Workshop Projects

July 23, 2011

 

Sanding Station

After finished my disk sander project, I needed a place to put it. Having just bought a new Rigid oscillating belt and spindle sander, I needed a place to put that too. I decided that a dedicated cabinet would be the best way to go, with built in dust collection for both tools. The cabinet would have some storage as well, for sanding accessories.
The results:

Designed so that the tables on both machines would be at the same level, so as not to interfere with each other.
Behind the big door is the dust collector:

An old Craftsman shop vac that still has some life left. 20 years old, it has seen a lot of use. The 2.5" hose exits the cabinet behind the spindle sander:

and can quickly be moved from one machine to the other. Although a bit noisy, the dust collection for both tools is very effective. This is a great use for an older shop vac that is near the end of its useful life, as it will see limited action.

The drawers hold sanding supplies for both machines and handheld machines as well. The bottom drawer is deep enough to store my belt sander, palm sander and random orbit sander. The next one up is devoted to 5" sanding disks for my random orbit sander and has more space at the rear of the drawer for other items.

The two top drawers are for sanding belts, regular sanding sheets and a variety of hand sanders. I made a tray for sanding sheets:

Unfortunately, my supply of sandpaper is woefully low at the moment, but having this neat storage motivates me to fill it.

The cabinet has leveling legs:

Made from 3/4" Baltic birch plywood with a slot cut to adjust them up or down. Once adjusted, tightening the bolt will lock them in place.

The cabinet has 2 receptacles, one for the onboard machines and the other for auxiliary use. The switch turns on the vacuum, which is wired direct.

Basically, anything sanding related will be kept in this unit.
In the works is a companion project: a downdraft sanding table where it will be convenient to use the handheld tools.

On completing the project, I made a YouTube video showing some of its features:

To watch the latest videos of new projects, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Thanks for reading,
John Heisz

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