Making a grinder with your own hands. Do-it-yourself belt sander. Do-it-yourself belt sander: photo

A do-it-yourself grinder is made from really very necessary “junk” that is in every workshop or pantry. The tool is used for final processing of parts, grinding, rounding corners.

There are several types of such a device. The most common is a grinder with a vibration principle of operation. One of its main elements is a flat sole fixed on the base. It transmits movement from the motor to the abrasive surface. The harder you press the device, the more powerful the vibration movements will be. Such a machine has a low speed, it is noisy, hands get tired quickly with it, but at the same time, such a tool is cheap and compact.

A subspecies of such a device is a device with a deltoid sole, which is brought forward.

Grinding machines types and purpose

Tape devices. Such a machine works on a different principle. A tape of abrasive material (sandpaper), glued into a ring, rotates on spindles. When working with it, you do not need to apply great efforts, since the rotation of the tape is quite fast. Such machines have speed control functions, a soft start system. For more precise work, tape machines have a support frame. When working with such a tool, a lot of dust arises, so they often have a dust collector or the ability to connect to a vacuum cleaner. Various attachments can be attached to the spindles.

eccentric device. This is the most versatile type among grinders. It can process almost any surface and materials. For curved planes, such a device is ideal. It has a round platform. The rotating abrasive is fastened with special clips or Velcro. The sole of the machine performs both rotational and vibrating movements at the same time.

Angle grinders. They are electromechanical and pneumatic. They are quite versatile, they can cut, grind, clean surfaces made of stone, metals. The device is very similar to the grinder, basically it is the grinder, but with special circles.

Polishing machines differ from angle polishers only with polishing nozzles.

Straight grinders perform fine work with high precision. The spindle is parallel to the frame, like the shaft of a pen. Such machines are small in weight and size, they can be manipulated with one hand. Their main purpose is the grinding of corners, the processing of edges and small planes, such as planks and lintels. They look like a thick pen, they are used to engrave, cut and polish small objects.

Multifunctional grinders. They can combine several types of devices in one device, for example, a vibrating and tape machine, using replaceable nozzles.

DIY grinder video

Tools and materials for assembling a grinder

  • wooden bars, metal elements for the base table;
  • sheets of plywood, chipboard;
  • old motor, computer hard drive, power supply;
  • bolts, screws, bearings, self-tapping screws;
  • screwdriver, screwdrivers, drill;
  • spring, steel, metal, textolite plate;
  • welding inverter, if such work will be carried out;
  • abrasive tape, circle, glue.

Making a grinder from a hard drive

Now it's not a problem to get a broken hard drive from the computer (but the circle should spin up) and an old computer power supply. If there is no house, then at any repair point they will be sold for a penny.

Such a device will be oversized, for small parts. It is done simply: the disk is disassembled, an abrasive is glued onto the rotating plane, connected to the power supply - the device is ready. It must be mounted on a workbench for stability, it can be equipped with a regulator, a servo tester for speed control and a switch.

Do-it-yourself angle grinder is made from a grinder, it is enough to make the necessary nozzle-circle from an abrasive. You can, of course, make it from scratch by selecting the necessary electric motor, placing it in a casing, attaching handles. But you need to remember about the safety of working with such a tool.

Belt grinder machine. Such devices consist of:

  • working body: abrasive, two drums, leading and driven. There may be more drums in the machine;
  • electric motor;
  • casing, machine base, frame, table.

The do-it-yourself machine is equipped with a speed change function, the tape can be placed both vertically and horizontally.

Stages of manufacturing a grinder-machine of a tape device

  • Preparation;
  • equip the base-frame for the machine, it is rigid and stable;
  • pick up the countertop, the larger it is, the larger parts can be processed;
  • fix racks with tension parts and rotating drums;
  • fixing the engine and drums, installing an abrasive belt.

To process large parts, they make an overall machine. To do this, they take an electric motor, which is well suited from old, sufficiently powerful household appliances, such as a washing machine.

The bed is made from a thick metal sheet.

Do not indicate the dimensions of the sheet, since in any case they come from individual preferences and the availability of materials, it can be, for example, 500x180x30 mm, more or less. A cutout for the motor is milled in the sheet, all this is attached to the frame, the necessary holes for the fasteners are drilled. All parts, and especially the engine, must be tightly fastened so that there is as little vibration as possible.

