I really love the variable speed feature, Mike! It’s become a workhorse in my shop. The adjustable wood rest is junk, but if you use a try square and set it at 90 degrees to the disk it’ll do the job. If only the Byrnes had variable speed!
Sorry, we were talking about a completely different tool.
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I bought the 5"sander at Menards today. I set it up in my work area and tried it. It is great. I have nothing negative to say about it. I read earlier about the table gap. I don't see a problem here. The table is .020" from the disk. I doubt it can get much closer. The variable speed is nice if you want to sand any plastic or acrylic.
Excellent!! Mine gets here tomorrow. Will be a good companion to my Byrnes.
Mike, sell yours... and tell Jim (Byrnes): It is time to make variable speed control for his disk sander
Dang it Doc!! Got my sander from Menards today and the cheap table was broken off at the plastic hinges right out of the box. I will either have to rig up my own table or replace the unit. Uggghhh.. It's not a Byrnes, thats for sure... LOL.
Oh, no...it is unfortunate! Tell Jim (Byrnes) it is time to make a variable speed control!!!
Dammit Jim!
Well I just had to do something about the broken sander that DocBlake talked me into buying. So here is what I did.
First, I traced the broken part onto paper, took all the critical measurements and did the annotation. This took about an hour.
Then I drew the part up from scratch in my CAD software. For this I used Vectric Aspire 10. The drawing and toolpathing took me about 3 hours.
Then I cut the part out on my CNC machine. This operation only took 2 minutes per part. Making the second part was easy as all I had to do was mirror-copy the first part.
I removed the parts from the billet, hand sanded and cleaned up. The parts are cut from 1/4" walnut. The cleanup took about 10 minutes.
Finally, I reassembled the parts onto the bed and sander. The tool is now stronger than before and looks better too. As you can see, about 4 hours went into making these relatively simple parts. If I were going into production, I now have the basis to produce hundreds of parts from the same CAD files. Couple of things I wanted to point out that Dave Stevens has been saying... 1) it takes a TON of work to copy and fabricate existing parts. Almost as much work as designing them from scratch. 2) Many people are quick to say this type of work when done on models is a form of "piracy". Perhaps, if the intention is to sell for profit. But the point is... it still takes a LOT of work, skill, knowledge, and expensive tools. It's not like making a Xerox copy.. LOL
Ok Doc!!! You are out of the dog house for making me buy cheap tools!! LOL
First, I traced the broken part onto paper, took all the critical measurements and did the annotation. This took about an hour.
Then I drew the part up from scratch in my CAD software. For this I used Vectric Aspire 10. The drawing and toolpathing took me about 3 hours.
Then I cut the part out on my CNC machine. This operation only took 2 minutes per part. Making the second part was easy as all I had to do was mirror-copy the first part.
I removed the parts from the billet, hand sanded and cleaned up. The parts are cut from 1/4" walnut. The cleanup took about 10 minutes.
Finally, I reassembled the parts onto the bed and sander. The tool is now stronger than before and looks better too. As you can see, about 4 hours went into making these relatively simple parts. If I were going into production, I now have the basis to produce hundreds of parts from the same CAD files. Couple of things I wanted to point out that Dave Stevens has been saying... 1) it takes a TON of work to copy and fabricate existing parts. Almost as much work as designing them from scratch. 2) Many people are quick to say this type of work when done on models is a form of "piracy". Perhaps, if the intention is to sell for profit. But the point is... it still takes a LOT of work, skill, knowledge, and expensive tools. It's not like making a Xerox copy.. LOL
Ok Doc!!! You are out of the dog house for making me buy cheap tools!! LOL
I agree MIKE, especially with the PIRATING, WILL NOT GET INTO THAT, LOL it is just DUMB, DUMB,AND MORE DUMB. Don
I believe I used the term “cheap” to describe the tilting table mechanism! Nice recovery, though, Mike! Glad to be out of the doghouse! Reminds me of a joke I saw: the World Health Organization has determined that the Corona virus can’t be passed from dogs to humans. They’ve ordered them out of quarantine. I guess you can say “WHO let the dogs out!”
I have used thi
HOWEVER - I just noticed, that on mine, the arrow on the top of the shroud points to the left, BUT, the disk actually rotates to the right.
Does anyone else have this situation? I might want to return mine
EJ
I've been using mine for a week or so and like the variable speed feature.
HOWEVER - I just noticed, that on mine, the arrow on the top of the shroud points to the left, BUT, the disk actually rotates to the right.
Does anyone else have this situation? I might want to return mine
EJ
EJ - maybe you got the darn thing plugged in backwards.
I would suggest selling it and buying a (Jim) Byrnes Sander... if you can afford it.
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Facing the sander, the arrow points to the left and the sander rotates the same way , counterclockwise. At least on the one I bought.
I am building the Winchelsea - 1/4" scale and this sander has worked great standing frame parts after cutting out.
...unless (Jim) Byrne's Sander has variable speed control
![IMG_20200315_173702[1].jpg](https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/data/attachments/123/123611-8a9d843e9778f7df801654bc49ef73c4.jpg "IMG_20200315_173702[1].jpg")
![IMG_20200315_173723[1].jpg](/sosforums/data/attachments/123/123612-ad708efe61c2e46a2d1a52cb041201f0.jpg)
THIS ONE FOR MIKE AND DOC, YOU GUYS SAID SOMETHING ABOUT A CHEAP TABLE, AND YOUR PICTURES SHOWED IT IN PLASTIC I THINK, HERE IS THE ONE I PURCHASED FROM MENARDS, 
Yup, it is the exact same sander Don. We are referring to the supports on the sides of the table that allow it to adjust. My supports were broken upon arrival. You will notice they are made of black plastic. If you look under the table, you will see the plastic side supports are only attached with small screws directly into the aluminum table. Not very high quality but adequate, especially for the price.