If I lived in the States - I'd buy them

Last Sunday I spent about 5 hours in the shed. This Sunday I spent about 8 hours at it – MAKING DUST.

I have been trying to make a set of 15 foot and 30 foot radius sanding dishes and I have come to the conclusion that it would simply be easier to just buy the darn things. I won’t go into the numerous different hoops through which I have jumped, but here is the basics of how it ended…

I used a piece of scrap 5mm thick board to make a template. After plotting the points of the curve I used small nails to mark the curve – then used a steel rule to form the curve, which in turn became a router guide. I ended up with a templates that was reasonably happy with.

I glued two 600mm X 16mm thick square boards together and then cut and routed these into circles.

I used my template to make two rails on which I made a carriage to hold the router. The idea being that the router bit, at its highest point just touched the edge of the circle and the carriage rolls down from there. Hey – it works but it is slow, tedious and messy.

So at the end of all my efforts, I have a one dish that is about 20% complete.


Time taken : 12-13 hours
Tools used : Just about everything
AU$'s spent : Nil