Homemade miter saw

This article by Pekka Svinhufvud

One of my hobbies is turning segmented wood. For that, I need to cut many small segmented wood pieces with very accurate angles. There are many
commercial miter saws on the market, but I built my own of plywood. Those cheap saws are not rigid, the only good one is the Festool Kapex saw, but it is
very big and very expensive. Many saws have sliding action, but I do not need that because my pieces are rather small. Sliding saws must be very solidly built,
so that when moving the saw blade through the wood it cannot deflect sideways. I have also not seen any saw with good dust collection.
In segmented wood turning, segments are used to make rings and these rings are glued in a brick wall pattern to make a bowl shape. Rings can have 12 to 36
segments. The segment's miter angle must be very accurate.

My saw's frame is made of 27 mm birch plywood. The upper frame is hinged with two pairs of 20 mm bearings on the same shaft.
The angle fence can be rotated in the horizontal plane around a bolt and 20 mm short steel shaft. The angle is locked
with two nuts at the front. Setting the correct angle is a trial and error process. I cut segments to form a full ring and
make adjustment, if needed, to get a ring with no gaps in the joints.
On the angle fence is a second L-shaped plywood fence held on with two wood
screws. It can be moved sideways to a new position to get a fresh surface, to
support small wood pieces. It gets replaced when it's too cut up. The saw's down
movement is limited with a screw so that the blade cuts through the piece and no
further.

  

The arbour shaft is made of 20 mm steel rod. A flange is welded to the end and
turned. A bolt and washer hold the blade in place against the flange.
The motor is installed on a standard motor mount plate. Belt tension can be adjusted with a setscrew. The motor is a 3-phase motor driven by an inverter and
its speed can be adjusted. On the handle is a micro switch, pressing it with the fingers starts the motor and when it's released the motor stops. The motor must
be stopped after each cut so the spinning blade will not contact the just cut piece when lifted back up.

The motor is mounted so that the upper (pivoting) frame is nearly balanced.

The blade guard is made of polycarbonate. The dust hood is made of plywood pieces. It's very effective in dust removal.
When starting to make segments, the first cut is made, then the length stop is locked. The work piece is then flipped over and clamped against the fence and
stop block with a wedge between the wood and an off-centre disk.
When making very short pieces a hold down stick can be used to support the cut piece and protect my hand.

Here are some examples of my segmented turnings.

There is also a
SketchUp CAD model of the miter saw

       

See also:

Pekka Svinhufvud's bandsaws

Foreword (by Matthias)
Pekka Svinhufvud, from Finland, emailed me asking about whether my bandsaw plans could be scaled down to 250 mm wheels. He also sent me some
pictures of some of his homemade machines. I'm always curious about other people's homemade machines, so I offered to send him the bandsaw plans for free
if he could send me more stuff to publish about his machines. Pekka sent me these pictures, plus a long write up. The write up was probably translated to
English with Google Translator, and it needed some work to coax the meaning from what at times looked like a jumble of words. I have done quite a bit of
editing to the text, so while the content of this article is by Pekka, half the wording is mine.

Although editing was a lot of work, it was very enjoyable to see somebody else's engineering approach, solving the same problems I had to solve, sometimes
similar, sometimes completely different. The bandsaw to some extent reminds me of my first homemade bandsaw. I believe I have since then managed to
simplify the design and construction of homemade bandsaws with my bandsaw2 and bandsaw/sawmill

Three wheeled bandsaw

Pekka writes:

The first bandsaw I owned was a three-wheeled, metal-bodied hobbyist quality machine. It proved to be too small and made poor quality cuts.

I decided to make my own 300mm (12") saw out of plywood. The only ready-to-buy parts I used were the blade and bearings. I installed the motor from my
lathe, which was left over when I changed it to a three-phase motor. This has worked perfectly for years. The biggest deficiencies are lifetime of the blades in
and that it can not have a very thick and stiff blade because the wheels are so small. The saw motor is only 250 watt, cutting height is 160 mm and a width of
315 mm. Also the wheel bearings also don't have enough support.
Larger bandsaw 2
In autumn 2006, I began to think about building a bigger bandsaw. I searched the internet and found articles about the Fine Woodworking magazine stories. The website
laymar-crafts.co.uk has a lot of information. I calculated a blade length of 2240 mm and bought a blade that I used for further design. My saw is close to a 14"
commercially sold one in size. Cutting height is 190 mm and a width of 340 mm. I bought a 750 watt 1425 RPM motor. However, it came with a complete drilling machine.
The motor seemed to be good size, at least physically, and I thought it has enough torque. The stepped pulley has four sizes with diameters 38 to 79 mm. I also took the
start switch from the drilling machine.

The frame is made from 35 mm birch plywood. The plywood I used is inexpensive compared to prime. Still, it is almost flawless with the exception of a few
dirt tracks from manufacturing. I paid about 16 Euro per square meter for the 35 mm thick plywood. The wheel hubs, table top, bearing supports and front
cover are made from 20 mm birch plywood. I used about 1.5 square meters of the 35 mm plywood and 3 square meters of the 20 mm plywood.
 The above images show
the main structure of the
saw.

Design goals were:

sturdy, heavy, quiet, and
will sit on an existing
table. To be constructed
at home, with the
exception of the shafts.
Also effective sawdust
removal and adjustable
cutting speed.

A friend of mine made

flanged shafts on his
metal lathe. I provided
him two pieces of 18 mm
steel plate and 20 mm
diameter pieces of steel
shaft, 290 mm long. 200
mm wafers were turned
and welded to the shafts
as directly as possible.
Flanges were turned straight and on the shaft. This was the demanding phase of construction. Thanks again for your help, Rauno. The shafts are mounted in
self-aligning pillow block bearings, type P204. The bearings have self-locking screws so they are easy to attach to the shaft in the correct position. Cast iron
bearings and pillow blocks are cheap (8 Euro each) and work well for this application.