The motor can not be equipped with a gearbox if it is powerful enough. The do-it-yourself machine is created from two drums, one is firmly fixed on the shaft, the other is tensioned with it, you can adjust the degree of tension.

The frame is created from thick wooden parts, but it is possible from metal ones. If there is a suitable metal and an inverter for welding, it can be welded. The plate for the support is made from thick plywood, I take several sheets, textolite is also suitable.

The second shaft is beveled, so the tape will smoothly touch the table. For drums, several sheets of chipboard are taken, they are glued and turned to the required diameter, in the center they are made several mm thicker, so the tape will hold well. Single row ball bearings are used for drum spindles. The abrasive belt makes its movement along the frame on which it is attached.

A homemade grinder is not such a rarity; it is quite possible to assemble it with your own hands.

The grinder is indispensable for finishing wood parts.

A grinder is a necessary thing and will always come in handy on the farm.

If you come across spare parts in large quantities, besides there is free time and a desire to try yourself as a design engineer, then a home-made grinder in your hands will turn out to be suitable for work.

So, you will need:

  • motor (its role can be played by any other motor taken from any electrical device);
  • electric drive (for these purposes, the most ordinary battery from a computer Ups is suitable);
  • screws;
  • wires;
  • switch;
  • board;
  • sandpaper;
  • glue;

Stages of assembly and installation

After you have all the necessary tools at your disposal, you can begin to make a grinding unit. To begin with, on a wooden board, pre-treated with varnish, you need to attach the motor. Finding it is easy, many people at home will probably have an old non-working hard drive from a computer. Having disassembled it, removed the top cover and removed the head block, you will get the perfect workpiece - the motor. If you want your grinder to have more power, then it makes more sense to use a more powerful motor. For example, from a fan. And if you have plans to manufacture a serious stationary grinder, then in this case you need to take an electric motor from an unnecessary washing machine. Then, in addition to the function of grinding, she can also act as a grinder.

The next step will be the installation of the drive. In order for the motor to work, you need to provide it with an uninterrupted power supply. If your grinder has a small motor, then the power supply to it must be done in a special way. For example, through a battery.

After the main nodes of the homemade product are firmly fixed on the board, they will need to be connected to each other. This operation can be performed using ordinary wires. Do not forget about the switch, be sure to introduce it into the overall circuit.

If you install a felt nozzle on the grinder, you get a polishing machine.

Now you need to make a grinding wheel with your own hands. To do this, take sandpaper and cut out two circles of a suitable diameter. Then glue them together. You have a finished grinding wheel, made by yourself. Of course, you can buy a ready-made circle in any specialty store. By the way, they also sell circles of small sizes.

Next, we proceed to attach the circle to the motor using two simple bushings. At the time of attachment, be guided by the diameter of the axis of the motor, as there is a possibility of a diameter mismatch. In this case, you can simply pick up plastic bushings according to the axle diameter.

For finishing wood, metal or stone, you can build a belt sander with your own hands. The need for such processing arises quite often. It is needed not only to obtain even and smooth surfaces. With its help, you can remove various kinds of irregularities, bulges and depressions, peel off burrs, remove local defects, remove flash formed during welding, carry out internal grinding, etc.

Manual execution of such processing is very laborious and inefficient, and the cost of industrial grinding machines is quite high. Therefore, it is necessary to invent and build home-made structures, especially since they do not differ in particular complexity.

General information about the design of belt grinders

Belt grinders, with all the apparent diversity of their designs, have common distinguishing features. An abrasive belt is used as a working tool in these designs. Most often, it is connected into a ring and placed between two rotating drums.

Usually there are two such drums: the first is the leader, and the second is the slave. The driving drum is driven by an electric motor through a mechanical transmission. Usually it is a belt drive. It is desirable to have a device that allows you to change the speed of rotation of the main drum, thereby providing a variety of processing modes.

The location of the sanding belt depends on the purpose of the sanding machine and can be any: vertical, horizontal or inclined. The tape is usually mounted on a frame, and workpieces can also be located there. In homemade designs, the blanks are usually held by hand, although there may be other options.

