
nice cabinet but looks like youve already maxed it out.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

I’m always maxed out. Never have enough room. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Thanks for you re reply on the flat sander I plan to look into purchasing one of those my self. A friend of mine has a Laguna Supermax 25-50 Drum Sander he likes, but they run around $2300 +

-- Soli Deo gloria! ( To God alone be the Glory)

Ryan, that is a lot of dust free sanding firepower right there. Well done. 
Thanks! I’ve become somewhat obsessed with keeping dust under control. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Sweet build Ryan!

Wish I could get all my sanding $rap together like that. way more efficient and the localized dust collection makes moving between stations quick 'n' easy

A+

Thanks Splinter…it’s been great to centralize it all. Much more efficient. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".