To calculate the pulley ratio, one must first select the speed of the blade. Smaller saws use 300 to 900 m/min speeds. With a wheel diameter of 350 mm one
revolution takes the blade: 0.35 * 3.14 = 1.1 m. Now we can calculate the needed RPM for 300 and 900 m/min: 300 / 1.1 = 273 RPM and 900 / 1.1 = 819
RPM. The motor rotates 1425 RPM. The motor's smallest pulley is 38 mm and the largest is 79 mm. For the low speed and smallest motor pulley, we work out
the other pulley diameter: 1425/273 * 38 = 197 mm and for the highest speed and largest motor pulley, we work out: 1425/819 * 79 = 137 mm I decided to
make only one pulley so I compromised with a diameter of 180 mm. I turned the pulley from 20 mm plastic plate and attached it to the flange of the rear
surface of the wheel. Working it out from there, the available blade speeds with the pulley steps are 330, 435, 566 and 687 m/min.
 Next, I made a wheel outer circumference from 22 mm oak. The wheel diameter
is 350 mm. I cut a number of equal length segments with very accurate angles,
and they are glued together in pairs first, then pairs to each other until it's half a
circle. I matched them by grinding the ends straight in order to ensure a good
adhesive bond. Then the half circles are glued together. The segment's long side
length is calculated using the formula (outer diameter * 3.14 / number of
segments). Accurate joints require accurate cutting. I have a homemade table
saw and a sliding adjustable miter gauge. Segment rings can be done, for
example 8, 12.16, etc. segments per ring. After the glue dried, I turned the inside
of the ring, then glued it onto a round 200 mm plywood disk.

Disks are bolted to the flange shafts with 6 mm bolts. Since the wheel has to be
as balanced as possible, I turned them rotating on their bearings straight and
circular.

I built a wooden platform to attach the bearings on my lathe. Because my

lathe's spindle height was not enough for such a large work piece, I put
spacers under the lathe's drive head to bring it up further.

The lathe's drive shaft is coupled to the shaft with a piece of hose. Wood
moves with changes in moisture as it dries, so I left my wheels until
completion of the frame. Before gluing the outer rubber ring (tire), I turned the
outer rim one more time. The advantage of the above-described technique
with the segmented outer ring is that the grain direction is parallel to the ring, so
the moviements due to moisture content changess are smooth and radial.

3 mm sheet rubber strips were glued on with contact cement. The seams are
beveled so that the blade runs smoothly on the wheel. I turned and sanded the
rubber as a round cross-section and slightly convex. Convexity makes the
blade track on the middle of the wheel.
The rear, side, and bottom plates are load bearing structures and are made of 35 mm plywood. The
panels are cut and drilled before screwing and gluing together. The drawings earlier on this page
show the cross bracing on the left of the frame The cross bracing increases the frame stiffness against
twisting.

Bearing brackets are made of 20 mm plywood. The bottom one is a simple rectangular box. The shaft
is adjustable so that the wheel is parallel to the frame plate. Wheel vertical alignment adjustment is
made, if necessary, by putting washers under the bearings.

The upper bearing bracket can be moved vertically and tilted if necessary. The blade is
tensioned by turning the screw on the top.
I tried to make the blade guides stiff, silent, cheap, and easily adjustable. I tried
guide bearings in my previous saw, but they did not last and were noisy. So I
replaced them with wear resistant green plastic blocks. The plastic is so wear
resistant that it was impossible to shape with sandpaper.
For this saw I made guide blocks from pieces of hardwood. The upper support is
height adjustable for different cutting thicknesses. The bottom is fixed, but both
guides can be adjusted laterally.

The blade guides are mounted to 50 * 25 * 3 mm steel channel. For the upper
guide, I routed a 50 mm wide groove in the back plate. The support moves in
this groove. A slot is milled into the back plate, and a screw locks the guide
column to the back with a hand wheel.

The table top is made from 20 mm plywood and is attached to the frame with
wood screws. Table is not tiltable because it would introduce structural
challenges and limit cutting height. I don't need to tilt the bandsaw because it's
easier and more accurate to cut bevels on the table saw. Small angles can be cut
if you can install a wedge under the table.

The motor is attached with pieces of rubber on top of the plywood, and this is
locked to the frame below with two bolts. Speed changes can be made with four
threaded holes in the plate to align the motor for the selected belt groove. The
belt tightening screw can be seen in the photo.
When constructing such a machine, the adjustment and tuning is interesting. First, adjust the
wheel axles so that the wheels are at the same distance from the back plate, then lock the
setscrews on bearings. Adjust the wheels as parallel as possible with each other by measuring
the distance between the wheel and back plate with calipers. Measure on the left side, then
turn the wheel half a turn, and measure from the same spot on the wheel on the right side. If
the measurements differ, the bearing blocks need to be moved sideways.

Next measure the wheel alignment in the vertical plane. This is best done with a bandsaw
blade installed and tensioned. The method is similar to the previous procedure, but installing
shims under the bearings to make adjustments.

Check whether the upper blade guide is parallel to the blade. Raise the blade guide up and
adjust one of the guide blocks to touch the blade. Lower the blade guide and the guide block
should still touch the blade but not deflect it. Adjustments can be made by moving either
wheel side to side.

With the blade in place and tightened, rotate the wheels by hand a few times back and forth to
see if the blade tracks nicely on top of the wheel. If the blade does not line up with the middle,
the upper wheel must be tilted in the vertical plane with the bracket screws.

The blade guides are adjusted so that the back of the bearing almost touches the back edge of
the blade. The guide blocks are adjusted to touch the blade.

The blade should be perpendicular to the table. Cut a piece off the end of a straight board, with
the board oriented upright. Then flip the board top and bottom and cut another piece off.
Measure the length of the cutoff on both sides. I learned this trick from a famous segmented
wood turner Curt Theobald. He used the method on his video to adjust his disk sander.
 As I write this, I have used the saw 5 years and the experience is positive: the cuts are
excellent. It is easy to cut thin veneers, veneer thickness will vary by 0.1 mm. The saw runs
quiet and works well for sawdust removal. Motor power is adequate.

Have fun!

Pekka

See also:

Home made table saw

This article by Pekka Svinhufvud

My homemade
table saw is 600
mm wide and
600 mm deep.
The saw's frame
is made of 30
mm thick birch
plywood. It's on
wheels so it's
easy to move. I
can push it
under my workbench.

The rip fence is made of 50 mm steel tubing with the sliding surface made of
Corian.

The table has a miter slot for accessories like cross cutting sleds.

The blade can be raised and lowered by turning a screw on the front. I use a
cordless drill to raise and lower the blade.
Tilting of the saw is locked with the screw in the lower curved slot. There is no handle. I usually lift up the top to tilt the saw. The blade must be fully lowered
when opening or closing the saw when it's tilted!