The length of the working part of the sanding belt depends on the size of the workpieces being processed. The grinding process is accompanied by the release of a large amount of dust, so the presence of an exhaust device is desirable. A tension roller is often used to adjust the degree of belt tension.

Depending on what the grinder will be mainly used for, it may have some design features. This applies to the diameter of the drums, the length and speed of the belt, its grain size, the design of the working table, etc. The main types of grinding are:

  • grinding curved surfaces;
  • leveling flat surfaces;
  • alignment of side edges or ends, as well as surfaces of bars, shields and similar parts;
  • grinding of intermediate layers of paint and varnish coatings.

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Homemade belt sander

The structural prototype of a homemade grinder was a conventional industrial design in which the belt is moved by the abrasive part outward over the flat surface of the desktop. The resulting grinder is distinguished from the industrial design by increased dimensions and a stationary installation.

Since a gearbox or belt drive complicates the design, an electric motor is used, the rotor of which makes 1500 rpm. The power of the electric motor should be about 2-3 kW. With a drive shaft radius of 10 cm, the linear speed of the belt will be about 15 m/s. As already mentioned, the reducer is not needed in this case. Adjustment of the speed of rotation in such a simple design is not provided.

The drive shaft is rigidly mounted on the motor shaft, and the second shaft tensions the belt. The tension shaft rotates on bearings sitting on a fixed axle to reduce friction. This axis can be shifted relative to the desktop in one direction or another, reducing or increasing the degree of tension of the sanding belt.

The desktop can be made from improvised materials: sheet metal or wooden beams. Its dimensions are determined by the distance between the axes of the shafts and the length of the abrasive belt. Near the shafts, the surface of the table must have bevels to ensure smooth contact of the tape (especially its junction) with its plane.

Both drums are easy to make yourself. Chipboard can serve as a material for their manufacture. Squares with a side of 20 cm are cut from the original plate. Their number should be such that the total thickness of the set is about 24-25 cm. Discs with a diameter of 20 cm are made from them on a lathe. There are two options for processing them:

  1. You can grind each workpiece on the machine separately.
  2. A more preferable option is to put the workpieces on the axis, clamp and grind them all together.

The groove should be carried out in such a way that the edges of the drums are a few millimeters smaller than their middle. This is necessary so that the abrasive belt is automatically installed in the centers of the drums.


You can make a very convenient, manual belt grinder from a grinder with your own hands. With the help of such a tool it is good to sharpen an ax, knives, etc. Treat the surface at any angle, giving it a flat plane. In general, those who work with iron or wood will appreciate this mini machine.
Sharpening the cutting edge of the ax:


With such sharpening, the corner will not float away.


How to make a belt grinder from a grinder

The mount for the girth of the grinder will be made of a piece of thick steel, about 10 mm thick. We drill a hole for the neck of the angle grinder.


We cut a wide slot.


We cut the mount with a grinder.


Next, we clean and grind so that everything has a beautiful and safe appearance.


We drill a hole from the legs of the clamping device.


Then we cut the thread in the wide side.


As a result, this mount can be easily put on the grinder and clamped so that everything is held tightly.


Trying on.


Now you need to make a roller that will rotate the sandpaper tape. We take a chipboard and, using nozzles of large diameters, we cut round pieces. To get a wide round roller, glue them together.
Then, with a pen drill, we drill a hole in all at once.


Then we clamp it in a vise and with a triangular file we make an internal hole for the hexagon.


Like this.


We take a wide nut and make notches on the planes with a file.


They are needed to keep the nut in the tree better.


We dilute the two-component epoxy adhesive and glue the knurled nut into the wooden roller.


After the glue dries, we clamp the roller into the lathe.


We sew under an ellipse. This is necessary so that the tape does not fly off. Then sand with sandpaper until smooth.


It's time for the second video. It is made of three bearings pressed on vl.


Let's make two such ears.


Let's dress on the edges of the protruding shaft.


Let's make a plate. The result is a U-shaped part holding the roller.


So that the shaft does not fly out, we fix it by welding


Now let's make a frame. You will need two steel pipes of different diameters so that one enters the other.
A flat overlay is welded onto a pipe of a larger diameter. It is needed in order to press on the tape during grinding.


We weld a roller from bearings to a thin pipe.


We take a ring of sandpaper (sold in hardware stores), insert the pipe into the pipe and estimate the approximate size of the entire fixture.


