Spindle Sander pattern sanding upgrade

[Autumnarcher]

I use my OSS for shaping risers and profile sanding the back of the riser to match my form. My original was a piece odf 1/4" plywood with a hole in it, with a guide bearing at the hole that my template rubbed against. It works well, but saw a video on youtube that I thought might be a better system so put it into action. Had a couple drum sanding bits for my drill press that have a bearing on the bottom of them for pattern sanding which are just a fuzz over 2' diameter, and had the right size hole to fit the shaft on my OSS. Added a couple washers underneath for spacers.
 I'll have to change my template to a thicker base, and a lil fine tuning yet, but this should do the job, as  well as work better for other pattern sanding tasks. You could easily make the bearings out of plywood with a hole saw, or buy some nylon washers and stack to get to the thickness you need to work with the up and down action of the OSS.

[JGR1269]

I did the same thing to my Grizzly Spindle Sander last year. I bought a 2 1/8” bearing to put under the drum. I removed the belt that drives the oscillating portion of the sander and it leaves a smoother finish with no snipe. I also bought 2”x2” 36 grit sleeves and run two on the drum. The bottom sleeve does all the work and the top sleeve is just there so the drum squeezes evenly.

[Autumnarcher]

I'll hafta look and see if I can figure out how to  disconnect the part that oscillates it, that would be helpful. I'll have to shorter the runner drum a lil bit so I can put the nut back on top but wanted to make sure this is going to work before I do that

[JGR1269]

I cut my drum down on my bandsaw to the height I needed so I could use the big washer and a wing nut.

[Autumnarcher]

I started tearing into my spindle sander today to try to take the oscillation belt off. I would have to pretty much disassemble the whole thing to get to it. Aside from the fact I do not have little chinese sweat shop kids sized hands, I decided to leave it as is for the time being. How they get some of those screws in to where they are is a mystery to me . Maybe if we get a howling snowstorm and Ive got nothing better to do may go back at it again.

[Bow Bender]

I de-oscillated my Ryobi oscillating drum sander, it was fairly simple to do. It was last summer when I did this but I will try to explain the procedure from memory. From underneath I removed the motor and mechanical mechanism so I could see what made it oscillate. I found out that it was a rotating disc with a cam lobe on it that caused the  drum shaft to rise and its weight was what caused it to fall.  I turned the cam to lower the drum to the lowest position. Then I could  pull the drum and shaft to the uppermost position which exposed approximately an inch of the shaft.  I then cut a piece of 1/2 inch ID PVC pipe to the length of the exposed shaft.  Then I cut the side of the PVC so that when you looked at the end of the PVC it would look like the letter C.  the opening was just enough to allow the PVC to snap on the shaft and stay there. The drum is now raised to its highest position and can't fall when the cam rotates to the position for it to. I Now have zero oscillation.   I know that all oscillating sanders aren't made the same but if you have one like mine this may help.

[Autumnarcher]

After a couple days decided to tear into sander. Took it apart, removed the oscillation belt and got it back together. Only had to cuss a couple times so I’d say it went well.
 Did a test run on a piece of scrap shaping a riser back. It worked greatcwith one issue- the plywood bearing spinngong on shaft rubbed a couple flat spots on the edge of my plywood template. So not gotta make a new one. Got a piece of 5/16 aluminum plate to make my template base out of. Gomna take a lil time fitting it to match form but will be better going forward. Going to rework the bearing so it free floats instead of it spinning with shaft.
 One of a couple shop projects between now and New Years. After holiday shipping madness dies down gonna order some shop supplies and get busy.

[Buemaker]

Best if the bearing thing do not turn with the drum, but is stationary or at least free turning.

[Bow Bender]

Autumnarcher, you may want to check this out.  It will work with or without oscillation if you make the rub collar tall enough.
http://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=167155.msg2858922#msg2858922

[JGR1269]

This is what I bought to use as a rub collar. I pressed the smaller bearing into the larger one so it would fit the 1/2” shaft on my sander. I stacked two of these together to get the collar up above the sanding table. I put a thick 1/2” washer on top before putting my sanding drum on so the bearing does not spin with the shaft. Very simple to do and works great.

[Mad Max]

A spindle sander doesn't have much sand paper on it verses a belt.
So I think I would use a 36grit and maybe buy the time you get a riser sanded to the template the grit would be like 60 or so'

I would have a few 36 grit and a good many 60's and 80 grit

My thoughts

I bought one belt, 6" x 80" 36 grit for my edge sander, and I have 60/100/120/220 grit also.
I use the 36 for getting riser block  square 

[Autumnarcher]

Autumnarcher, you may want to check this out.  It will work with or without oscillation if you make the rub collar tall enough.
http://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=167155.msg2858922#msg2858922

Yup thats the video I saw that gave me the idea to modify mine. Worked on it over the last few days, as well as making a new template to go with it. 5/16" aluminum plate for the base. The sander I used 2 flanged bearings with a nylon spacer so the bearing does not spin with the sander shaft. Works quite well, although it took a lot of trial and error to get the configuration right. My biggest challenge was making the bearing itself, out of 3/4" plywood.
Cut out ab disc with a 2-1/8" hole  saw. Problem being getting the center hole exactly centered. the pilot bit in the hole saw is 1/4". I used a Farstner bit to cut out the hole for the flanged bearings, and was rough centering it. I drilled pilot hole out to 1/2", cut a 1/2" plug and tapped in then marked center for the tip of Forstner. Rather painstaking, but eventually got it. Fun part was got to play with several tools I havent used in a while.
Heres a couple pics of the finished setup. I run a 36 grit sleeve on the sander. Thanks to all for the input. Was def helpful.