Homemade Edge Sander, anyone used these plans

[Scott Brandstetter]

Wondering if anyone has any tips beyond what the plans provide. Thought this would be a fun project since I already have the most expensive part, the motor.

edge sander.jpg

[Scott Brandstetter]

Well, I'm surprised no one has built this. I am going to be the guinea pig. All parts have been ordered and plan to start Friday. Should be a fun project.

[Dan Henry]

This looks like the plan that was in an early shop Notes Mag.. I made it several years ago and it works fine. a friend gave me 3/4 PH motor and it is not quite big enough. I used 3/4 MDF and it is heavy but needs to be to be stable. I do not use very often but when you have edge that needs straighten this is the tool.

Dan

[Scott Brandstetter]

Thanks for the response Dan. In the plans it talks about the 3/4 hp motor being too fast so the way they slow it down is with pulleys. I'm not certain how it works exactly (i can imagine based on moving a belt on the drill press pulleys to increase and lower speeds), but, wonder if I don't go as large as they recommend on the pulleys if that would mean more power overall. The pulleys they recommend are a 3" and 4 1/2". Maybe someone with knowledge on this could help explain.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I purchased the plans about a year ago, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to building it. I'm just finishing up a homebuilt 13" jointer, and have been acquiring parts for a new CNC for a long time now.

The plans mention that they used a 3450rpm motor. I just looked at Grizzly's website, and it looks like all of their edge sanders use 1725rpm motors. If you use a 1725rpm motor, you should probably use the same size pulleys on both the drive roller and motor.

[Scott Brandstetter]

Thanks Gerry, they do suggest a speed of 1700 or so and from what I can tell, the pulleys they recommend take the 3/4 motor, at 3450 rpm, down to that speed. I think I will build it according to the plans knowing I could switch out the pulley sizes if I need more speed. I also plan to put the motor on a track that will allow it to be adjusted based on the pulley size, again, like a setup on most drill presses.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Using a 3" pulley and 4-1/2" pulley will get you down to about 2300rpm. With a 5" drive roller, that gives you about 3010 feet/minute belt speed, if my math is right.

For comparison, the Grizzly G1531 has a belt speed of 1800 feet/min.
The G0563 has a belt speed of 3150 feet/min.
And the G9984 has a belt speed of 4120 feet/min.

That's a rather large range of belt speeds.

[Keith Weber]

Scott,

Just to break down and simplify the math in case you want to figure out pulley combinations...


Output Pulley RPM = Motor RPM x Motor Pulley Diameter ÷ Output Pulley Diameter


This formula works regardless of whether you're using a larger motor pulley to speed things up, or a smaller motor pulley to slow things down.

Using your 3" motor pulley and 4-1/2" output pulley example, you get:

Output Pulley RPM = 3450 rpm x 3" ÷ 4.5" = 2300 rpm

To work out a sanding belt speed in ft/min, you feed this into the following formula:


Belt speed = Output Pulley RPM x π (pi) x Drive Roller Diameter (in inches) ÷ 12


Using Gerry's 5" drive roller into the example, you get:

Belt speed = 2300 rpm x 3.14159 x 5" ÷ 12 = 3010 ft/min (So, yes, Gerry - your math was correct)

[Scott Brandstetter]

Keith
Thanks for the reply. I just asked a question in regards to motor HP and pulleys and I think you have answered it before I posted the new question.

Scott,

Just to break down and simplify the math in case you want to figure out pulley combinations...


Output Pulley RPM = Motor RPM x Motor Pulley Diameter ÷ Output Pulley Diameter


This formula works regardless of whether you're using a larger motor pulley to speed things up, or a smaller motor pulley to slow things down.

Using your 3" motor pulley and 4-1/2" output pulley example, you get:

Output Pulley RPM = 3450 rpm x 3" ÷ 4.5" = 2300 rpm

To work out a sanding belt speed in ft/min, you feed this into the following formula:


Belt speed = Output Pulley RPM x π (pi) x Drive Roller Diameter (in inches) ÷ 12


Using Gerry's 5" drive pulley into the example, you get:

Belt speed = 2300 rpm x 3.14159 x 5" ÷ 12 = 3010 ft/min (So, yes, Gerry - your math was correct)

[Chuck Hart]

Here is a few people who have done similar projects

http://woodgears.ca/sander/index.html