Sanding is one of the methods of processing wood, which allows you to give the blanks a perfectly flat surface. A versatile wood sander will be functional and easy to use. For processing lumber, you can use units manufactured by specialized manufacturers, or you can make such equipment yourself, which will save a lot.

Types of woodworking machines

Currently, there are numerous types of grinders that are designed to perform various kinds of work with wood. They differ in their design, intended for domestic and industrial use. You can easily pick up both highly specialized models and universal machines that are designed for complex wood processing.

If necessary, you can make a home-made grinder for metal or wood, made on the basis of a drill, a motor from a washing machine, or using other equipment.

Disc units

The working surface of do-it-yourself grinding machines for metal and wood is made in the form of an island metal disk, on which an abrasive is attached. Due to its simplicity of design and versatility of use, this type of equipment has gained wide popularity in the market today.

This machine consists of an electric motor, on the axis of which a circle with a fixed working surface is put on. Abrasive nozzles and sanding paper are attached to the working axis, which allows processing wooden blanks. Despite the simplicity of design, such machines are versatile in use, they can perform high-quality wood processing, giving the workpieces a perfectly flat and smooth surface.

The advantages of surface grinding technology include:

• Versatility of use.
• Efficiency.
• Reliability.
• Simplicity of design.

A feature of this type of equipment is the ability to adjust the speed of processing wooden blanks without changing the indicator of the number of revolutions of the working element. When working with such a machine, you can move the workpiece along the radius of the circle, which allows you to change the intensity of processing products. On the periphery of the disc, the linear speed will be higher, which can significantly speed up and simplify the processing of wood. But inside the circle, where the linear speed is lower, final sanding is performed with the removal of the thinnest layer of wood.

Belt plants

Belt sanders have two shafts between which a continuous belt of sandpaper is stretched. Processing of blanks is carried out by exposing them to sandpaper, which removes thin chips from wooden blanks, giving them a perfectly flat, smooth surface. The working surface of disc machines can be vertical and horizontal, while some models allow you to change the direction of the tape. With the help of such equipment, it is possible to process products of great length, aligning their ends. The simplicity of the design allows you to make a belt grinder for domestic use with your own hands.

drum models

The main purpose of this type of units is horizontal alignment using a jointer. This type of equipment is mainly used in industrial workshops, which is explained by the complexity of its design and the narrow specialization of drum units. With the help of grinding drum machines, wooden products of the same type with the same thickness are manufactured and processed.

Manufacturing of grinding machines

Industrially manufactured machines offered today in specialized stores are distinguished by their versatility in use, functionality and efficiency. Their only drawback is their high cost., therefore, if it is necessary to perform various kinds of grinding work, most homeowners decide to manufacture home-made equipment, which, in terms of its parameters and quality of processing, is practically not inferior to factory units.

A structurally made do-it-yourself metal grinding machine will consist of the following components:

• Metal or wooden frame.
• Electrical engine.
• Drive shaft.
• Working surface.
• Sanding belt.

When making a drum grinder for wood with your own hands, you need to determine the power of the electric motor used. It is recommended to choose electric motors that develop about 3 kW and are able to maintain a clean speed of 1,500 rpm. On the basis of such a drive, a functional, durable and reliable grinding machine can be made that can handle the processing of wooden products. The easiest way is to make such equipment based on an electric motor from an old washing machine.

The grinder bed can be made of lumber or a metal corner, welded and additionally sheathed with plywood. It is necessary to choose the dimensions of the frame based on the dimensions of the drive used, as well as the dimensions of the wooden blanks processed on the unit. When making a bed, it is necessary to focus on the available project documentation, which will allow you to correctly manufacture the bearing base of the machine, which in the future will be able to withstand significant loads.

The shaft of the manual and automatic belt grinding machine, which is directly connected to the electric motor, can be machined on a lathe or ready-made blanks from industrial equipment can be used. The shafts of the calibrating drum grinder must be located strictly in the middle of the main drive, which subsequently guarantees high-quality processing of wooden blanks.

The optimal width of the sanding belt used will be 200 millimeters. It can be done from emery, which is cut into strips and subsequently the used abrasive tape is already glued from them. The material should be glued end-to-end, and dense matter is placed on the reverse side, which will ensure the strength of the seam.

Having made a grinder with your own hands, you can significantly simplify the processing of wooden blanks, leveling boards and removing chips from lumber. Making such a unit with your own hands is not difficult. On the Internet, it will be necessary to select a diagram-drawing for the manufacture of the machine, and using an electric motor from an old washing machine, make the simplest equipment, which in terms of functionality and quality of processing will not be inferior to factory-made equipment.

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 bed, 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.

There are many uses for a homemade grinder in the household. We are talking not only about a private house or a personal plot, but also about housing in an apartment building. It can be used to treat any surface. The degree of cleaning depends on the type and abrasive materials used. Unlike industrial models, a do-it-yourself device will compare favorably in cost, since the construction budget will depend only on the master. With locksmith skills and basic knowledge in electrical matters, you can easily assemble the device yourself.

