DIY series: How to make your own power tools - Belt sander
With the Fourth of July quickly approaching, I've been bombarded by sales filers and promotional emails from all the big home improvement stores, tempting me with their great power tool sales. Although I consider myself a weekend warrior, my workshop does lack some essential tools. Then again, if I were really a master DIYer, I would just make my own power tools. In the first installment in this DIY series, we meet Matthias Wandel, the woodworking pro who decided to design and build his own belt sander.
According to Wandel: "I bought this 6x48" belt sander from a pawn shop in 1997. It's a Shopsmith attachment, on a base, with its own motor.
I had been meaning to replace it with a homemade belt sander for some time, not out of necessity, more as a challenge. I came up with a design in 2012, but never got around to building it until now.
Going through my collection of shafting and bearings, I decided to use some 12 mm shaft for the main shaft, mainly because I already had some bearings that fit it precisely. I decided to use some cheap 3/8" steel rod for the idler roller's shaft, the same stuff I used for my jointer parallelogram mechanism."
To learn more, visit Matthias Wandel's website or Popular Mechanics.
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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