Today, I will post both shop tour #1 and shop tour #2. You can find shop tour #1 at this URL:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=24608
Now onto shop tour #2... The Kindt Collins 2SP oscillating spindle sander.
I got this sander used at an industrial auction in WI. The Wisconsin Patternworks Company was located in Racine WI and had been doing business for about 100 or so years until the bankers decided it was quits. They wanted the tenants out so fast that they hired a company to cut a hole in the second story building to remove the machines for $12,000 dollars. The old freight elevator that hauled these machines up to their noble perch was deemed unsafe to move heavy cast iron. Party Poopers!They got all this stuff up there didnt they?
This is one of the finest oscillating spindle sanders ever made and it is unique in a few features which I will describe later as we go. The first photo is a side view of the sander. As you can see, it has a fab steel body and a cast iron top. There are many other sanders out there but this one was the preferred spindle sander used by patternmakers.
In the second photo, you can see the side mounted crank which is used to tilt the spindle to an angle. You can also see the controls on the front side.
The third photo shows a better layout of the controls you get. First of all, you get a green start button and a red kill button. These are pretty obvious. But then you get two toggle switches to the left of the start and stop. The one that says LIGHT controls the light bulb which is used to light up the tilt indicator reticle which I will cover later. The second one controls the second motor.
Most spindle sanders use a transmission to control oscillation. This one does not. It has two discrete motors. One controls the oscillation and the other one controls the rotation. I can turn off oscillation if I so desire. Why? Well, I can turn some unique goofy looking spindle on the lathe from say bass wood and then over it with pressure sensitive sandpaper. Drill out the center and mount it on a spindle. Now, with oscillation off, this sander has now become a custom shape sanding shaper. This was a feature that the aerospace guys used to love.
Sanding spindles come in many sizes. But the smaller ones of less than 3 in should be run at higher speeds such as 3600 ish RPM and the larger ones that are 3 in and larger should be run at lower RPM such as 1800 ish RPM. There is a lttle door under the on/off switch which contains a tiny knob and lever. With the sander off, I can pull or push this knob to run the sander at ether high speed or low speed. The cover is there to prevent me from accidently bumping it with my leg, etc. and changing speeds on the fly. This would be a bad thing.
Now, lets get on to photo #4. In this photo, you see a macro shot of the tilt reticle. This is a tiny window recessed into the cast iron top of the sander. When you turn on the light, you can peer down this to monitor the exact angle to which you tilt the spindle. In the 5th photo, you can see what this might look like. This was a hard shot to shoot as the camera was peering down this hole. The reticle is actually about 1.5 feet below the surface of the machine and the lens actually magnifies the image a bit. This allows you to get very precise angle settings which is great for doing highly precise pattern work. I use this feature to establish draft on very curved pattern parts. Clearly, for most woodworking, this level of accuracy is not needed. But I consider myself lucky to have found this sander and its brother at this auction. The brother is my kindt collins 30 inch disc sander which I will cover in a later shop tour. I am doing work on it right now and it needs to be put back together.
Lastly, the largest of the two spindles is 3 in and 4 in in diameter. These spindles are actually not rubber but metal. Aluminum to be exact. I did not get the 4 in spindle with my sander. Clearly, it had walked away years ago as these things often do. These larger spindles are metal drums that slip over spindle cores. They are actually 4 segments that interlock to form a circle and when you tighten the top nut, they push the sides outward securing the the paper cylinder. I have taken my 3 in one apart and started to make a 4 in one. In so doing, I found that I actually like the looks of brass better than aluminum so I am now trying to finish both a new 3 in and 4 in metal spindle both made of brass and steel. The brass is also a bit more wear resistant than the orig. aluminum.
Hope you guys enjoy seeing this spindle sander as it is unique. I was blown away when I saw my first one of these. There are heavier ones out there but for pattern shop and cabinet shop use, this one is a clear winner. Even in its old grey and tattered clothes.
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