We saw off the long ends of the pipes. We make a wide groove in a thin pipe, and a hole in a thick one.


Weld a nut to the hole.

Hand power tools have become widespread at the moment, so that not a single craftsman can do without them. However, sometimes this toolkit is not enough, and there is a need for serious equipment for your workshop. So in my practice there came a period when a belt grinder became necessary, which allows processing the surfaces of large parts.

Industrial copies of grinding machines are too expensive. So I had to come up with something myself. A conventional manual belt machine, in which a continuous sanding belt moves along a straight surface of the sole with the abrasive side outward, seemed to me an ideal constructive prototype of a home-made machine. Naturally, my machine will be much larger, and it will be installed permanently.


It so happened that I needed to process a large number of parts about two meters long. This determined the dimensions of the table and the future machine itself. (photo 1).

The electric motor did not have to be selected. I put on the machine the motor I have with a power of 2.5-3.0 kW and a speed of 1500 per minute. If you choose a belt speed of about 20 m/s, then the diameter of the drums should be close to 200 mm. Thus, it turned out that at the speed of our engine, the machine does not require a gearbox.

Of the two drums, one plays the role of the leader. It must sit firmly on the motor shaft, and the other - tension - rotate freely on bearings around a fixed axis. To regulate the tension of the tape, it is enough to shift this axis along the desktop in one direction or another. (photo 2). I built the table from a thick pine beam, but now I think that it should have been made from sheet metal. "



It is quite obvious that the distance between the shafts and the length of the sanding belt depend on the length of the table. The size of the entire platform on which the machine parts are mounted is also decisive (an electric motor with a driving drum, a work table, a driven drum with a tensioner). On the side of the driven drum, the table must have a bevel (photo 3). providing a smooth touch of the tape (especially its glued joint) on the desktop surface.

Produce a lead sanding belt (photo 4) and tension (photo 5) drums can be made of chipboard. To do this, it is enough to cut blanks with dimensions of 200x200 mm from the plate and assemble a package of 240 mm from them. Square tiles - each separately or (if the lathe allows) together, folding the blanks on the axis, - grind to a diameter of 200 mm. The latter option is preferable, since it is possible to manufacture a drum in one installation. It should be borne in mind that the diameter of the drum in the center should be 2-3 mm larger than at the edges. It is known that with such a surface geometry, the flexible tape will be kept in the middle of the drum. In my opinion, the optimal width of the tape is 200 mm. From one roll of emery cloth 1 m wide, 5 such tapes can be easily glued together.




If at the very beginning I expected to process exclusively wooden blanks (photo 6-10), then during operation it opened and additionally quickly and efficiently sharpened a special tool, for example, various profile fully assembled milling cutters.

It turned out that the longer the desktop, the more room for imagination when choosing a technological method for processing the product. Personally, I had to work with a tape of about 4.5 m, while the length of the workpieces reached 2 m. This does not mean that the length of the workpieces cannot be even longer. Under certain conditions, the length of the workpieces to be ground may not matter. If they are narrow, then any of them is the capacity of the machine. Now I do not need to go to specialized workshops for sharpening cutting tools: planers, jointers, surface thicknesses and other (photo 11-13). This quality of sharpening axes (photo 14), knives, chisels and various chisels, I could not achieve before on any universal grinding equipment. And if you remove the wooden table and make it out of iron, it will be easy, you can put it on an abrasive belt (photo 15). But when the length of the workpiece is equal to or less than the length of the table, it is much easier to achieve perfect grinding of the entire surface than when moving a large workpiece.

Tape is used in cases where it is necessary to perform the finishing of parts, that is, as equipment for the implementation of finishing technological operations. Most often, such machines are used in the furniture industry, they are used to process parts made from wood of various species. But it is also possible to use a belt grinder for processing metal parts, for which a belt with an appropriate abrasive material is used.

Applications of the machine

The main tasks that the belt grinding machine performs are: final leveling of the treated surface, bringing the surface roughness to the required level, bringing the treated surfaces to the level of smoothness before coating them with varnish and other finishing materials. Also, the tape machine is used to eliminate minor defects in the treated surface: depressions, elevations and burrs, processing the finish coat: removing primer and varnish deposits, burrs, grinding internal surfaces, processing roundings on the surface of the part.