The arbour and motor are installed on a U-shaped cradle. The whole cradle tilts
to set different blade angles.

The plate that mounts the motor and arbour can be tilted around a shaft with
two pairs of bearings. The plate (red) is made of 10 mm thick steel. The
arbour bearings are installed on a wooden block to raise them up further to get
the arbour closer to the table. The motor is a 3-phase motor driven with an
inverter.

A sliding block under the motor is moved by the depth adjustment screw. This tilts the motor assembly up and down to adjust the depth of cut.
Here the saw is in its down position. The spindle is made from a 20 mm shaft, a
flange is welded and turned to the end, the blade is locked onto it with a screw.

The arbour is perhaps the most important component of such saws. It's made
from a 20 mm steel rod. I have a very good friend who has a metal lathe, and it
was made by him. We work together often, I can help him with design, and
another friend of ours has a good garage for welding etc... But any small
machine shop can help, it takes only a short time to turn, weld and turn.

I used 20 mm rod because it fits right in the cheap bearings, there is no need to
machine the main shaft. I can buy this rod locally in short lengths. The bearings
have locking screws to clamp to the shaft.

A 40 mm steel disk with a 20 mm hole is welded on the end of the shaft Then it
is turned on metal lathe on all surfaces. A recess of 30 mm is turned to fit the
blade (the hole on blade is 30 mm) to a depth a little less than the blade is thick.
Then a 7 mm hole is drilled in the end of the shaft (on the lathe) and a M8 thread
is tapped.

A skilled machinist such as my friend ensures that the blade sits exactly and runs
true.

Then we made a small disk of 35 mm diameter with an 8 mm hole. This disk

locks the blade onto the arbour with a screw.

It is important keep in mind which direction the arbour turns. In my case it

rotates counter clockwise as seen from the blade end. The screw has right hand
thread, so the rotation of the arbour will tighten the screw. My saw can be tilted
to the left. For right tilting saws, the blade attaches on the other side of the
arbour, and it turns clockwise seen from that side. Counter clockwise screws or
nuts are used for right-tilting saws.

My motor is installed so that the belt is just behind the blade. I get more room
for tilting with this design. The belt pulleys are standard wheels with a tapered
collet to lock on the shaft. They are surprisingly cheap.

When I got my arbour installed I fine tuned it exactly so that the blade is parallel
to the miter slot and perpendicular to the table top.
 Most saws use trunnions for the blade tilt, but these are difficult to make, so I
used hinges instead.

I played with a computer to study this blade tilting question and found a
combination of hinge position and how far the blade should be from the hinge
pivot.

The slot for the blade is 6.2 mm wide and accommodates all blade tilt angles.

Thick steel plates are screwed to the frame, and the hinges are mounted to
these plates.
The table top is hinged on the back. I had to route some recesses to allow for the
maximum cutting height.

My tilting router lift is also installed on the table top.

      
 For sawdust removal I made a hood of polycarbonate. This connects to my
vacuum system from behind the saw. It captures dust better than my friend's
expensive saw.

Pekka Svinhufvud, Finland

You can also download Pekka's table saw SketchUp CAD model.
Please note that this CAD model was used by Pekka to work out the geometry.
It is not a complete plan with instructions.

Changes made to this saw

Pekka's tilting router lift

This router lift is based on Matthias's plans. The main difference is the router itself. We do not have the same style of routers in Europe as in Canada and USA.
This small AEG router has a 43 mm cylindrical mount near the collet, and the body is about 70 mm in diameter.
 The router's center line is installed at the same 53 mm distance from the sliding plate as in
Matthias's drawings. The tilting mechanism is the same as in the drawings, but the router
mounting pieces are different. Near the collet I used a bent piece of aluminium, and the
body is fastened with a hose clamp.

The router can be lifted rather high when tilted and it is not necessary to make a big hole in the table. I did not make an insert piece for the table. I can fasten
router bits from the underside by lifting the table top.
I installed the router lift on a scrap piece to test where the hole comes The table top is made of 35 mm plywood so I had to route a
and how big it needs to be. recess on the underside.
Here the router is tilted. The gears are made of nylon plastic with my homemade rose engine, with a dividing plate.
Cutting gears on my home made rose engine lathe. First the disc is turned round by running the lathe at 1 rpm, with the cutter spinning. The XY-vise is moved
with small intervals to form a cone. Then the spindle is locked at each tooth position with the dividing disk. Each tooth is routed by moving the spinning gear
cutter, at an angle in this case.
Another picture of the homemade rose engine, cutting a
gear for use on the rose engine itself.

Matthias comments:
Wow, that's a cool way to make fine gears!

But simple wooden gears made on the bandsaw can also be used
for the router lift.

How to make
wooden gears
The router is installed in my homemade table saw frame. I have to tilt the saw to make room for tilting the router lift, but can leave the saw in the upright
position when the router is not tilted.
Inside the homemade table saw. The router lift mounts to the table top.
Here the router collect is in upright position My homemade table saw, pushed partway under my work area.
My workshop is very small.

I tried to make a dust hood under the table for dado-like cutting, but it was not
very effective. Shavings are thrown to the side along the groove and not to my
dust hood.

But the dust port behind the fence works fine when cutting on the side of board.

Pekka Svinhufvud, Finland

See also:
 Pekka Svinhufvud's
Homemade table saw

Pekka Svinhufvud's
Segmented turning

Pekka Svinhufvud's
Homemade miter saw

Pekka Svinhufvud's
Homemade bandsaws

Pekka Svinhufvud's
belt sander
 Tilting router lift

How to make
wooden gears

Szczepan Urbanowicz's
tilting router lift

Pekka Svinhufvud's belt sander

Pekka writes:

Hi and thanks of your marvelous plans again!

Got the sander almost finished. Performs exelent.
Used not separate steel platen, the plywood under the belt is some laminate coated.

Pekka
 Matej Kavcic's belt sander
Matej writes:

Hello Matthias!

I would like to thank you and congratulate you for your belt sander plans. With
help of your plans, I made one by myself.

I am sending you some pictures of mine belt sander.

Best regards from Slovenia!

Matej
Rudolf Weiss's belt sander
Hello Matthias, I wanted to thank for the great videos and the super plans. It was a lot of fun to build something that works so well.

