The Belt Sander Platform Homemade Machines & Jigs

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. Not so, as it seems I still need a stationary belt sander. A larger stationary belt sander is a future project I want to do, but in the meantime I have developed a very reasonable temporary solution and that is the focus of this article.
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. I’ve occasionally used my hand-held belt sander for this – just flipping it over, laying it on the bench with the trigger switch locked on and holding it with one hand while I sand an object with the other. This is good for one or two small pieces, but for more extensive use, it is less than ideal and somewhat dangerous.
I thought it over and worked out a few ideas on how I could make a simple holder for this purpose. 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. It would have to be relatively small for tabletop use and easy storage. Also, it would be a plus if it could be quickly converted from horizontal belt position to vertical, for accurate 90 degree sanding.

First, I needed to get the measurements of the parts that I’d cut to clamp the sander in place. With the sander on its side, I set up two strips of plywood, one on the bottom of the sander and one on the top. I cut two spacers (arrows) to hold the strips parallel and clamped it around the sander:

The Belt Sander Platform

I could then measure to cut a block of wood that holds the front handle. This has a dado cut into it to fit the handle on the sander:

The Belt Sander Platform

Another was made to cradle the back handle:

The Belt Sander Platform

These will firmly hold the sander in position, with the belt parallel to the base:

The Belt Sander Platform

The next step was to cut two pieces of plywood the same size to make up the base of the platform:

The Belt Sander Platform

These are joined together with 3″ butt hinges, just surface mounted with the barrels of the hinges in the gap.

I used pieces of plywood to clamp the two halves at 90 degrees to position the sander. This was done to find the exact locations for the blocks that the handles fit in:

The Belt Sander Platform

The front block, the one that holds the front handle on the sander is glued and clamped down to the base:

The Belt Sander Platform

The holder for the back handle is installed in the same way:

The Belt Sander Platform

A vertical block is added (arrow) to mount the hold down clamp:

The Belt Sander Platform

When I did the layout, I forgot to allow for the sander’s dust bag and had to notch the plywood (seen in the photo above, right) and deepen part of the groove in the rear handle holder:

The Belt Sander Platform

A 1/4″ hanger bolt is screwed into the top of the block:

The Belt Sander Platform

The hold down clamp arm is 1/2″ plywood and held on the hanger bolt with a star knob and washer:

The Belt Sander Platform

1/2″ plywood blocks are added to the front handle holder to keep the sander from moving side to side:

The Belt Sander Platform

A simple woodscrew is used to adjust the sander square to the other table. With this, the sander can be adjusted when it’s in the vertical position.

The Belt Sander Platform

With the sander now on its side, I adjust the screw to make it’s square to the table. I don’t expect to use the sander in this orientation much, but want to be sure that if I do, it’s sanding 90 degrees to the table:

The Belt Sander Platform

Using a piece of the cutout from my cabinet door project to build up the table. This bring the surface up above the edge of the belt and wraps around the nose slightly for concave sanding:

The Belt Sander Platform

The final step is to put some grip material on the bottom, to keep it from moving around too much:

The Belt Sander Platform

To glue it on, I used spray on contact cement. A coat on the base and a coat on the grip, then let it dry for a few minutes.

And then carefully positioned it and trimmed off the excess:

The Belt Sander Platform

The platform is now finished, ready for the sander. In the vertical position:

The Belt Sander Platform

And in the horizontal:

The Belt Sander Platform

I made a short video of the sander in action:

Using a piece of the cutout from my cabinet door project to build up the table. This bring the surface up above the edge of the belt and wraps around the nose slightly for concave sanding:


With the major parts all done, I cut some maple banding to cover the plywood edge. Though not strictly necessary, I thought it would be nice to dress it up and make the edges more durable.

Using a clothes iron to apply the edge banding. It has heat activated glue:


Here I’m just using a sharp blade to trim off the excess. There are trimmers that you can buy that will do this, but I get great results with this.

My sanding block to smooth it out:

The final step is to put some grip material on the bottom, to keep it from moving around too much:


To glue it on, I used spray on contact cement. A coat on the base and a coat on the grip, then let it dry for a few minutes.

And then carefully positioned it and trimmed off the excess:


The platform is now finished, ready for the sander.

In the vertical position:

And in the horizontal:


Fairly easy to build and didn’t take much time at all. I expect this with get a lot of use, even after I get my larger stationary belt sander made.

I made a short video of the sander in action: