Pat Hawley's Thickness Sander

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Several years ago I almost completed making a shopmade thickness sander that was going to be a copy of Grit Laskin's sander (which you can find in Fine Woodworking's Shop Accessories You Can Build). I bought every thing I needed, pulleys, flange bearings, etc., and I made the drum and was ready to mount it in the stand that I built for it. The only problem was finding a 2 hp motor for under $300 (even used they were way over priced!) and the 1/8 inch thick rubber sheet to cover the drum. Not to mention finding a sheet of sand paper wide enough for a 16x18 inch drum. Then we got ready to move to Yosemite National Park, I threw most of it on a burn pile and sold the bearings, etc., to a neighbor and swore that I'd do everything by hand!

Now I'm in need of a thickness sander because I want to laminate the sides, a la Ramirez and Friedrich, of the guitars that I want to build this winter. Again, I was going to use Laskin's plans, but was running into the same problems, finding a 2 hp motor, rubber backing and sand paper, etc. Then I came across this website for Pat Hawley's Thickness Sander! I think I have found what it is that I want! Don't forget to check out Pat's website!

Thanks to Matthias Wandel for posting this great plan on his website Woodgears.ca!

Expect future posts on this project!

Comments

  1. Ralph BoumenotSeptember 21, 2012 at 4:33 AM

    Great post. The link/website for the sander is incredible. I have no need for a thickness sander but I'm thinking of building one.
    ralph

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2012 at 8:07 PM

    If I remember correctly, either "Shopnotes" or "Wood" magazine featured a home made thickness sander in the last 5 years. Granted, it was constructed of mdf, but used a tablesaw (whole, in working order) as the power, and used 3 or 4" wide sandpaper wrapped spirally around the drum.

    The spiral wrapping of sandpaper paper works well. I am too cheap to buy a drum sander, so I take 30" x4" sanding belts, rip them into 1" strips, and wrap them around a 1" or 2'' dowel, mount the dowel into my lathe, and use this to shape or sand what I need.

    ReplyDelete

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