Many greetings from Frankfurt am Main

Rudolf Weiss
6x48" belt sander build continued
Continued from part 1
 Once the belt sander was in this state I was confident that it would work. I
ordered a piece of 3 mm thick sheet metal from the Metal Supermarket to use as
a platen. This adds 3 mm of thickness, which is how much the rollers are above
the plywood. But I realized, I should ideally raise it slightly higher to make sure
the belt pushes against the platen a little.

also experimented with using a piece of laminate flooring as backing

material. I sanded a lot in the same spot to see how it would hold up, but I
couldn't see any signs of wear afterwards. The main issue with the laminate
flooring was that it's much thicker, so it lifted the belt quite a bit, and that
made the sander much louder.

If running the belt at high speed, heat build-up might also be an issue. I have
mine running at about 440 meters/minute or 1500 fpm.

Building the base

Next step was to build some sort of base for it so that the motor could be underneath
the belt. Here checking the layout of the pieces I cut.
 I butt joined the pieces together
with glue. After the glue dried, I drilled pilot holes and added screws to the
corners.

Then screwing the sander part to the base. Ideally, the piece of plywood on the
back of the sander would extend down a bit further, but at this point I diverged
from my initial design, so this wasn't very pre-planned.

The motor mount ended up interfering with the back panel of the sander
 A jigsaw could have worked for cutting that out, but the whole thing just fit on
my bandsaw, so I used that instead.

Making the motor pulley

I had one 2.5" (63 mm) pulley but

needed a second one for the motor (not the step pulley I first tested with). I bought a pulley, but it cost $10, which seems too much for a small piece of aluminium. Two
pulleys would cost more than what I'll charge for the plans, so if I can show you how to save one pulley, that's already making up for more than half the cost of the plans!
 I made a blank by gluing several
layers of really hard wood together. This wood, ironically, came from a shipping
palette.

I drilled the hole 31/64" in diameter, a bit smaller than the motor's 1/2" shaft. I
then drove a nail in where the motor's flat spot is to act as a key to keep the
pulley from spinning loose.

With the motor running I used turning chisels to shape the pulley.

I didn't have the motor clamped down firmly enough, and the motor's mount is
also a bit "springy", so there were some vibration issues. I ended up shaping
much of it with a parting tool, mostly to take smaller cuts to cut down on
vibration.
Sanding the inside edges of the V-groove. I wanted this to be nice and smooth to
avoid unnecessary wear on the belt.

Then shaping the end of the pulley a bit

more.

The motor needs to be bolted

down to the base. The logical choice would be to use carriage bolts, but I have a
whole bunch of these T-slot jig bolts left over from a 149 part jig and fixture kit I
bought from Lee Valley Tools a few years ago, so I'll use those.

These require an elongated hole on the back, which I'm making by drilling
overlapping holes with a Forstner bit.
 Then screwing the bottom onto the sander.

Motor bolted on.

Using some pieces of wood to lever the motor to the side to add belt tension,
then tightening the nuts to lock the motor in place.
 And running the belt sander. I could just add the metal platen now and call it
done!

The sander could also be tipped on its side, so it can be used as an edge belt
sander.

Adding dust collection

I wanted a good way of collecting the dust coming off this belt sander without getting
in the way too much. I had an idea for an adjustable dust collection shroud for this.
 Here, tracing the shape for one of the parts, then cutting the shape on the bandsaw.

Adding a ledge to the pieces to hold the sliding shroud.

Then attaching the far side to the sander.

Checking the shape for the side pieces of the sliding part of the shroud.
I bought a piece of 4" to 3" clothes dryer vent hose adapter to use for the dust
collection hose. For light duty applications, dryer hose works quite well for dust
collection.

I sanded the burred edges on my

belt sander.

Looking through my plywood offcuts stash for a suitable piece of plywood for
the back of the shroud.
 Then tracing the size of the hole on a
piece of plywood and cutting it out on a scrollsaw.

Gluing it together.
 I sanded some sticks of wood round to
use as small dowel pins to reinforce the corners of the part that I just made.

After gluing the pins in, I cut them flush on the bandsaw.

Then sanding them fully flush on the sander. I also rounded the corners while I
was at it.
I used some small finishing nails to temporarily hold the sheet metal platen in place.

Checking the fit.

 The piece of wood that holds the
other side of this shroud could have been attached with long screws through the
whole part, or with screws from the back (but the motor would be in the way of
the screwdriver). I figured the most elegant way to attach it was with pocket
holes from the inside.

Yes, pocket holes. I couldn't use my pocket hole jig because the ledge I already glued on was in the way, so I clamped another piece of wood to the side of
where I needed to drill to help guide the drill in at an angle.
 I want air to get sucked in from
the top. To avoid having too much air coming from the side, I added a piece of
wood between the box and the sanding belt to block that air flow.

I attached that with a screw at an angle from below...

... and another screw from the back.

 I thought about screwing the hose flange
to the piece of wood, but then decided to use small blocks of wood to hold it in
place.

The pieces of wood have a rabbet cut in the side to accommodate the thickness
of the plastic flange.

Naturally, I sanded these smooth on my belt sander.

Then clamping them while the glue

dries.
 I also needed a way to lock the vertical position of the shroud. I used a 1/4"
machine screw, screwed into a slightly undersized hole from the back, then a
wing nut on the outside, which presses a piece of wood against the ledges that
hold the dust collection shroud. Tightening the wing nut locks it in place.

A hose clamp holds the dryer hose.

I'm using a clamp to temporarily

hold the 3" dryer hose to my 2.5" dust collector hose, which leads to my small
dust collector
 Trying it out. It's hard to see the moving dust in the photo, but the majority of the
dust went into the shroud.

And when sanding curves, the shroud can be lowered to make room.

A
belt guard isn't strictly necessary for a machine like this, but I figured I might as well
build one.

I started by measuring the distance between the pulleys.

 Then drawing semicircles on a piece of plywood of the right length.

had to drill some holes to accommodate parts of the pulleys on either end.

Then cutting the ends round.

 Gluing on the sides of the belt guard.

I used some thin sheet metal

(about 0.5 mm thick) for the top end of the belt guard. That way, the guard fits around the pulley without protruding beyond the sanding belt.
 The sheet metal screws to the
wooden guard with two screws on each end, plus another screw in the middle. I
added an extra layer to the plywood for where the screw goes in the end (not
shown)

Placing the belt guard against the belt, lining it up so that the pulleys are
centered in the holes. Then using a mallet to tap the screws so they leave a divot
in the part that it's screwed against.
 After drilling pilot holes, I was able to screw the belt guard in place.

