Sanding Beyond Capacity with Benchtop OSS?

[Lance Norris]

I recently bought a benchtop OSS. I havn't had a chance to try it out yet, and am on the road and wont be home till this coming weekend. I am wondering if I can sand something thicker than the capacity of my OSS. I assume that the max capacity of an OSS is how high the spindle/drum sits above the table at the bottom of the stroke. I believe mine is around 4". So the question is, if I have something that is, say 7" thick, can I sand what I can, and then flip it over and blend in the rest? Im not talking about hogging off a 1/4" of material, but simply cleaning up bandsaw blade marks. I make lots of bandsawn boxes and this is when I would need more than the 4" of capacity that my machine has. I can clean up where the two strokes come together by hand sanding at the end.

Have any of you guys done this with good results?

Ive considered taking off the table and holding the piece im working on against the spindle and moving it up and down with the spindle travel to get all the capacity I can get, or making up some table brackets to lower the table to gain back what the table tilt function takes away from the capacity( I dont think I will use the tilt function much, but can always change back when needed).

I understand I probably should have bought a floor standing machine, but really didnt have the space, the money, or the nerve to tell my wife I was buying another large machine, so I now have a nice benchtop, I just need to get the most out of it that I can.

Comments... Suggestions...

[Will Overton]

Yes you can. That's how open sided drum sanders work, ie: Jet 16-32.

Flipping the piece is a much better method than removing the table.

[Myk Rian]

My Niece and I both have the Ridgid sanders. She does BS boxes as a professional artist. She had a friend of hers make a longer spindle so she could add 2" to her drum height.

It would help knowing what OSS you have, but it is always possible to machine a new spindle, or an extender to attach to the one in it. It will require left hand thread taps and dies, or someone familiar with making those on a lathe.

[Lance Norris]

It would help knowing what OSS you have, but it is always possible to machine a new spindle, or an extender to attach to the one in it. It will require left hand thread taps and dies, or someone familiar with making those on a lathe.

Myk... I have given your idea ^above^ a lot of previous thought. I have the General International Benchtop. I know you cant give me an idea what a shop could charge for a new, longer arbor. I dont want to get $200 in one arbor. I really dont even want to get $100 in one. It may be the best idea though. I contacted General, and of course they said what you would expect... "bearings not made for longer arbors, void warranty, buy our larger machine".

[glenn bradley]

I do it flipping just like with open ended wide-belt sanders. No problems.

[Will Overton]

Lance,
If you decide to go with a longer spindle, see if one from a floor model has the same threads as yours.

[Lance Norris]

Ok... thats two yes answers. I feel better now. I think the machine I bought is going to work out great for me, I just had a nagging thought in the back of my mind that I messed up buying a benchtop. Now, I cant wait to get back home and make some dust...

[Lance Norris]

Lance,
If you decide to go with a longer spindle, see if one from a floor model has the same threads as yours.

Will... when I talked to General, I asked just that, and they said no. I dont have access to a floor machine to see for myself. Sometimes they tell you that to discourage you, but I dont know for sure. That would be ideal, but I kinda doubt it would be that easy...