My belt sander required a different template for the other side since the enclosure differed on each side. “From the 2×2 lumber, cut two horizontal legs. The length should be long enough to stabilize the belt sander fore to aft. Mine was 10” long. I lined up the nozzle with the belt sander and trimmed off the ends to align with the edges of the belt.
Over at Humus Workshop, Spanish maker Román Palma created a three-position stand for a handheld belt sander that makes the tool much more versatile without taking up a lot of room. The belt sander can be installed and removed quickly using two bolts. Mounting the sander makes it easy and safe to shape small pieces while taking advantage of the fast material removal that makes a belt sander desirable in the first place.
Having bought a Ridgid oscillating belt / spindle sander and building my sanding station to house it, I thought my sanding woes were a thing of the past. I use the Ridgid mainly as a spindle sander and although it’s fairly fast and easy to put the belt sander attachment on, it only works in the vertical position and more often I need a belt in the horizontal position. The main points are to hold the sander securely and be convenient to use – no tools needed to put the sander in or take it out.
This little conversion is known and it’s a great way of getting so much more from a belt sander. To start off with, you will need a hand held belt sander with accessory bolt holes in the top. Not all belt sanders have these most of the new sander does not have these accessory holes, but check because they may have some other options that would do the same job, or could attach them with a different system that might not be as easy, but equally effective in the end. I made mine from bits and pieces of wood I had around the shop, depending on the sander you have, your dimensions may vary from mine, but mine wooden frame was 15 inches wide and the platen the sander sits on was 8 inches deep. Next, you will need to lay the sander on its side and mark holes in the backer board in which to mount the belt sander. Before you do that, depending on the belt sander you have, you may want to add a tiny bit of elevation to the sender by setting it on a 1/8th-inch thin piece of plywood, just sot he sand belt sits up off the platen. There are also some options here …. Because the sender can now stand on its own, allowing you to work with 2 hands with it, you will need some way of keeping the sander turned on.
how to make a belt sander stand Related Question:
Can you use a belt sander vertical?
Use the sander with the belt turned vertically or horizontally. In either position, the 46-pound machine will do a day’s work and will wear you out long before you wear it out.
Can you turn a belt sander upside down?
It’s possible to clamp a belt sander upside down and freehand your finish carpentry tweaks, but you’ll probably get better results if your sander is firmly and reliably attached using a sanding stand.