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COMMUNITY : FORUMS : COMMUNITY BLOG


My Belt Sander Can Beat Your Circular Saw

Has your hobby become mainstream when it's covered by the New York Times? Power Tool Drag Racing gets coverage in My Belt Sander Can Beat Your Circular Saw:

TEN feet short of the finish line, Barbie Airplane was stranded.

A screaming speedster powered by a whirling circular saw flew from a wooden ramp at the recent Power Tool Drag Racing competition in Seattle.

The cheerful contraption -- a Craftsman belt sander crowned with a powder-blue toy plane -- had been careening down the 75-foot racetrack moments earlier. Then the sander's rotating belt came undone, stopping it dead.

In the neighboring lane, Heavy Metal Waste, a circular saw souped up with skateboard wheels and flaming antennas, had already rocketed past. Cheers of victory rang from the bleachers.

along with a nod to our very own Power Tool Racer Instructable:

If this kind of tinkering sounds tricky, there's no need to re-invent the wheel, or the saw blade, for that matter. A detailed tutorial at Instructables.com gives step-by-step directions for converting a circular saw into a racer, courtesy of Jeremy Franklin-Ross, co-founder of the Hazard Factory artists' collective in Seattle.

More news and press about Instructables here.

07robot.600.1.jpg
sort by: active | newest | oldest
RedRock says: Aug 21, 2008. 3:34 AM
I have access to 2 industrial coin-operated Speed-Queen top-loading washers as well as 2 dryers!.... ideas welcome!
41
Weissensteinburg says: Aug 19, 2008. 11:47 AM
Is it me, or is it just a really small saw?
218
jessyratfink says: Aug 14, 2008. 1:32 PM
I think I just found something else I can do with a Bratz doll.
Grey_Wolfe says: Aug 19, 2008. 11:29 AM
Yeah but then you have to decide which end of the racer you want to put the doll on. lol
7
bikerbob2005 says: Aug 17, 2008. 9:10 AM
shinny
I got one of these just sitting on a shelf its only a 15 amp motor.might last a few min on 220V
30
GorillazMiko says: Aug 14, 2008. 2:28 PM
OR Barbie. :O
164
Kiteman says: Aug 16, 2008. 2:22 PM
Damn, another one of those projects to add to the I'll do this when I have spare money list...
1
mrthumbtack says: Aug 16, 2008. 10:09 AM
I wonder what I could do with an old mixer along this vein....?
19
bumpus says: Aug 14, 2008. 12:23 PM
This is so fun!
I occasionally lost but it was all in good fun.

This reminds me of my friends sander on/off switch fix..
Yes that is a light switch....
jerry-rigged sander.jpg
1
mrthumbtack says: Aug 16, 2008. 10:08 AM
There was a band saw set up at my old job, exactly like that except without the duct tape.
1
random joe says: Aug 14, 2008. 6:28 PM
i made beltsander skates like on Jackass and i badly bruised my butbone but it was so much fun lol
2
geeklord says: Aug 17, 2008. 3:37 PM
do that on a trampoline with a net around it, tell me what happens
1
random joe says: Aug 17, 2008. 7:23 PM
wait i need to find the money to buy 4 new beltsanders
2
thenear1send says: Aug 15, 2008. 10:28 PM
Ahh, this reminds me of the Makers fair in the SF bay area, i think it was in San Francisco... Cuz if it was, i remember watching a race like this. And behind of where the photographer took this photograph there would have been giant robots destroying manikins and shopping carts... Burning man peoples... xD
Ferrite says: Aug 14, 2008. 6:17 PM
I know somebody who would have competitions with his friends to see who could go fastest while sitting on their belt sanders. Not surprisingly, someone broke their belt sander.
2
Big Bwana says: Aug 14, 2008. 1:22 PM
Angle grinders can really move down those tracks to...
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