A factory-made option, the drawings of which can be used to create a similar home-made device.

The belt machine can be used for processing parts made of various materials: wood, plain and non-ferrous metals. What is convenient, you can process parts with a belt machine that have a different shape: quadrangular, round and flat. With the help of such equipment, it is possible to process round and tubular parts, which are distinguished by a large diameter of their cross section.

Design features of the machine

The working tool of any tape is a tape, on the surface of which an abrasive powder is applied. It is made in the form of a ring and is placed between two rotating drums, one of which is the master and the second is the slave.


The rotation on the drive shaft of the tape machine is transmitted from the electric motor, which is connected to it by means of a belt drive. The speed of the belt mechanism can be adjusted, thereby changing the modes of processing parts. The belt of a surface grinder can be located horizontally or vertically, as well as at a certain angle, which is allowed by some models of equipment in this category.

When choosing a model of a belt grinder for processing a particular part, it is important to consider the length of the surface that needs to be grinded. It is much more convenient to process parts on such machines, the surface length of which is less than the length of the abrasive belt and the desktop. Under such conditions, the quality of processing will be much higher.


The belt sander can have different designs: with a movable and fixed work table, with a free belt. A separate category includes wide-belt equipment, the peculiarity of which is that their desktop, which is also a feed element, is made in the form of a caterpillar. In those models of equipment, in the design of which a work table is provided, the abrasive belt is located in a horizontal plane, and in equipment with a free belt, in which a work table is not provided, it can have a different spatial position.

An obligatory structural element of any belt grinder, including a desktop one, is an exhaust device, which is necessary to remove dust, which is formed in large quantities during processing. Both professional and any homemade grinder used in a home workshop or garage is powered by an electric motor.

Principle of operation

The main parameters of the belt grinder are the feed rate and the force with which the belt is pressed against the workpiece. Parameters such as the degree of grit of the abrasive belt should be selected depending on what material the workpiece is made of, as well as the degree of roughness that the surface of the machined product should have.

The characteristics of the material to be processed, in particular its hardness, primarily influence the grit size of the abrasive belt. The processing modes that are directly related to each other are the feed speed and the belt pressure. So, if grinding is carried out at high speed, but with a slight pressing force of the abrasive belt, then some parts of the surface of the part may turn out to be untreated. If, on the contrary, you increase the pressing force and reduce the feed rate, then you may encounter the fact that burns and blackening of the material may appear in certain areas of the treated surface.


Another variation of the machine - view from the side of the working surface of the tape

The results of grinding are also influenced by how well the abrasive tape is glued together. In order to obtain a high quality finish and not to experience a malfunction of the band machine, do not use abrasive belts that are not glued correctly or have torn edges. When putting on the tape on the shafts of the equipment, it should be positioned so that the end of the seam, which is overlapping, does not lift up on the surface of the workpiece, but slips along it. Learn more about gluing the tape in the video below.

Any, including a manual grinding machine, should provide for the possibility of adjusting the belt tension, which is ensured by moving a movable shaft that is not driven. Tape tension is a very important parameter, the choice of which should be guided by the "golden mean" rule. If the belt of the grinder is too tight, then this can lead to its breakage during operation, and too little tension will cause slippage and, as a result, its excessive heating. The main characteristic for determining the degree of tension of the tape is the arrow of its deflection, which is measured by lightly pressing on its surface in a taut state.

The manual belt grinding machine of the group can be operated by one operator, who moves the desktop with the workpiece and rotates it so as to bring all parts of its surface under the abrasive belt.

How to make a belt sander

Many home craftsmen and professionals are wondering how to make a grinder with their own hands. The reason for this question is quite simple: the high cost of mass-produced grinding equipment, which, with irregular use, not everyone can recoup. In order to make such equipment, you will need several basic components: an electric motor, rollers and a reliable frame. Naturally, the drawings of such a device or its photo will not be superfluous. Also at the end of the article you can watch videos on assembling a tape machine on your own.

The motor for belt sanding equipment is easy to find, it can be removed from a used washing machine. The bed will have to be made independently, for this you can use a sheet of metal with dimensions of 500x180x20 mm. One side of the frame should be cut very evenly, since it will be necessary to attach the platform on which the electric motor will be mounted to it. The platform for the electric motor should also be made of a sheet of metal with dimensions of 180x160x10 mm. Such a platform must be fixed to the bed very securely with a few bolts.


