Fashion a Mini Belt Sander Attachment for Your Dremel

Metalworking Woodworking Workshop
Fashion a Mini Belt Sander Attachment for Your Dremel

I make little things mostly, lures, jewelry… belt sanders that I found in stores were big and heavy, not so easy to carry and store. I have a small corner where I work at home, so size does matter.

Screen Shot 2016-06-21 at 9.14.27 AM

When weather is good, I work outsides, it makes cleaning easier, so a lightweight sander equipped with a cordless rotary tool sounded like a good idea.

I like the idea of recycling materials, all that I used for this, except paint, nuts, and bolts, were found from a dumpster (steel) or unused (old skateboard).

So, even the small belt sanders ain’t really expensive (if you find one), but this one was even cheaper costing nearly nothing.

YouTube player

But the most important reason was that I like to use tools that I have made or modified by myself.
It gives a little extra spice for making things when you make something by yourself with selfmade tools.

Bonus was that I kinda liked the idea because it follows A. J. Dremel’s original rotary tool & attachments idea.
It takes less than 10 seconds to attach the rotary tool and adjust the belt tightness.

Screen Shot 2016-06-21 at 9.25.10 AM

Everything can be improved, and with this one I planned to add different supports and guides… but I decided to keep it as simple as possible.

Making the belt was the most difficult part, I needed to make 3 of them until I figured out how to get them glued straight, after I tried to make different jigs… Then I realized that I could just place the edge of the belt against the table top… Sometimes solutions are just too simple.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged
Tuomas Soikkeli

Im nearly 40-year old family guy who suddenly noticed that there is lots of interesting ways to make things, different materials to work with and many skills to be learned. Decided to learn new skills and try what I could make by myself, and it has been really fun so far.

View more articles by Tuomas Soikkeli

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK