rmorris's pattern sander Ridgid sander rebuild (pic heavy)

[BenBow]

I'll be adding the pictures I took as Ralph redid my Ridgid sander. BTW Ralph's one smart guy to figure this out.
I'll put the pictures grouped the way the project progressed Ralph can fill in the detail.

[BenBow]

The first group will be preparing the drum.
Measuring the outside diameter of the sandpaper.
     

   

   

[Roy from Pa]

Ralph is ok, I guess..  

[BenBow]

The next group is building and installing the guide bearing.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   

   

   

   

   

[BenBow]

Didn't allow me to put more than 8 images so I'll add the last of the group here.
   

[BenBow]

The next group is removing the osculation on the Ridgid sander

   
 
   

     
 
   
 
   
 
   

[Roy from Pa]

That's a lot of work to make a self bow..  

[BenBow]

Building the spacer to raise the sander.

   

   

     

     

     

     
 
   

[BenBow]

Cutting the drum to install the guide bearing.
Starting by marking the drum level with the table.

   
 
   

     

   

   

   

     

[BenBow]

Here's the finished project and it works SO much better than before. Thanks again Ralph!
Ralph had to file a notch so the guide bearing had enough clearance.

   

   

The belt runs true and right against the guide bearing.
         

Ready to go all I have to do is build the templates.
   

[Roy from Pa]

Pretty neat guys...

[BenBow]

Roy can you imagine the kind of self bow Ralph could build as tricky as he is.

[rmorris]

Here we go...
First set of pictures- Measuring the OD of the sandpaper and drum to make the rub collar the correct size. I think we made it 3.100" with the 40 grit sandpaper and then using a clamp to expand and remove the drum.

[rmorris]

The next set of pictures are scribing out the OD of the rub collar on a piece of corrian,pressing it onto my sacrificial block (used super glue), cutting the final OD to 3.100" and then using a foresner bit to do the majority of the work for cutting the ID to 1.998". The last pictures are pressing the bearing into the corrian and the parting the rub collar from the wood.

[rmorris]

Next we are taking apart the sander, removing the base and then the cap that houses the oscillating mechanism. after using a high tech tool to remove the grease you will find the "E Clip" by pressing on each end at the same time with a screwdriver, it will eventually fly across the room. A slight tug will then remove half of the mechanism , exposing the bearing.

[rmorris]

The bearing has an OH of .875 which is just under the ID of a 3/4" copper pipe coupling . So placing a piece of copper pipe inside the coupling crates a perfect shoulder for the bearing. I set the copper pipe down below the coupling just under 1/4" and then fastened the 2 pipes together with a screw( rivet, soldering or any other method should also work) I dont remember the the final length I made this part but after doing a few test runs by putting everything back together and checking the height of the now non oscillating sander, we put it back together with the new copper part.

[rmorris]

I then scribed out the height of the table on the drum with a razor blade  and added the thickness of the rub collar plus 1/16". T then turned down the drum to the upper scribe line to 1.003" and press fit the new rub collar and bearing onto the new drum.

[rmorris]

Some advice I have for this project is use a proper late, not a wood lathe set up with an x-y vice... also Corrian tends to press fit best with only a few thousnads undersized and the nylon drum needs about 3 thousands the stay pressed. I plan on in the next day showing how to make a pattern sander without a lathe, using the rubber drums as a spindle sander...

Hope this helps

[Troy D. Breeding]

You boys sure are going through a lot of work for a simple pattern sander.

Think about what I'm going to tell ya.

"A small piece of plywood and a PVC toilet flange"

Tweeked your interest yet?

[choochoou]

I'm tweeked !