Another version of the bed

The efficiency of a belt grinder directly depends on the characteristics of the electric motor that is installed on it. If you are going to make a grinding machine with your own hands, then an electric motor with a power of 2.5–3 kW, developing about 1500 rpm, is quite suitable for you. In order to use such a motor to move the sanding belt at a speed of 20 m/s, the drums must have a diameter of about 200 mm. Which is convenient, if you choose an engine with such characteristics, then you do not need to make a gearbox for your grinding machine.

The drive shaft is connected directly to the motor shaft, and the second - the driven one - must rotate freely on the axis, which is installed in the bearing units. In order for the abrasive belt to more smoothly touch the surface of the workpiece, the section of the bed on which the driven shaft is installed should be made with a slight bevel.

It is possible to make shafts for a belt grinder with minimal financial costs from a chipboard. You simply cut square blanks 200x200 mm in size from such a plate, drill central holes in them and put them on the axle with a package with a total thickness of 240 mm. After that, you just have to grind the resulting package and make a round shaft out of it with a diameter of about 200 mm.

Drawings and a detailed analysis of some parts of a machine made of wood.


Wood belt sander (click to enlarge)

Table Tilt Adjustment Mechanism Plate Unit Belt Tensioner Complete Machine

When work with a wooden surface comes to an end, the stage of finishing grinding begins. To perform grinding without burrs, scratches, beautifully round the sharp corners of any part, you must use a wood grinder. This tool will help you perform professional grinding even for a beginner who took the device in his hands for the first time. If you wish, you can make a grinder yourself, using only improvised means.

The industry produces several types of machines that differ both in design and purpose. Here are the main ones:

  • Eccentric or orbital, in this case the sole of the tool simultaneously rotates around its axis and along some orbit. It turns out that each time it passes in a slightly different place, so scratches and burrs are rubbed off with each pass more and more.
  • vibration model. Here, the working sole carries out reciprocating movements with a frequency of about 20,000 movements per minute. It is due to these movements that polishing occurs.
  • Angle grinder, which is popularly called the "grinder". With the help of this tool, rough processing of parts, large logs, etc. is carried out. For processing, abrasive wheels of the required grain size are used.
  • Belt sander, which is usually used for work on large surfaces. Structurally, it consists of rollers driven by an electric motor, on which an emery tape is put on.

Making a belt sander with your own hands + (Video)

Making a belt sander yourself is not at all difficult, you must perform the following steps:

  • select suitable materials and details;
  • make a reliable basis for fixing the tool;
  • install a suitable countertop;
  • fix vertical racks with a tensioner and a drum;
  • mount the motor and drums;
  • fasten the sanding tape.

To process rather large parts and elements, it is necessary to make a large copy of a serial grinder. For example, if you take an electric motor with a power of 2 kW or more powerful with a rotor speed of 1500 rpm, then the gearbox can be omitted. The power of such an engine is quite enough to rotate a drum of about 20 cm in diameter and process parts of about 2 m.


You can also use an electric motor from an old washing machine. The bed in this case is made of a thick sheet of iron, having prepared a place for installing the motor and carefully fixing it with bolts to eliminate vibration. The design of such a machine consists of 2 drums, one of which is fixed, and the second can be stretched and rotated on bearings around an axis. The basis for the machine is preferably made of metal or several sheets of thick plywood. Drums are made on a lathe from chipboard. The tape is cut from sandpaper cloths with a width of about 20 cm and fixed on the frame. The larger the table dimensions, the larger parts can be stacked and processed in the future. Drawings of finished products can be found online.

https://youtu.be/vDs1gBM_MW4

We make a grinder from a grinder

Many may say that the “grinder” is the same as an angle grinder, but there are some subtleties hidden here. It should be borne in mind that the angle grinder has very high speeds and often quite a decent weight. To polish the surface with a grinder, you must have considerable experience in this matter and use special polishing discs and circles. The grinder has a much lower engine speed and weight. To work with a factory grinder, no specific experience and skill is required.

It is possible to independently make a good grinder from a grinder, which is not inferior in its parameters to a factory machine, only by finalizing its electrical circuit, by mounting the regulator at lower speeds and by using special grinding nozzles.

