So I finally finished this sanding station i'd been working on. It was originally concieved as a tool to aid in my decoy carving passion, but had to be made to also handle my bowery obsession too now! lol
The only thing a person wouldn't be able to buy themselves on this thing is the spindle itself. I had a friend mill it for me off a cad drawing I drew for em. But it can also be made from a piece of 3/4" aluminum, with 3" wooden circles cut off the bandsaw glued together and secured to make the fatter side of the drum. Here is a quick list of the materials I used, and a breakdown on price:
1/2 hp motor from wholesale tool, $40
Pulley from WT, $12
Belt from local shop, @10
The spindle, I traded a set of baggo boards for it
(3) pillow blocks with 3/4" ID, $8 a piece
He made the spacers for me too, but they can easily be wooden, or a piece of thin stock aluminum cut to length and drilled
$20 in hardware
$10 in MDF, and $6 in a 2X12 cut to size.
So all in all about $120 in materials, which I purchased here and there, so it didn't hurt the checkbook. And I easily could've used some shop scraps for wood, but wanted this thing to be worth keeping a while so I got what it needed.
A quick note before the pics, the motor is attached to a sled, which has routed slots that allow me to tighten it to the frame. I used simple 4" eye bolts and some knobs to be able to pull the belt taught, and then tighten the motor's sled to the base. All the hardware is is either lag bolts, or 1/4X20 nuts and bolts.
Since the pictures, I have re-positioned the tee nuts that hold the table to the inside of the base, so I don't need to open the top to attach it. A simple flathead and (2) 1/4X20X2 screws and she's ready to rock. A disc was intended to be added to the stub of aluminum on the right side, but I'm going to just make one of those one day.