At this point I could call it done. But because I also want to be able to lie the sander on its side to use as an edge belt sander, an adjustable table is also
necessary for this. I will get into that in my next article.

Next: Redoing how tracking and tension adjustment work

See also:
Homemade 1"x42" belt sander (strip sander)
This article also available in Spanish

I bought this 1"x30" strip sander at at Canadian Tire a few years ago, and it's
quite handy. but ther are a few things about it that I don't like. When sanding
larger workpieces, I often hit the back of the sander. Also, I can never seem to
get the belt to track on the center of the platen, and it runs too fast. So I thought
I'd try to build a better one.

What got me started was a successful experiment at flattening the outside of an

inline roller skate wheel on the table saw. Flattened, they could be the wheels for
a strip sander. I figured this would be a quickie project.

But then I started thinking about various aspects of the design - how to adjust
tracking, how to adjust tension, etc.
 To work it out, I drew a rough
CAD model, which then became increasingly detailed. I then printed out the
parts 1:1 for cutting out on the bandsaw from the cad model using my BigPrint
program.

I have to say, even if I had a CNC machine, I'd still cut them on the bandsaw. I can make better use of existing scrap, put the parts closer together, and the
bandsaw literally cuts 18 mm plywood ten times faster than a hobby CNC machine would.

I cut the rectangular parts on the table saw without gluing on the templates. For
simple rectangular parts, it's easier to transfer the measurements than to glue on a
template and peeling it off later.

I checked that I have the right parts of the right size by laying them on the
template.
 There are a few slots that need to be cut.
I cut these by making a series of holes with a brad point bit, then drilling
between the holes. You could also use a scroll saw. jig saw — or a slot mortiser
for these.

Peeling off the template after cutting. It's only attached with glue stick, so it
comes off easily.

Getting ready to attach the arm that holds the top wheel.

I clamped it in place, then drilled the pilot hole through both pieces to get the
holes perfectly aligned.
 This piece will eventually get glued in place, but for now I'm only screwing it on
in case I need to make changes.

piece of plywood goes on the back to hold it steady. Aligning that and
screwing through both pieces would have been too difficult, so I accurately
laid out the pattern of holes on both pieces, drilled pilot holes, then used those
holes to align it as I screwed it together.

This is how the table support on

the front fits together, with just enough room for the two pieces that I'm holding
to fit between two plywood pieces on the frame.
I used some extra pieces of plywood as spacers to jig things up for where the holes need to go to leave the two thicknesses of space for the plywood.

I have to say, it's much more evident how I do this in the build video.

Two parts of the frame need to extend forward by the same amount. I'm using
part of the frame, clamped on to the larger piece as a spacer to line as I drill the
pilot hole for screwing another piece on. This is more clear in the build video.

After drilling pilot holes, I enlarged the holes in the pieces that get screwed on
so that the screw threads clear the holes. This helps the screws pull the pieces

together.

Upper wheel mount

The upper wheel mount is tricky to make because the sides of it need to be precisely
aligned and screwed together.
I'm using a scrap that is the same width as the upper wheel mount, plus two pieces of paper to space them the right distance apart to fit around the wheel mount
arm later. I check several times to make sure these are lined up correctly as I clamp them.

With the two side pieces of the upper wheel mount positioned, I can clamp them
together.

Then positioning the upper wheel mount back in place and drilling pilot holes through it and the sides. I only drill two pilot holes at first.

I then put screws in these two pilot holes to keep things aligned. and drill the
rest of the pilot holes

After that I expand the pilot holes in the upper wheel mount back to clear the
screw's threads, and add countersinks for the screw heads.

Then screwing the upper wheel mount back together.

 The upper wheel mount pivots on the upper wheel mount arm on a pin. For the
time being, I'm just using a screwdriver to check it.

In the end, I still had to make adjustments to the alignment, using a file to
slightly expand the notch that the shaft for the upper idler rests in.

Idler wheels

I rigged up a temporary circle

cutting jig to cut away the outermost part of the roller skate wheel on the bandsaw. I could skip this step, but I'm afraid there might be some sand grains embedded in the
rubber, so I cut away the outer-most layer with a bandsaw.
 Then spinning the wheel above a spinning table saw blade to shave it down to
exactly cylindrical (I slowly moved the wheel forward along the blade as I spun
it to get a flat cylindrical shape)

After that, I shaped a crown onto the wheel buy raising the blade slightly and pushing the wheel slightly into the
blade (not all the way on) to cut a bevel on one side. After that I flip the wheel
around and cut the bevel on the other side.

One idler mounts at the bottom...

 ...the other one the top.

Drive wheel and pulley

The drive wheel needs to be fixed to the drive shaft. It's easier to make it out of
plywood than to adapt a roller skate wheel for the job. I glued a 18 mm thick
piece and a 6 mm thick piece to form a 24 mm thick blank (ideally, this blank
would have been slightly thicker)

I'm using an 8 mm thick shaft for the drive shaft, but you could use a thicker

shaft too, so long as you have bearings that accurately fit the shaft. You could
also use a bronze bushing or a piece of oil soaked maple as a bearing block for
the shaft. Wooden bearings last surprisingly long.

I roughened up one end of this shaft with the coarse wheel on the bench grinder.
I also add a chamfer to the end of the shaft.

I then pounded the shaft into a hole that is about 1/32 or 0.5 mm smaller than the
shaft. This fixes the wheel on the shaft.
 I use the same procedure for rounding the drive wheel on the table saw, though
this time I'm spinning the wheel by the shaft, instead of spinning the wheel on
the shaft.

used the same procedure to shape a crown onto the drive wheel. But instead of
flipping the wheel over to cut the other side of the crown, I move it beyond the
center of the table saw blade to cut the bevel on the shaft-side of the drive
wheel.

You may be thinking "use a lathe", but it would be very difficult to mount the
wheel sufficiently centered. By spinning the wheel on its own shaft, I can
ensure that the outside of the wheel is exactly concentric with the shaft. Even if
the wheel was mounted with a slight wobble, after trimming it on the table
saw, the edge of the wheel would still be accurate.
 A pulley needs to be attached to
the other end of the shaft, and the pulley needs to be removable so I can put the
strip sander together.

I drilled a hole with a tight fit for the shaft, but not so tight that I couldn't pull the
shaft out by hand. I filed a notch in one side of the hole and ground a groove in the end of another 8 mm diameter shaft with an angle grinder.

With the shaft inserted and the pulley and shaft notches lined up, I drove a small finishing nail into the space to act as a "key".

Then cutting the disk that will become the pulley round on the table saw. Same
technique as before, but I'm using a drill to spin the shaft.

Next I cut the V-belt groove on the table saw. I made a block with a V-notch to rest on my table saw sled so I could position the pulley precisely without
getting my fingers near the action. This worked well, but I need the sides of the
slots to be angled for the V-belt.
I didn't run into any problems, but let me warn you that this is not a particularly safe operation. Keep your hands away from the blade. And be sure to spin the
shaft with a drill, not by hand! And use a table saw sled.

To cut the sloped edges of the pulley, I tilted the blade by 20 degrees and cut one
side of it.

I then put my block and drill on the other side of the blade to cut the other bevel.
I also reversed the drill so I wouldn't be making a climb cut.

I could have done this by flipping the pulley on the shaft, but moving to the other
side was easier.

Finished pulley. I cut the initial rectangular slot a bit too wide. But it looks like this should work. If I run into problems, I can always make another pulley.
 The pulley needs to go on the
other end of the shaft that's permanently attached to the drive wheel. I cut a
keyway into the end of that shaft.

The shaft is clamped between two pieces of hard wood, and I'm actually using that wood to help guide the angle grinder wheel.

The end of the shaft has a flat spot from its previous application. I cut that part off later.

Mounting the drive shaft

Before mounting the drive shaft, I had to mount the sander frame to the plywood
base. I started by placing it on the base, marking the outline of it, drilling some
holes from the top for where the screws go, and then clamping the frame onto
the base.

I then flipped the base over and drilled pilot holes and screwed the frame onto
the base from below.
 I need to mount the bearing
holder for the main drive shaft so that the drive shaft is perpendicular to the main
frame. I drew a pencil line on the base and positioned the bearing holder to line
up the drive shaft by eye.

In retrospect, I guess I could have just held the square against the shaft and lined it up that way!

Putting the belt on the sander, Even with it tightened all the way, there was some
slack in the belt. It appears I made the wheels smaller than anticipated.
 I fixed the problem on my sander by unscrewing the top wheel arm, moving it up
by about 6 mm, and screwing it on again.

Some washers behind the drive wheel keep it the right distance from the
frame. I oiled these.

A small spacer bushing and a block of wood clamped to the shaft lock it into
position on the other side.

Also note the bearing, which is barely visible. A screw just above the bearing
keeps it from popping out of the hole.

Now attaching the pulley to the end of the shaft. I used a small #4 screw as a
"key" to make it easier to get it out again if needed.
 I also need to prevent the lower
idler pulley from moving left and right. I made some spacers out of 1/4" (6 mm)
Baltic birch plywood with holes a little too small, then put one on either side of
the pulley (I had to pound the shaft with a hammer to slide the spacers along). Make sure the pulley isn't squeezed between the two spacers.

Homemade 1"x42" belt sander build (strip sander) part 2

Back to part 1

Tracking adjustment
I initially had a different method of tracking adjustment (you can see it in the build
video), but it was awkward to adjust and interfered with having a dust port on the right
side.

The improved mechanism uses a long threaded rod, with a knob on the front.
 A block of wood goes on the threaded rod and is pushed back by a knob on the
front. Conveniently, when I turn the knob clockwise, the belt tracking changes to
the right.

Belt tensioner

The upper wheel mount arm needs a hole in the back. This hole is about 1/32" or 0.5
mm smaller than the threaded rod I'm using.

I'm using a block of wood with a V-notch cut in the end of it as a guide to
make sure I get this hole square. That was easier than taking it apart again.
Hopefully, you will have drilled this hole before assembling your sander.

I jammed two nuts against each other on the threaded rod, then used a nut driver
in my drill to screw them in (you could also use a wrench, but that would take
much longer).

I then used two slip joint pliers to loosen the nuts from each other and take them
off the threaded rod.
 A wing nut and washer on the threaded rod push the back of the upper wheel
mount down. I later swapped the wing nut for a threaded knob. The wheel mount
pivots in the middle, so this raises the wheel on the front. I'm using a small
screwdriver instead of a shaft for the time being.

The motor I'm using is a 1/3

horsepower furnace fan motor, which I either picked out of the garbage or paid a few dollars for at a yard sale (I don't remember). For the time being, I'm just
attaching it with some 1" C clamps.

You could also use the motor from a clothes dryer, a top loading washer, forced air furnace, sump pump, or diswasher. However, each of these motors may
have its own challenges to mount and attach a pulley.

Do not use universal motors (motors with brushes). Those run too fast, though you could use a drill (these are sufficiently geared down)
 If you are building a strip sander and have to buy the motor new, you may end
up paying more for the motor than you would for a strip sander. So if you are
inclined to ask "How much does it cost to buy all the parts to build the strip
sander?", that suggests you don't have much of the stuff on hand. In which case,
I recommend to just go and buy a new strip sander instead. Or if you really want
to build one, buy a strip sandre and take the motor out!

At left: strip sander running for the first time. It works!

Platen
I

need some sort of "platen" to support the back of the sanding belt. It's easiest to
just cut this from a piece of steel that already has a right angle bend to it. This piece is
about 2.3 mm (3/32") thick. Slightly thicker would be better.

I'm using a saw that can cut metal, but a hacksaw, reciprocating saw
(Sawszall), or angle grinder could also be used.
 The mount for the platen is made of 18 mm Baltic birch plywood. Two slots
allow it to be adjusted or removed. The rationale being that the platen mount
moves and comes out with the platen, so that I don't wear out the holes for the
small screws holding the platen when swapping it out.

Drilling the holes for the screws that hold the platen mount. These are 1/32" (about 0.5 mm) smaller than the machine screws that go into them.

The platen is held by knock-down furniture screws, with large round heads. I
drove these in with an impact driver (much faster than using an Allen key).
 Next mounting the platen to the platen mount.

I later experimented with making a rounded wooden platen, and that worked out
just fine, so a wooden platen (so long as it's made from a hard wood) can also be
used.

Putting the sanding belt back on.

Table mount

The table mount consists of two

pieces of Baltic birch plywood with a slot in them at an angle. The two pieces are glued
together, then screwed to the bottom of the table using screws from above.

