Nope, this is NOT about weight loss, exercising or New Year's resolutions. It IS about fitting sanding discs to odd shaped power sanding blocks. In a previous blog, I posted links to a couple of videos showing how to fashion your own power sanding mandrels. These were all basically flat mandrels, but have inspired me to try my hand at creating custom shaped power sandal blocks on the lathe. We will be posting a new video covering all of this on our YouTube channel soon.

Wood Turning Power Sander

The first lesson I learned from this process is that circular sanding disks do not lay flat on hemispherical surfaces! I needed a way to figure out how to "dart" the disk to fit best on the domed surface of the block.

Fit Sanding Disc to Power Block

I began by drawing lines from the center of the dome 1-1/2" down to mark out the final position of the disk edge. With four of these lines, I was able to measure the actual circumference of the dome where the disc would end up. This one measured 8-9/16". Of course, the disk circumference is about 9-7/16", So I needed to cut away several "V" sections from the disc, totaling 7/8" I created a drawing representing this, and pasted it to a scrap of plywood.

Sanding Disc Template

The next step will be to cut this template out and use it to cut a piece of PSA hook material to mount on the block. The template will also be used to cut the "darts" in my 3" hook and loop discs to fit. So far, I'm pleased with the results of all this. Stay tuned to see how this all works out, and if you want to try this on your own, we will be posting a full video once I work out all the bugs!

In the meantime, please feel free to comment here on the blog, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter. -2Sand.com