Deep reach flap sander

[Gary Beasley]

I had a natural edge vase I need to sand the inside on and nothing I had would reach in deep and sand effectively. I had tried making a flap sander for the small strips but being out of wood tended to break off at the drill. Then I got the idea of using the forstner bit extension. I found a 3/8” aluminum rod and cut a slit in it just big enough to wedge the folded sandpaper strip into and mounted it into the end of the extension with the setscrew. It is nice and stable with no wobble so Im happy.

 

[Larry Mercier]

Gary, sometimes a simple solution is exactly the best one.

 

[Russell Nugent]

Is that a cloth backed sandpaper? Just wondering if it might not work so well with the floppier (the only word I could think of) paper backed sandpaper that I have

 

[Brian Gustin]

Is that a cloth backed sandpaper? Just wondering if it might not work so well with the floppier (the only word I could think of) paper backed sandpaper that I have

Yup. Often also known as Emery Cloth at your local auto parts store or machinist shop (but also often only available in a couple different grits)

 

[Gary Beasley]

I was using some from a penturners sanding pack.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

They do make a split mandrel for this purpose also. Run from 6 to 10.

 

[Gary Beasley]

They do make a split mandrel for this purpose also. Run from 6 to 10.

Looks good. If there were 3/8” shank available I would grab some as that would fit the extension bar nicely. All I saw were 1/8” and 1/4” and similar metric sizes.
Actually if I had 3/8” bar split full length it would be able to clamp down on the sandpaper when the setscrews on the extension were tightened. That would make it easier to mount up thinner or thicker strips.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

One might be able to use a short 3/8" wood dowel instead of aluminum rod. I'm thinkin' the short length probably won't break