Garage/Workshop
Garage-workshop conversion
LATEST NEWS
HOME PAGE FITTING OUT & PROJECT PAGES. PROJECT 1.
Bandsaw Installation & Configuration.
PROJECT 2.
Constructing a Workbench.

PROJECT 3.
Making a Wood-turning Sandpaper Dispenser.
(This page)

PROJECT 4.
Log Cross-cutting Sled Jigs for the Bandsaw.
PROJECT 5.
Making a Chainsaw Horse.
PROJECT 6.
An Electric Chainsaw Mill.

Woodturning Topics
Laburnum bowl
WOOD-TURNING
PROJECTS
Current Wood-Turning Project
Walnut Wood.
WT PROJECT 1
Making Belaying Pins
WT PROJECT 2
Experimental Drying
WT PROJECT 3
Walnut Platter.
WT PROJECT 4
Turning Green Cherry.

Workshop Fitting Out & Project Pages.


Making a Wood-turning Sandpaper Dispenser.

A wood-turner must have easy access to strips of abrasive paper covering a wide range of grits. These are most frequently used with the lathe running, to smooth the turned items in preparation for the application of finishes and also buffing/polishing. The grit grades are very sparsely printed on the cloth backing of the rolls as supplied which means it sometimes takes some time to locate a specific grade when they are stored together without labelling. This dispenser has been designed with accessibility in mind and allows instant access to 12 different grades of paper.

I purchase the cloth-backed sandpaper in 50mm width rolls with a length of between 1 to 2 metres. The dispenser has been designed to work with rolls of those dimensions.

Sandpaper dispenser. Sandpaper dispenser.

Sketch plans of front & side views of the dispenser (taken from a Sketchup drawing), together with a photograph (right), of the completed dispenser in use. The plastic pipe off-cuts support and contain the rolls of sandpaper, whilst the hacksaw blade strips enable lengths of the paper to be neatly torn off (in a similar way to the serrated edges used in adhesive tape dispensers).

(Click picture for larger view)

Sandpaper dispenser. Interactive Drawing of Sandpaper dispenser.

Interactive Sketchup 3D-drawing, of the completed dispenser.

(Click picture to view the interactive drawing)


Construction Details

List of Materials.

  • Piece of 18mm x 152mm x 600mm plywood (Baseboard)
  • 6 laths of softwood 26mm x 38mm x 152mm (In this instance made from a spare roofing batten).
  • Plastic pipe about 54mm external diameter and about 1 metre long (cut into twelve 60mm lengths). The thickness of the plastic should be no more than 1.0mm - 1.5mm to allow cutting with scissors!
  • 12, M5, 40mm long, countersunk headed self tapper screws, (for attaching softwood laths to the plywood).
  • 36, M4, 12mm long pan-head self tapper screws, (for attaching plastic pipe to the baseboard, and hacksaw blades to the softwood laths).
  • 6 hacksaw blades. Cut in half and drilled to make 12 tear-off plates for the sandpaper.
  • 12 M4 washers. Fit on the 12 M4 self tapper screws, beneath the hacksaw blades to ensure space for the sandpaper to pass underneath the blades.

Construction outline.
The first stage was to construct the baseboard from the 18mm plywood.

Sandpaper dispenser plywood base. Sandpaper dispenser plywood base.

Sketch plan of the 18mm thick plywood base with dimensions and positions of drilled holes for the plastic pipes and wooden laths (taken from a Sketchup drawing).

(Click picture for larger view)

Sandpaper dispenser plywood base. Plywood Base Ready for Drilling.

Photograph of the plywood base marked up with the positions of the fixing holes for the pipes and laths, ready for drilling.

(Click picture for larger view)

Drilling the plywood base. Drilling the plywood base.

The easiest way to drill all the pilot holes for fixing the components to the plywood baseboard was to mark up all the positions, then transfer the board to the drill press table and drill the 3mm pilot holes (12mm depth, for the 4mm pan-head screws to fix the plastic pipe sections). Next the 4mm pilot holes (drilled right through the baseboard), for the countersunk 5mm screws, fixing the wooden laths to the base board were drilled. These were countersunk on the opposite side of the board using a countersink bit in the drill.