We make a grinder from a drill

To turn an ordinary, household electric drill into a grinder, you need to equip it with a special nozzle - a working drum or a special support plate, depending on the task.

The support or grinding plate is a plastic or rubber base with glued sandpaper and a shank for clamping into a drill chuck. Flexible shaft cymbals are suitable for working with a loose drill, while rigid shafts are best used only for a well-fixed drill.

Grinding drums for a household drill are structurally a regular cylinder, a shank and sandpaper glued to the cylinder. When using drums, the working surface of the grinder is parallel to the axis of rotation.

Making an orbital sander

Currently, you can make an orbital machine with your own hands only from a broken orbital machine. This is due to the complex device for rotating the working disk, which is quite problematic to repeat on its own. It should also be borne in mind that a machine made by a specialized company will not cost too much, and it will be very difficult and time-consuming to make it yourself.

We make a grinder from a computer hard drive + (Video)


Any used hard drive can be turned into a miniature grinder. To do this, follow these steps:

  • completely disassemble the hard drive and remove from the case everything that is located to the left of the magnetic disks;
  • cut a working circle from sandpaper, make a hole for the spindle in the center of the circle;
  • stick several strips of double-sided tape on the rotating disk of the hard drive and fix sandpaper on it;
  • make a protective screen that protects the eyes from the possible departure of the manufactured emery disc;
  • connect the finished structure to the power supply from the computer and use it.

Of course, this design does not have high power, but it is quite possible to sharpen a small knife or scissors.

Grinding machines from the manufacturer are expensive and therefore if they are used infrequently, then you involuntarily think about whether to buy it or not.

And if, in addition, there is no free money available, then you have to make something with your own hands. So it happened with this homemade grinding machine.

The simplest hand sander was taken as a sample (read how to choose an eccentric sander). In such a grinder, the abrasive belt moves along the surface of the sole, with the rough side outward (abrasive).

That is, in the future belt sander I laid down the same principles in advance, changing only the dimensions in the plans - I need a large machine so that it can process parts of at least 1.9-2 meters by grinding, and must be installed permanently.

The whole design of the grinding machine is based on an electric motor with a power of 2.8 kilowatts and a speed of 1500, I already had it, so I didn’t have to buy anything.

There was no need to install a gearbox, because with an electric motor of such power, in order to achieve a normal belt speed (which will be quite enough for grinding) of 20 meters per second, the drum diameter should be only about 20 centimeters.

There are 2 drums in the design: one, rigidly fixed on the shaft, is the leading one. The second is tension, it rotates around an axis on bearings.

To tighten or loosen the sanding belt, it is enough to adjust this axis in any of the 2 directions.

The table of the machine is made of thick boards, if possible in the future I will redo it and make it from metal sheets.

The length of the working part of the machine, as well as the grinding belt itself, depends, first of all, on the length of the working surface of the table. The second shaft is equipped with a bevel as shown in photo No. 3, this is necessary in order to ensure that the tape touches the edge of the table as smoothly as possible.

Both drums can be made from ordinary chipboard. To do this, cut square tiles 20 by 20 centimeters and assemble a blank of 24 cm from them and then grind them on a current machine to a diameter of 20 centimeters. When making a drum, take into account the fact that the tape will stick to it better if it is a couple of millimeters larger in diameter in its center.

About the sanding belt. Through trial and error in practice, I found that the best width of the sanding belt is 20 centimeters - with this width, you can complete all the tasks facing the machine and, moreover, cut 5 such tapes from a meter roll of sandpaper, without any residue.

In addition to grinding wooden parts, for which it was originally intended, it is very convenient and quick to sharpen any tools with cutting surfaces on such a home-made machine - knives, chisels, axes, knives, pruners, etc. The quality of the sharpening is excellent.

In principle, if the design provides for the manufacture of a table not from wood, but from metal, then more complex, special tools can be sharpened, which no universal device can handle sharpening.

I emphasize once again - in this machine a lot depends on the length of the table. It is she who gives you scope for opportunities, because when the part is less than the length of the working surface of the machine, then it is much more convenient to process it and the processing will turn out to be of better quality. For example, with a sanding belt length of four and a half meters, you can easily process wooden workpieces with a length of 200 cm.

