How does a spindle sander oscillate? Answered

I'm wanting to cobble together a spindle sander using the guts of a hand drill. Mounting it is pretty trivial, but it would be very cool if I could make it oscillate vertically as well. Unfortunately, I don't have a spindle sander to take apart so I can see how it operates. Can anyone tell me what mechanism moves the spindle up and down? Does it use the same motor that rotates the spindle, or is there a secondary actuator involved?

Tags:spindle sander drill upcycle remake

Discussions

Re-design

Best Answer 7 years ago

A record player motor has very little torque. They depend on gear (friction) reduction to work. So they would not make a very good sander.

I once built and oscillating spindle sander using an old drill press. I turned it upside down and attached a mechanism that I built to the quill lever that moved it back and forth. That caused the sander to move up and down.

steveastrouk

Answer 7 years ago

DId you get the idea from a Fine Woodworking book ? I've got plans in "making woodworking machinery"

Re-design

Answer 7 years ago

I might have, I don't remember where I got the idea. I have the same book that you are talking about.

Vyger

7 years ago

You could use an old record player (you know, those things that went around and around) and put platter on it that is cut at an angle. (A cylinder cut through the diameter but not at 90 degrees to the axis) The steeper the angle the more it will move up and down. It's just like how a warped record would move the tone arm up and down and sometimes create a distortion.

You could also look at the stuff to the right under the "related" column.