The part with the angled slot fits between the two slotted pieces on the frame.

long carriage bolt with a knob on the other end clamps the table mount in
place. A piece of wood on the end of the carriage bolt keeps the bolt's head
from turning as the knob is tightened.
First test
At this point, the sander is functional enough to try it out!

There was quite a bit of noise

coming from the wheels when I tried out the sander. On closer examination, I realized the bearings were not very tight in the wheels, so they rattled around as
the wheel was turned. I could wiggle the bearings with my fingers

I made a paper shim to go around the bearings. This made for a nice tight fit.
Dust enclosure

Next I made a cover for the sander. I

printed out the template from my plans and cut a piece of 1/4" (6 mm) plywood to the
shape, then added 1 cm wide, 35 mm thick edges.

I just marked these off my piece of wood and then cut them on the bandsaw. I
also have templates for all these pieces in the plans, but I'd recommend just
marking them off like this as you go along.

Gluing the edges on. I've clamped them on with weights. That way there is less
risk of pushing things out of alignment.
 Checking the cover for fit.

Now I just need a convenient way of attaching it.

took the sander apart again to drill some holes for some studs (pieces of
threaded rod) to attach the cover.

If you follow the plans, you will already have drilled these holes earlier. The
holes are 1/32" smaller than the 1/4" threaded rod. In metric, drill 5.5 mm
holes and use M6 threaded rods.

Then screwing in the pieces of threaded rod. Again, I jammed two nuts against each other, and I'm using a nut driver in a drill to screw them in (faster than a
wrench).

If you can't find threaded rods, you could also drill 1/4" (6 mm) holes and insert carriage bolts from the back.
 Then I transferred the location of the studs by placing the cover on them and
hitting it with a hammer. If you follow my plans, you will have already drilled
the holes in the cover.

I drilled 5/16" (8 mm) holes where the studs hit the cover.

Wing nuts hold the cover in place.

While I had it apart, I also cut a slot in the frame so I could put the dust collector hook-up on the other side. I could have attached the dust collector to the side
with the cover on it, but I could make a more robust dust hook-up if it wasn't attached to the cover.
 I also added a switch. The switch is a surface mount electrical box, attached to a
post on the machine.

You can buy surface mount switches, but I have had problems with some of
these in the past. To buy an electrical box, cover, and switch is actually less
expensive, and if the switch fails, it's cheaper and easier to replace.

Belt guard

Making a belt guard, I wasn't sure if I needed one. But I figure I should at least set a
good example and add one.

The shape of your belt housing will vary with belt length, pulley size and
motor size, so it's best to mark it off the machine than use the shape in the
plans.

I used a short pencil to trace the shape of the belt on a piece of plywood.

I cut the plywood out on the bandsaw, then traced the outside edge of the guard
on some 2x4 wood, and cut that out on the bandsaw. I freehand cut the inside
edge to make the sides about 1 cm thick.
 The belt guard screws onto the edge of the base.

Dust port

I made a dust port out of a few

pieces of wood. This one is for my 2.5" dust collector hose.

The hose flange has a gap at the top with a screw so I can adjust how tight the fit is to the piece of plastic at the end of the hose.
 Finished sander, with the hose plugged in.

then painted the sander with my usual green colour. Aside from making it

look nicer, it helps for clarity in the pictures I take when the machine is not the
same colour as the wood.

The coolest feature of this sander is that the platen (the backer behind the belt) is
easy to remove and swap out. Here I'm swapping in a convex platen, for sanding
inside curves. This allows this sander to do work that is typically done with
spindle sanders.
It can't do everytying a spindle sander can do - like sanding inside shapes, but it can do things that spindle sanders can't do, like getting into tight corners. It
also works faster, and the dust gets pulled into the machine instead of thrown to the side.

But then I had another idea- to just make

a sheet metal clip that snaps onto the straight platen to make it into a convex one.
The advantage of this one is that it's easy to swap in and out. Though if I have to

sand a lot of curves, the curved wooden platen is more suitable.

With the curved platen to do the inside curves, and the edges of the straight
platen to work the bevel edges in the corner, I was able to do all the shaping of
the edges and top of this heart using this sander.

Rebuilding My Dust Collector

Homemade Machines & Jigs
When I bought my dust collector, I thought it would be perfect for the kind of work I do in my shop. It was portable and I could just move it where needed and
quickly connect it to the tool I would be using. As it turns out, that was actually a lot more inconvenient than I thought, especially in a small shop with limited
walking space and always a bunch of stuff on the floor. About the only thing I regularly connected it to was my thickness planer. Mostly I just used it to
vacuum the floor, during my all too infrequent clean-up sessions.
The model I bought was inexpensive and the specifications say it’s capable of 350cfm, which is probably a little low for the kind of dust a table saw can pump
out. When cutting dusty material like MDF, I would often connect it to my table saw to let it catch the fine dust. It worked well for that, drastically reducing
the amount that got into the air.
Since I have so many shop organization projects happening, I decided to rebuild the dust collector and make it stationary. The table saw and miter saw are the
two most used tools in my shop, so I figured I could put it close to those and connect it directly to both. The idea is to catch the fine dust that these two tools
produce, while leaving the heavier dust to the passive collection systems that are already in place. Along with that, it can be switched on to clean the air in the
shop while I’m doing some other operation, like sanding. Also, by adding a port for the 2-1/2″ hose, I can still use it to vacuum the shop floor.
I have to say that I wasn’t 100% certain that doing this would be successful, so I rushed through it without much planning, just to see if it would work as I
thought it would. Of course, I made some mistakes that could have been avoided if I had
spent a bit more time at the drawing board. In the end, it turned out better than I expected. Even with building it on the fly, I don’t know that I could have done
much better, performance wise.

One of the biggest problems with the type of dust collector that I had is that everything that gets sucked in has to pass the impeller. That’s fine, if all that goes
in is saw dust.
As I was using mine mainly to clean up, it would suck in all kinds of things, including this countersink:

That’s where it was! I found that while taking the unit apart to do this rebuild.
This kind of abuse takes its toll on the impeller and housing, which is quite dented.

To get started, the first thing I have to do is adapt the metal centre section of the collector (the part where the filter bag will attach) so that a cabinet can be
built around it. To do this, I cut two pieces of 3/4″ plywood into equal parts, then put them together and drew a circle that is equal to the outside diameter of
the centre section:

I then cut out each half on the band saw and fitted around the centre section:
The collar is a good, tight fit.