Without a thorough knowledge of the design of grinders, it is impossible to assemble a high-quality device with your own hands. Before moving on to the structure, let's get acquainted with the most common types of grinders:

1. Corner. In other words, Bulgarian. Disks are consumables. Grinding wheels are designed for surface grinding. Pressure adjustment is carried out manually.
2. Tape. Surface treatment is carried out with a sanding belt. Suitable for work on flat surfaces only.
3. Delta grinder. For processing products with a curvilinear structure.
4. Vibrating. Ideal for finishing flat surfaces.

In addition to the above, there are several more devices that are less common:

• straight;
• polishing;
• eccentric.

Regardless of whether the device is factory-made or self-assembled, the main structural elements are:

1. Drive unit. The performance of the device depends on its power. In do-it-yourself devices, an electric type drive is used, however, there are pneumatic homemade products powered by a compressor.
2. Reducer. Transmits torque from the drive to the working tool. The basic part of the gearbox is the spindle.

The gearbox is an integral part of tools such as a grinder or a drill. Some models, especially those assembled with their own hands, do without it.

1. Working platform. An abrasive material is attached to it. To do this, you can use circles, tapes, disks.
2. Frame. Protects the structure from mechanical damage and dust, so many factory models are equipped with dust collection systems. The materials used to make a do-it-yourself device, as a rule, are not able to compete with high-quality polymers that are used in the manufacture of professional tools.
3. Control system. Includes power off, as well as adjusting the speed of the abrasive.

Options for homemade designs

Making a grinder with your own hands is easy. The main thing is that it should correspond to the types of work that the master plans to perform. From an economic point of view, it is better to take the components that are at hand. If you have to buy the components of the device, then the budget of a do-it-yourself device will be comparable to the factory model. Ceteris paribus, it is better to give preference to an industrial tool, because its quality is incommensurably higher.

Consider a few handmade devices. Perhaps one of them is right for you.

Do-it-yourself grinder from a grinder

As the name implies, the grinder is designed for grinding. Cleaning discs successfully cope with rough work: removing old paint, removing metal deposits or traces of corrosion. For finer cleaning, special nozzles are sold from an emery sheet of various grain sizes.

Models for domestic use operate in one mode, and the number of revolutions reaches 15 thousand per minute with an average of 11 thousand. This speed is great for sawing materials, but for grinding work it is high.

The grinder motor has excess power. For polishing, 300-400 watts will be enough.

A grinder from a grinder will have a lot of weight compared to a factory tool, however, it is possible to adapt the homemade product for yourself, which will increase comfort when grinding.

For angle grinders, you can make a simple nozzle that will turn the device into a miniature one. In this case, work is performed without a protective cover.

If you do not want to use fixtures, you can adjust the number of engine revolutions. Independent modernization of the circuit will require specialized knowledge in electrical engineering.

On professional devices, you can set the number of revolutions manually, however, their cost starts from $ 200.

We make a grinder from a drill

From a drill with your own hands, you can assemble a productive belt grinder. In this case, the tool acts as a drive. The design itself is simple and does not require significant investments. To make your own, you will need the following materials:

• metal rods with and without thread;
• profile pipe;
• plywood;
• steel sheet;
• bearings;
• hardware;
• wood glue.

You should take care of the availability of metalwork tools, an inverter and devices for sawing metal.

Stages of work:

1. Pulley manufacturing. The driving and driven pulleys are designed to transmit torque from the drill to the grinder. They are made from plywood.
   
2. By changing the diameter, you can get the desired torque. One pulley consists of several round timbers, which are connected with wood glue. In the center, it is necessary to drill holes for steel bars. After the glue dries, the workpieces are finalized by making a groove, which must correspond to the width of the drive belt.
   
3. Manufacture of driving and driven shafts. They are also made of plywood by analogy with pulleys. For them, more rounds should be prepared.
   
4. We collect the lower part. To do this, you need a profile pipe. First of all, it is necessary to mount the bearings and connect them. This is the basis for the working shaft.
   
   
5. We make the top. A tension mechanism will be attached to it.
   
6. We make the thrust part of the steel sheet.
   
7. Drive installation. Please note: for normal work, it is better to take a powerful drill.
8. Finishing work. It remains only to install the pulleys, tighten the drive belt and assemble the protection. After that, the do-it-yourself device must be coated with paint.
   

For small and precise work, it is better to purchase compact nozzles of drum or plate type, depending on the type of work.

Homemade grinder from a computer hard drive

From an old hard disk, you can assemble a small grinding device, the main advantage of which will be the complete absence of investments, except for the cost of abrasive wheels. The DIY process is as follows:

1. We open the case and remove all the elements located next to the magnetic disk.
2. According to the size of the upper part of the drive, cut out a circle of sandpaper of the desired grain size.
3. Using double-sided tape, we fix the paper on the surface of the disk.
4. We manufacture a casing that protects against dust or abrasive grains.
5. To start the design, the hard drive must be connected to the computer's power supply.

Such a do-it-yourself device will allow you to perform minor work, such as grinding contacts, sharpening nail files or tweezers. The rotation speed depends on the factory settings. The average value is 7200 rpm.

A DIY sander won't have the attractive look of a factory tool, but good performance and low assembly costs make up for that.

Have you tried assembling a grinder with your own hands? What was used as a drive? Share your invention experience in the comments.

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 first took the device in his hands. 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 grinding 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, certain experience and skill are not 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 making it yourself will be very difficult and time consuming.

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 a rotating 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.

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 granularity, 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.

Back to index

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.