>Looking over my copy of Rowley's foundation course in woodturning, I noticed his idea to mount a sanding disc on the handwheel side of the lathe. Being somewhat slow, that idea hadn't occurred to me, but it would be handy to have for some things. I 've been thinking of how to do this on my Jet mini-lathe.
Has anyone mounted such an improvised disc (faceplate plus plywood circle plus sandpaper) on the Jet Mini? If so, what is the thread on the outboard side of the spindle? Where did you get the faceplate? How did it work?
I made one modeled after the one in the PSI catalog.
This one is for the inboard side and it can get close to your hand if you are not careful.
I cut a piece of 1/4 inch Solid Surface material (Corian or something like it. You could use aluminum or MDF or some other flat surface material) to a 6 inch circle with a 1 inch hole in the center, mounted a piece of 80 grit paper and mounted it on the spindle with a thin nut. You could use adhesive backed sandpaper. I actually used a 9X11 sheet and spray adhesive to hold it to the disc. An exacto knife was used to cut the 1 inch hole in the center. Shop scissors to cut the 6 inch circle. I cut the Corian on the bandsaw and finished the edge when it was mounted on the lathe.
I say again, watch your left hand or it will skin you.
I think there are two problems with putting a sanding disk on the outboard side of the Jet Mini: 1) The shaft is left hand thread, about 3/4" and a very course square thread. 2) Handwheel, is the "Nut" the tightens the spindle into the headstock and limits play in the spindle. Take it off, and the only thing holding the spindle in the headstock is the pulley inside the headstock.
I have made a 10" sanding disk with a faceplate and plywood for the inboard side, and it works very well.
>I mounted a sanding disc on the handwheel to use for sharpening when I traveled with the lathe. Of course that was before we knew about sharpening jigs. It was really handy. If you moved the tool toward the center you had a slow speed sharpener for carbon tools. Move toward the outer edge and you have a high speed grinder for HSS tools.
For a while I had 2 grits of sandpaper. Course for rough grinding on the outer rim and fine towards the middle for honing.
The only downside was I use my handwheel a lot to stop the lathe after turning it off to inspect the piece. I would frequently sand off my fingerprints.
I don't remember exactly because it's been about 5 years or longer but I think I turned a recess in the back of the disc and hot glued it to the handwheel on my Nova Comet mini lathe.
I do remember jury rigging a tool rest on the back side of the lathe to true it up.
I have been reading this and indeed it would be nice to have a spinning disc of sandpaper some times. I wouldn't want it their all the time. The sand paper would be a pain most of the time.
So you got me to thinking. How about a sanding disc that was east to put on and take off?
Velcro! What sanding disc has made it's living with Velcro? 5" ROS comes to mind. Because the 5" is used so much they are one of the cheapest pieces of Velcro sand paper going. And their are accessories available.
You can even buy new pads for a PC 330 ROS at HD. That's how popular they are.
So how do I mount a PC 333 ROS pad onto my hand wheel?
I was thinking of turning a hunk of wood with a recess to fit over the hand wheel. Scuff up the hand wheel with a file and use "Household GOOP" to glue the wood disc to the existing hand wheel. That piece of wood needs a few things. One is a way to use my vacuum chuck through the thing. The other is a way to mount the Velcro sanding pad.
I can use a buffing pad on the Velcro when I don't whish to have sandpaper. I can quickly and easily change grits of sandpaper. There are interface pads to give a softer sanding surface and the buffing pad to put a shine on a bottle stopper...
I just might have to try this out this weekend. If I do I will take pictures.