Polyurethane construction adhesive is used to attach the two halves. It is probably the best glue to use for this, since it adheres to both wood and metal and can
easily fill any gap between the two:

I’ve cut blocks to prop the collar up high enough to get the filter bag back on afterwards. Clamps hold it until the glue dries.

To make sure this junction is as airtight as possible, I used more of the construction adhesive to caulk the joint all the way around.
Even though I wasn’t sure that this new configuration for the collector would work well, I still took the time to make sure that all of the things that should be
done, were done.

The next part goes at the bottom of the centre section and divides it from the collection bin below. It is a typical Thien baffle with a slot cut three quarters of
the way around to let the dust drop through to the collection bin:

To attach it, more construction adhesive is applied to the rim of the centre section.

The glue needs several hours to cure, but before leaving it, I make sure the two parts are lined up correctly.
I then left it to dry overnight.

The next day, I put the filter bag on and found that the collar was not quite big enough. The clasp sticks out past it:

Lack of a detailed plan and trying to make this as slim as possible are to blame for this mistake.
To fix it, I added solid wood strips to the edge:

With that little problem solved, I could move on to assembling the collector cabinet. The sides and back are 1/2″ plywood, glued and screwed to the centre
section. Here I’ve attached one of the side panels.

Then the other side was put on. This one had to be cut for the inlet pipe:

The back is put on. Overall, a fairly simple design to build, with no complex joinery – just butt joints, glued and nailed:

I used 3/4″ plywood for the top and bottom.

With the bulk of the cabinet done, I had to figure out how to mount the blower. I decided to keep it simple and just let it sit up on top of the cabinet with the
inlet pipe coming down through to hold it in place. To make this as airtight as possible, I added a ring of 3/4″ plywood to the blower housing that provides a
flat mating surface:

I used my compact compass to draw the right size hole:

A bead of construction adhesive seals and fixes the ring to the blower housing.
Another 4″ hole is cut through the top of the cabinet for the inlet to come though.
At this point, there is no gasket between the ring and the top of the cabinet, since I wanted to make sure that this was going to be an effective arrangement
before going much further.
If the pressure drop proved to be too large, I could always put a bigger blower unit on top, just by lifting off this one.

Time for a quick test. To seal the filter bag compartment, I just held a piece of 1/4″ plywood over the front and turned on the blower. I was pleased to see that
it sucked in tight to the cabinet and stayed in place. Airflow through the inlet was strong, also, in spite of the bottom compartment being wide open:

With the blower turned off and the plywood removed, I looked to see how close the filter bag is to the sides after it was fully expanded. I could have been a bit
more generous with how much space there is, but it seems to be working well and the bag is not actually touching the sides, so air can still flow reasonably
well.

Next, I added cleats to attach the front panel:

I then put peel and stick foam weatherstripping around it to make an air tight seal.

The front panel is screwed in place, just tight enough to compress the weatherstrip to get a good seal:

To close the bottom compartment, I made a panel from 3/4″ plywood that is glued and nailed in place. This bottom compartment is where the dust will collect:

Another test was to vacuum up a pile of sawdust and small pieces of wood to see how well the Thien baffle works. A look inside the centre section afterwards
shows it is performing very well, with nearly nothing left. I expect the few ‘crumbs’ fell back down from the filter bag, after the blower stopped.

To empty the collection bin, an access door is needed, and I cut an opening near the bottom in the front panel:
Inside is the sawdust I vacuumed up.

The door for the opening is 3/4″ plywood, fitted with cabinet door hinges and a weatherstripping gasket:

The door overlays the opening by about 3/4″ on all sides, providing a place for the weatherstripping seal.

To hold the door tightly closed, I made a simple latch using a hanger bolt, wing nut and fender washer:

When closed, the door seals tight to the front panel.

In order to conveniently empty the collection bin, I decided to lift the collector up off the floor high enough to get a garbage can under it to scoop the dust into.
To do this, I made a simple stand with spruce legs and plywood stretchers.
The corner gussets are cut from the circle left over from cutting out the ring for the centre section:

I can drive screws up through these into the bottom of the collector to attach the stand.

Here I’ve got it put where it will be in the shop, right next to the chop saw station:

The perfect height for the garbage bucket I have. This will really be a time saver over the original setup, and hopefully a lot less messy.
I removed the power switch that was on the blower unit, since I could no longer reach it. In its place, I ran a wire down the side of the cabinet to a switch
mounted at a convenient height:

Easy to quickly switch it on before a cutting operation. I just used an ordinary light switch to do this.

Next up, the ducting, and I’m using 4″ PVC. To join the tee to the inlet, I cut a short length of pipe as a coupling:

The pipe is a tight fit over the inlet and I just screwed that in place using sheet metal screws.

I then extended the pipe over to the chop saw station. The pipe meets the side at an angle and I also want a blast gate here, so I need to make an angled box to
fit:

The blast gate is just a piece of 1/4″ plywood with a stop on the inside, to keep it from sliding all the way out.

I cut the right size hole through the side of the chop saw station and screwed the box on from inside.
This is a little higher than the middle of the hooded area and works well to draw out the airborne dust from using the miter saw.
When I want to increase suction at the table saw or to use the hose, I can close the blast gate.

For the table saw, I needed to figure out the best place to put the inlet. Looking inside, I saw that most of the dust is thrown downward off the front of the
blade into the bin at the bottom. I figured that the best place to capture the fine dust, is right there, at the front of the saw:
I marked and cut out an opening in the front panel of the saw. Easy enough to do with a zipcut blade in the grinder.

I then cut out a piece of 3/4″ plywood to fit:

Then made a scoop with more plywood and cut a 4″ hole in the bottom for the pipe.

Completed and screwed on:

The pipe then goes across the floor beside the saw.
There will be lots of people suggesting that this is a dangerous trip hazard, but for those of us that have some real world experience, and actually pay attention
to what we are doing, this won’t be a problem.

Another blast gate stops flow from the table saw, and that is just below the inlet for the hose to vacuum the floor:

The completed project.

I have to say that at first, I thought I would not use this for some cuts, but find that every time I get ready to make a cut, I immediately turn the collector on. It
is extremely effective at keeping the air free of dust while I’m making cuts, and has proven itself in the short time since I finished it. A project well worth the
time and effort, transforming the nearly useless dust collector that I had into a valuable shop tool.