Introduction: Orbital Sandpaper Caddy With Self-Alignment

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About: I build drums, make costumes, work on house projects/repairs, dabble in Genealogy, eat tacos, and sometimes work in IT.

If there is one thing I hate (there are many actually), it's clutter and a messy shop.  That is two things ... nevermind.

I predominately use 3 grits of sandpaper with my orbital sander.  80, something else, and something else.  I was tired of them sitting on a table only to fall off, or trying to use the packaging as some kind of clever tray when it wasn't.

I decided to make a caddy, which I could hang on my storage wall with a French cleat.

Step 1: Plywood and Then Some Holes

Grab some plywood.  Mine was scrap 3/4" plywood, which ripped to 5 1/8" x 16".   Mine holds 3 rows of discs.  If you want more, make the board longer, or wider and do two rows.

Draw a center line lengthwise.  Use that to line up your discs and trace three holes each.  You could go more, but I see no reason.  Three looks like a face and who doesn't like that?

3/8" dowel rod fits the holes prefectly, therefore I drilled my holes with a 3/8" forstner bit.  I went 1/2" deep, but you can do whatever you want.

Step 2: I Painted the Board

I decided I wanted this board black, but not the pegs, so I painted it at this step.  If you want to assemble it all first and then finish it, that is a good idea as well.

My pegs are 2 1/2" long so I can get a full pack of each grit on here.  Also, I hand chamfered the edge of the dowel (with sandpaper ironically) so the paper would slide on easier.

Step 3: Glue in the Pegs

Little bit of glue in each hole and a few light taps with a mallet = done.



I gave it a few coats of spray lacquer for protection.

Step 4: Hang It and Use It

I initially had this screwed directly to the wall, but added a French cleat once I went that direction for shop storage.  That works out well because I can move it around or even take it to my work table.  Also, I went vertical to work better in my space, but horizontal could be cool as well.

The added bonus is the three pegs can function as a self-alignment jig to get the paper perfectly lined up on the pad and with the dust collection holes.  Of you can just take a disc off the wall and put it on by hand, but you know it won't be perfect and you'll try a few times.