Another Sanding and Shaping area

[FrankEV]

Chris, aka Hawk, just recently posted in the General Scroll Sawing Forum about his Sanding and Shaping Area of his shop.  Well, I too, have a sanding station tucked in the corner of my little shop, but it was not often used.  My only day to day use was to clean off fuzzies on the back side of my cut panels using a sanding mop in the wand of my Guenevere Finisher.  Now for your reading pleasure, here is my story.

Last week I attempted my first Intarsia project and needed to put the sanding station into use.  And even though I wore a dusk mask and glasses, the sanding dust got all over the place, all over me, in my eyes, and, even with the mask on, in my throat.  So, before attacking another Intarsia project I knew I had to make some changes and upgrades to my dust collection system and my dust face mask.

The first job was to put new roll-around wheels on the cabinet.  One of the undersized wheels I had previously used broke off and the cabinet could not be moved.  Now it moves and can be positioned to a more comfortable working location easily when needed.  Second, I rearranged the Guenevere Finisher and my small vertical Oscillating Sander so I can now use the second chuck on the finisher to hold shank mounted burrs/sanding drums, etc.  Third, since my disk/belt sander already had a hook-up to my dust collection system I also needed to add another inlet that I attached a small tilted homemade hood that picks up the dust from the chuck mounted sanders.  I’m waiting for a delivery of one more Y-fitting and a reducer so I can hook-up the Oscillating Sander to its dust outlet port.

Unfortunately, since my sanding station is mounted on a cabinet I built many years ago, it is not a “sit-down” area like Chris’s.  I can use my Scroll Saw stool/seat while using the chuck mounted sanders, but I must stand up to use the Belt Sander or the Oscillating Sander.  In my case, since my shop is tiny, I’ll have to live with it.  As they say, “Beggers can’t be Choosy”.

I spent the better part of today testing out the dust face protection Items I purchased and the modifications to the dust collection systems, on a new project.  The face protection equipment is a little warm to wear, but no dust in my eyes, nose or throat. So that is great. The small hood I made over the chuck mounted sanders is working fine.  I can watch the dust fly into the hood and at the end of the session there was only a small amount of sanding dust on the surface below the chuck.  I’m sure there is some air-borne dust created, but it appears to be manageable and nothing more than what gets air-borne when I’m cutting on the Scroll Saw.  

Here are some pic’s:

That blue thing is the Harbor Fraight WESTERN SAFETY Multi-Purpose Dust Mask with Activated Carbon Filter

 

 

My shank mounted Burrs and Sanders  (before the top was rearranged)

Hope this may have been of some interest.    

Edited July 17 by FrankEV

[OCtoolguy]

Very nice setup Frank. Thanks.

[rjweb]

frank, that looks great, RJ