DIY 20-inch Disc Sander Build. $2000 Tool, Cheap and Easy.

I make a disc sander attachment for my wood lathe using the faceplate I made in a previous video. There are many different ways this could be done. I chose MDF because it is flat, cheap and stable. And because I had some laying around... ;-) I put 2 coats of polyurethane on it, balanced it, and then stuck the paper on with excellent results. If you need a large disc sander and have a lathe, I highly recommend this mod.

Sanding discs:
My lathe:
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[ltnthacker]

Nice job. Consider sealing the other side against humidity to reduce the possibility of warping caused by different absorption rates.

[ericf]

Brilliant!! You saved yourself (and me) about $2, 850 and got all the functionality.

[ronthacker]

Back in the 1950s, when I was a teenager, my Dad's shop had a 4 foot wide sander that i loved to "play" with. And all the machines there were run by leather belts that were moved to large drive wheels by long wooded handles to turn them on and off. The Jointer was 2 feet wide, the Planer was 4 feet wide and the Shaper had a 2 inch spindle. There was also an Elevator to the 2nd floor driven my belts actuated by pulling ropes. Loved that old shop.

[MarkKelly]

Hey Jon, my wife was wondering why I was watching my “Friday guy” on a Thursday night. Ha. Been going through some of your older videos and enjoying them. I always feel that I’m learning something when I’m watching. Cheers, Mark

[theploeg]

Wow what luck I am actually in the process of converting an old broken lathe to make a disk sander; thank you, thank you, thank for this!

[glenpaul]

You need a hard finished surface on the mdf to stick on your sanding disk and be able to remove it later. Suggest lacquer or polyurethane and paint it on while it turns slowly on your lathe to get a uniform coating. Ohhhh you did that...kool. Turned out great...beats buying one for $2000 +

[patrickd]

I would personally prefer to make several discs for different grids, especially since it takes up a lot less space then a dedicated sander. I really like the idea of reusing the lathe for this purpose and with easily changed discs. Thank you for taking your time to demonstrate how to true and balance the plate a lot of builds tend to focus on the main body of the machine, not the disc itself.

[ProlificInvention]

What's really cool about this is that edge of the MDF disc you made is a fantastic finishing sharpener for knives. You hit the edge of a knife first using just the edge of the MDF wheel (after sharpening with other methods) and for that final sharper than a razor edge you apply some jewelers paste to the edge prior to final sharpening. Probably best just to make standalone units, where I first saw the idea the guy made bench grinder MDF wheels, one plain and one with jewelers paste.

[dustinrushing]

another legendary video from my favorite farmer

[Zigge]

As a retired patternmaker, I can tell you it is probably one of the most used tools in a pattern shop next after the band saw and lathe.
But you need to make a tilting table for it so you can do the needed angles in your patterns. Then it is also very good for making tapered rounds. (like you demonstrated on the band saw)

[jeffhallford]

Thanks for sharing. I am in the planning stages of making a sanding disc for my lathe. This helps that process significantly.

If you really want to nerd out on balancing the disc, component balance the two discs prior to assembly. Place the imbalances of each piece 180 degrees opposite of each other. This will reduce the amount of correction required for the final assembly balance.

[whiskeykilmer]

I have a cheap and easy 4x4 pickup build. I just found a beautiful set of off-road tires and wheels for 50 bucks. It works and drives great. Oh yea, I almost forgot, you'll have to have a truck laying around.

[forthrightnight]

Leathercraft, lathes, woodcraft, machines, utilities, whatever else I've missed. Recent subscriber, really enjoy the craftsmanship and diversity displayed through your videos. Oh yeah, lets add primo videographer to the list. A modern day resonance man.
I'm sure most of you have seen Wranglerstar. Go way back in his library before his success to the early days of YouTube and being a content creator with much the same skill set. Great set of values on display as a father, husband, and homesteader, eking out a living as best as he can.
Cheers from the Rocky Mountains of B.C.

[vcurtis]

Good use of existing equipment. Well done

[bizkitluvv]

i have a whole new respect for wood lathes now

[mh]

Oh, my goodness. I just love how much attention to detail you have.

Thank you so much for sharing this project.

[eriklambert]

Great video! Built one myself three years ago from MDF as well, still working great. Thanks for your channel!

[Azguella]

I remember when I still was in school the disc sander the disc was never changed and was a really old sand disc that had torn pieces from it and completely flat patches if you had to sand something with it you had to look for patches that still could sand something and hope for the best

[generaldisarray]

Great job!!!
Now for the scary stuff, if we do the math, the outer edge of a 20" disc at 700 rpm is travelling at around 42 mph and at 1000 rpm that goes up to almost 60 mph... Note to self do not stand in the line of fire and as Norm Abram would say "...and remember this. There is no other more important safety rule than to wear THESE... Safety Glasses"

[williamwoody]

That was remarkably involved and interesting. I never expected to be that impressed. Thank you.