- Joined
- Sep 23, 2021
- Messages
- 137
- Points
- 113
I use my 5” disc sander a lot but it is really difficult to use for shaping and filing small parts - it will readily “eat them for breakfast” using even the slowest speed settings and the lightest pressure. Normally hand sanding and filing is the only way to go but I came across this really cheap little gizmo on AliExpress (I think it can also be purchased from a variety of sites).
There are a few options available but for the cheapest version with just the sanding belt and no power supply the price was really very little - only £20 - so I ordered one to test.
I fully expected that it was going to be a piece of junk and go straight to the recycling centre but to my surprise it was actually quite well made and useful. The frame is a thick gauge stainless steel and quite sturdy. The 12-24V motor is quite powerful (96W max) but it still has enough torque to run at very low speeds. It came with a set of 15mm x 330mm belts (which are a standard finger belt size) but I also bought some different grit sizes from my local hardware store. I had a spare laptop power brick so I used that as the power supply and I purchased a very cheap PWM motor controller off ebay for £6. So that I could connect it to a vacuum I made a base for it from some scrap ply-wood pieces which also made it more stable on my worktop while using it. The work piece support bracket is adjustable but I found it had a tendency to slip so I added a bracket beneath it with a bolt that I could screw up or down to adjust the angle and stop it from slipping.
I have been using it to sand and file some small detail parts of both metal and wood and it works really well. At higher speeds with a coarse belt it can be used quite effectively to quickly shape parts and at very low speeds with a fine grit belt you can have very good control without the danger of over sanding. I have also been using it to quickly sharpen tools and blades which were not so critical that I needed to use a grinding stone.
For light duty it is proving to be a really handy tool and saves quite a lot of time when trying to shape or file fiddly little pieces. It was definitely worth a punt!
There are a few options available but for the cheapest version with just the sanding belt and no power supply the price was really very little - only £20 - so I ordered one to test.
I fully expected that it was going to be a piece of junk and go straight to the recycling centre but to my surprise it was actually quite well made and useful. The frame is a thick gauge stainless steel and quite sturdy. The 12-24V motor is quite powerful (96W max) but it still has enough torque to run at very low speeds. It came with a set of 15mm x 330mm belts (which are a standard finger belt size) but I also bought some different grit sizes from my local hardware store. I had a spare laptop power brick so I used that as the power supply and I purchased a very cheap PWM motor controller off ebay for £6. So that I could connect it to a vacuum I made a base for it from some scrap ply-wood pieces which also made it more stable on my worktop while using it. The work piece support bracket is adjustable but I found it had a tendency to slip so I added a bracket beneath it with a bolt that I could screw up or down to adjust the angle and stop it from slipping.
I have been using it to sand and file some small detail parts of both metal and wood and it works really well. At higher speeds with a coarse belt it can be used quite effectively to quickly shape parts and at very low speeds with a fine grit belt you can have very good control without the danger of over sanding. I have also been using it to quickly sharpen tools and blades which were not so critical that I needed to use a grinding stone.
For light duty it is proving to be a really handy tool and saves quite a lot of time when trying to shape or file fiddly little pieces. It was definitely worth a punt!