(Click picture for larger view)

Drawing showing how the laths were fixed to the plywood base. Drawing showing how the laths were fixed to the plywood base.

The next stage was to screw the softwood laths to the baseboard as shown in these drawings.

(Click picture for larger view)

Cutting the plastic pipe. Cutting across the plastic pipe.

The 54mm diameter plastic pipe was cut into 12 lengths of 60mm. To ensure the cuts were at 900, the pipe was cut across using a mitre and a fine-toothed saw.

(Click picture for larger view)

Drawing a level line on the pipe. Drawing a level line on the pipe.

This is a quick method of drawing a level line on the side of the pipe. The pipe was laid on a flat surface against the stock of a try square. A pencil was used to scribe the line with the pipe held against the stock.

(Click picture for larger view)

Plastic Pipe Measurements. Plastic Pipe Measurements.

On the horizontal line (made as described above), the positions of the fixing holes for the pipe were pencilled in and then drilled as shown here.

(Click picture for larger view)

Drilling fixing holes in the Plastic Pipe. Drilling the fixing holes in the Plastic Pipe.

Done freehand on the drill press. Starting with a 1mm diameter twist drill and working up to a 4mm diameter bit.

(Click picture for larger view)

Cutting a slit in the Plastic Pipe. Cutting a slit in the Plastic Pipe.

Using the technique described above, a horizontal line was drawn along the length of the pipe at a point diametrically opposite the line of the fixing holes (This doesn't have to be exact). Scissors were then used to cut all the way along the pipe (which should be easy if the plastic wall of the pipe is about 1.0mm to 1.5mm in thickness). Repeat for all twelve pipes. These slits enable screwdriver access for the fixing screws and also become the feed out slots for the sandpaper rolls.

(Click picture for larger view)

Fixing the Plastic Pipe to the Baseboard. Fixing the Plastic Pipe to the Baseboard.

The plastic pipes could then be fixed to the baseboard using 12mm long M4 self-tapping screws, driven into the previously drilled 3mm diameter pilot holes (See above). The slits in the pipe provided access for the screwdriver.

(Click picture for larger view)

Cutting a hacksaw blade to size. Cutting a hacksaw blade to size.

The hacksaw blades (for the tear off plates), were cut to a length of 50mm using a small cut-off disk on a miniature rotary tool (Dremel).

(Click picture for larger view)

Drilling through a hacksaw blade with a cobalt drill bit. Drilling through a hacksaw blade with a cobalt drill bit.

The two 4mm diameter fixing holes for each of the 12 hacksaw blades (for the tear off plates), were drilled using a drill press. The blades were held in a vice and cobalt drill bits were used which are designed to drill through hardened steel. A 2mm pilot hole was drilled first.

(Click picture for larger view)

Fixing the hacksaw blade tear-off plates. Fixing the hacksaw blade tear-off plates to the front of the laths.

The hacksaw blades were attached with 4mm diameter pan-head M4 self tapping screws, through a 4mm diameter hole at each end of the blade. A washer beneath the blade at each fixing point ensures that the sandpaper can pass beneath the blade when the dispenser is used.

(Click picture for larger view)

The completed sandpaper dispenser. The completed sandpaper dispenser.

The completed sandpaper dispenser in use, loaded with rolls of sandpaper. Since writing this it has been pointed out that to avoid the possibility of contamination, the finer grits should be stored at the top of the dispenser with the progressively coarser grits towards the bottom.

(Click picture for larger view)

Flagging which grade is in use by means of a red magnetic button. Keeping ones place!

It's useful to be able to attach a marker to the grade of sandpaper last used so as to quickly identify which grade is next in the sequence. The easiest way to do that is by means of a coloured button magnet which can be attached to the hacksaw blade beneath the tube of the last grade used. In the photograph a red button magnet is being used

(Click picture for larger view)


Dispenser in use Movie clip of the dispenser in use.

Movie clip of the dispenser being loaded with a 2 metre roll of sandpaper and then dispensing a strip.

(Click picture to view movie)


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