Futuristic Sanding Board

After recently picking up a Surform at a yard sale, I have found out that it removes material too quickly at times. Removing marks in the wood using metal files takes a long time, and the process would be easier with sandpaper. A convex sanding board isn't something I could find in my local hardware store. Therefore I made my own. I am a hopeless perfectionist, so instead of just making a regular sanding board I took a different approach and put much focus on making it look nice. In this tutorial I'm showing you how to make a futuristic sanding board using simple tools. Enjoy!

I'm entering this instructable into the "Wood Contest 2016". If you like this entry, please give me a vote in the contest. Now let's see how you make it!

Step 1: Materials and Tools

These are the materials and tools needed for this project:

- Jigsaw

- Fine and rough jigsaw blade

- Ruler

- Pen

- Screwdriver

- Various grit sanding belts

- Metal files and wood rasps

- Surform (optional)

- Wood glue

- 40-50mm marble (optional)

- Blunt scissor

- 30mm wood screws

Step 2: The Tutorial

This tutorial video shows the process of making this project from start to finish. I was originally going to make a flat sanding board as well, but ended up just making a half-round one.

Comments

[Dawsie]

cool,idea it's on my list of tools to make for the workshop :-) but I think I will give the marble a miss and make a wooden one :-)

Thanks for the great idea and yep I defiantly voted for you :-)

[JonBuilds]

Thanks for the vote and comment! Go with a wooden one. Just don't forget the thin rubber sheet in-between the base and the sandpaper. It truly makes a big difference.

[Dawsie]

thank you Janso for the tip of the thin rubber between the wood and the sanding paper that does make a lot of sense and would defiantly give a better sanding finish :-) thanks :-)

[JonBuilds]

It works very well indeed. The rubber I'm using comes from a 2mm thick mouse pad (can be found on Amazon and similar sites). Thanks for the comment.

[rjcullis]

Really good. I enjoyed the video, much better than a bunch of pictures. I will be making this in a number of profiles.

[bumpuss]

While it looks like a fine hand made custom tool I dislike the fact that your Instructable is a basic description of what you made with a link to a YouTube video.
It seems to me like the quality of instructibles has been slipping recently with more and more people simply linking to the YouTube video where they documented the thing they made.
While sometimes there is something that is just too hard to explain in photos and words and a video is just the thing to flesh out those irksome details, I think that this trend towards linking to YouTube videos is more of a crutch for some people who can't quite figure out how to present their project in a photo steps format. It is also possible that the see my YouTube video links are just shortcuts for lazy people who don't want to take the time to break it down into a second format.
I'm not saying that you are lazy or your YouTube video is not a quality instructional method because I don't know you and I haven't watched the video. I simply choose this as a place to vent my frustration over seeing a project that I was intrested in and then finding out that I have to wait until I am home at my work station to view the video rather than browsing the instructions on my mobile phone.

Thank you for providing me with a place to vent and I hope you will not take it personally.

[JonBuilds]

Don't worry, I totally understand. The reason why I'm not making "real" Instructables very often is that I always forget to take photos during the builds. Also it takes a long time to make a proper Instructable

[bumpuss]

I am glad that you understand my frustration and didn't get upset by my unreasonable rant. :-)
If you were to view my profile you would see that I haven't posted any Instructables, so you have contributed more to this community than I have.

[PhilS43]

For tricky shapes like scotia or even plasterboard ceiling coving, I use short lengths of plastic pipe (gutter downpipe, plumbing waste pipe etc.).

Slit them down the length then wrap your abrasive of choice around the pipe and tuck the ends into the slit. You can angle the ends of the pipe to get into awkward corners etc.

Ordinary plaster's sanding mesh works well as do the modern open mesh (dust-free) abrasives from the likes of Mirka.

As well as the slit, you could use double-sided tape or strips of Velcro

The strips of mesh abrasives used by plumbers (Norton Abrasives) to wrap round pipes to clean them up work well and need no holder.

Having said that, I have many gash blocks made up from bits of scrap timber and simply staple the papers to the block.

[JonBuilds]

I had the idea for a round sanding board which would have a thin slot cut out along one side. A tapered strip would be jammed in there, keeping the sandpaper in place. Hope you liked the project

[PhilS43]

Yes, I did like it.
Sanding done properly, is a real art.
I don't go near "sandpaper" or "glasspaper", but I'm a real convert now to the open mesh abrasives and use most grades from 80 to 240 grit. Other abrasives like non-woven "pan scourers" - 3M Scotchbrite - are useful for de-nibbing paintwork, but particularly useful for preparing copper pipe for soldering.
You quite often have to put the effort into making a sanding block to suit the job.

[jzvo]

cool idea, but why plywood? looks like it is harder to work with then regular dimensional lumber

[MichaelC16]

Why do they call it dimensional lumber? I have yet to come across "dimensionless" lumber....

[JonBuilds]

They call it dimension lumber because it is cut and planed down to a standard thickness. Back in the day you weren't able to achieve such perfection.

[JonBuilds]

It's furniture grade pine plywood. It's not as dense as birch plywood, and is about as easy to work with as solid wood. Dimensional lumber is spruce, and that won't last very long.

[Spazman]

My advise you should patent this. Or look see if one exists this is great idea.

[JonBuilds]

I'm only 17 and have no experience with jurisprudence. Can't see myself patenting things in a near future, but thanks for the nice comment.

[mevans12]

I don't often comment but this is a great idea. I mostly get things to shape these days with CNC but for those times I can't something like this would be great to come in with after the surform.

[JonBuilds]

Then go ahead and make one! You won't regret it.

[mevans12]

Oh, it is in the queue. Like so many things, It will get built when I have to have it.