Bench Mounted Portable Belt Sander

Things You've Made
#1

I had an old Skil handheld belt sander that I found for nine dollars at Goodwill a few months back. After taking up space for a few months I decided to adapt it to be a small bench mounted sander.

I designed and printed a bracket and printed some knobs for angle adjustment. Then I designed the belt sander table and cut it out of plywood on the MPCNC. Next I used some short pieces of 2020 profile, a few metric screws with nuts, some wood screws and a couple of t-nuts to tie it all together.

Voila! My unneeded handheld belt sander is now a (hopefully) useful benchtop sander.

pics: https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/UNGFBXr6SKJxmsLPSQjCv0eXzaIxFifAY2xEJnEHFhf
STLs and other stuff: I’d be happy to share if anyone wants them. It’s sort of specific to this model of belt sander, so I won’t bother uploading.

#2

That seems very useful. I have a similar (but significantly different) belt sander, and a random orbit sander, but nothing else. I occasionally clamp my belt sander to the bench, but it can get out of control fast when it doesn’t have a platform. Is there a reason you want the belt to be moving vertically instead of horizontally? I was thinking of making a platform for mine, but for some reason, I always imagined it being horizontal.

Anyway, good looking hack. Thanks for sharing.

#3

Good question. I didn’t have a specific reason for mounting it vertically vs. horizontally.

It wouldn’t be difficult to mount it to my jig horizontally with minimal modification. Maybe I will make an attachment for that also. Thanks!