Having just completed my first build I was thinking over the things I'd do differently and the parts of the build that gave me the most trouble. Building the box from scratch was truly simple woodworking and was perhaps the easiest major part of the build.
Making the neck and fretboard however was a different matter. Whilst my first build is fretless and don't suppose the neck and fretboard being a tiny bit out of true mattered too much, I sweated over getting it as accurate as possible by hand sanding alone.
Deciding to go fretted on my next build I began looking at planer/thicknessers and quickly came to the conclusion they were out of my budget for the time being. So I started looking on line at what other solutions there may be and stumbled across people having made their own. Whilst there were some great builds (I will probably take inspiration from them and build a bigger machine at a later date), I wanted to use what I had lying around in my workshop.
After much pondering I decided to mount my handheld belt sander in a frame so timber could be fed through underneath on an adjustable bed.
- The timber will be pushed through, under the sander, against the rotation of the belt, which is held in by the frame (although I will probably strap it down using webbing).
- The bed is adjusted by turning a bolt which is mounted underneath, giving me zero to about 2 inches to play with, which is plenty for neck blanks.
As the build is based upon a 4 inch sander it will only be good for necks and fretboard although I will also try it for small planks to use in box construction.
I haven't given it a proper test yet but seems to works really well, the main problems may be, making sure the felt is square to the bed and having to push timber through uphill.
Have a look at the pics.
I'd be grateful for your thoughts.
Replies
I like pre-cut lumber... and certainly don't mind hand-sanding... which is why I tried using that hand-held electric planer once... It made more of a mess than it was worth... Hmmm... I wonder if I could turn it into a home defense weapon... have it shoot 1x2 lengths of lumber at would-be intruders . . . .
My grandfather lost his left hand in a accident on the farm. Whenever I see a goldberg rig with power tools I see him pointing with his stub reminding me to be careful and envision what happens when everything goes wrong. That said, I have a radial arm saw, which is was goldberg rig coming from Craftsman, belt sander, electric hand planer etc. I use them with respect. I did make a bed for the top of my $30 HF belt sander to flip it over & convert it into a bench sander. Actually a very usefull tool.
Or you could join the Belt Sander Racing association
http://www.accuride.com/bsra/
I have a Harbor Freight hand-held electric planer... It's scary to operate, and throws sawdust like there's no tomorrow... you have me thinking!
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-1-4-quarter-inch-electric-planer-910...
Yeah I have the same one,I'm scared of the thing too.I need to clear off my work bench and mount my vise,but holding a piece of wood in one hand and the planer in the other is a recipe for disaster.
DO NOT f•ck about with one of these. Used properly they are a handy tool, but under no circumstances try and rig one of these up in a bench mounted jig - you are asking for serious injury. These rotational speed of the blade is very high,(16 000-32 000rpm..that's 15-20 times faster than a belt sander) so even used normally they can kick back or throw big splinters of timber out if the feed rate is too high or if you are trying to take too deep a cut. Trying to jury-rig one of these as a cheap substitute for a bench planer is madness - there's enough kinetic energy at the blade to send a piece of timber straight thru' a pair of safety glasses or into part of the human anatomy of someone unfortunate to be in the vicinity. The prospect of a flesh and bone contacting the rotating blade is horrendous. Don't even think about it.
No argument from me here. I have one, and after a few scary attempts at repurposing it, I decided that that blade design just isn't for the imaginative. It is quite vicious about doing what it was made for though.
I treat amputation with more respect than road rash.
I feel I may have opened a can of worms here, and for that I apologise. Please be careful everyone.
I don't want to stop people being creative with tools, and I reckon I'm pretty careful with power tools, but I've had a few nasty nicks and scrapes to my hands and lost the odd fingernail over the years. I think unless you've actually experienced a close shave with a power tool, it's difficult to comprehend quite how dangerous they can be...so be careful out there.
Couldn't agree more. I avoid power tools at all costs these days due to a few injuries. Couple of them my fault one of them faulty equipment but now I've lost all the skin off my hands, took a quarter inch strip out of my kneecap with a grinder etc I have a very healthy respect for all power tools. I even use a hand auger for drilling these days. I have two electric planes and all I've ever done is fire one up look at the blades spinning and packed it away again, no way should anyone ever try to jury rig one of those.... "Well you see Doctor it happened like this....."
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next