Another plus of such a do-it-yourself grinding machine is that, with some skill, you can also work with parts that have curved surfaces (as shown in photo 16) - for this, it is enough to remove the wooden table and, putting the workpiece on the frame, grind the part reverse, bottom side of the working tape.

Do-it-yourself belt sander: photo

Below are other entries on the topic "How to do it yourself - to the householder!"

  • How to make a homemade grinder Newly...
  • On wood - a highly efficient device for processing the planes of the material. Using such units, you can quickly and efficiently process wood, obtaining perfectly smooth surfaces.

    Classification

    The wood sander is used at the final stage of wood processing. In the course of the work, special rough circles, tapes, powdered pastes are used.

    Currently, based on the purpose, the following units are distinguished:

    • Circular grinding automatic devices.
    • Devices designed for processing the internal surfaces of parts and workpieces.
    • Surface grinders.
    • Specialized models that are used to implement narrowly focused tasks.

    Applications


    The areas in which a wood sander can be used are extremely diverse. The latest achievements in the field of joinery processing of parts make it possible to replace overall turning units with more convenient mobile devices in operation.

    Common solutions such as drum and belt sanders for wood can be successfully used for:

    • Rough peeling of workpiece surfaces.
    • Precise processing of wood planes.
    • Obtaining improved surfaces.
    • Cleaning bar and panel parts, their side and end edges.
    • Intermediate polishing of paint and varnish coverings.

    Due to the wide range of operation, the wood sander is one of the most popular units among professional carpenters. Manufacturers are constantly improving popular models and offer the consumer a whole host of additional tools to perform complex, specific tasks.

    How to assemble a wood sander with your own hands


    We propose to consider the features of self-assembly of a drum device for processing the outer surface of wood. This will require several functional design elements. Some of them can be found in the household.

    Engine

    To assemble a wood grinder, the easiest way is to remove the engine from an old washing machine. Fortunately, Soviet-made models are gathering dust idle in many closets. From here you can also take belts, pulleys and electrical parts.

    However, any motor with a power of 200 to 300 watts is suitable for assembling a grinding unit. It is desirable that its design is compact in size.

    If you need to obtain maximum efficiency indicators, you will have to find an asynchronous motor capable of delivering 1500-3000 revolutions.

    Drum


    This structural element can be made using all kinds of remnants of building materials. Sometimes, in order to assemble a drum sander for wood, it is enough to take a pipe pasted over with old linoleum, rubber rings glued together, or cylindrical bars fixed on a metal axis. Let's look at the first of these options.

    To make a drum, it is enough to use a piece of PVC pipe, a metal rod, a solid board, screws, glue and linoleum. Plugs are cut out of wood, corresponding to the section of the existing tube, in which holes are drilled for the rod. Such locking elements are inserted into the pipe and strengthened with screws.

    The metal rod is passed through the plugs and sits on the epoxy glue. A layer of dense linoleum is glued on top of the PVC pipe. As an alternative, rough rubber can be used. Such a shell will act as the basis for fixing the sandpaper. You can fix the latter on the finished drum using double-sided tape or staples for the stapler.

    Frame

    For the manufacture of a case where a home-made wood grinder will be placed, ordinary plywood is suitable. You can make a design of a rather unpretentious structure. It is enough to install side panels, a work table and additional reinforcing struts. If desired, you can make a metal shell.

    Installation

    The engine is securely fixed to a statically mounted base. The rotating axis is threaded through a pre-prepared hole in the housing wall. The grinding drum is installed in the upper part and rests on bearings in cages, which are fixed on the side walls of the structure.

    Pulleys are attached to the axis of the drum and the engine. The drive belt is tensioned. Connect wiring and switches. Clamping bolts are screwed on the sides of the case, and adjusting bolts are screwed in its lower part.

    To give the structure a complete and attractive look, you can treat the surface with paint. Naturally, it is necessary to take up such work before assembling and installing the unit. To increase safety during operation of the device, the design can be supplemented with a protective cover placed above the drum.

    Finally

    Thus, we tried to consider the main classes of grinding machines, their scope, and also gave an example of self-assembly of a drum-type unit. Ultimately, the decision to buy a prefabricated device or to assemble it from existing materials depends on the budget, goals, available funds and the needs of each individual user.