Drill press mounted drum sanders are excellent for sanding inside curves, but to get a really smooth outside curve requires a flat surface to sand on. Not having the space in my shop for another machine, I decided to build a disk sanding attachment for my lathe.

I started by marking out a 12 1/8″ circle on a piece of MDF and roughing it out on the bandsaw. My lathe has a swing of just over 14″, so I can use a 12″ disk. 2Sand.com offers large disks in both 12″ and 16″ diameters, so if you have the capacity, you can create a 16″ disk.

I roughed out the circle at 12 1/8″ so that I could true it up on the lathe. I know that even if I could cut a perfect circle, the odds of setting the face plate in the exact center was nil. Better to assume things will be slightly off and add a little extra to be removed later.

I mounted my faceplate as close to the ceter point of the disk as possible, and secured it with four bolts. You may want to aquire and extra 8″ faceplate. it will provide better support and having an extra means you’ll never have to break down this set up.

With the lathe set on low speed, I carefully worked down the edge to insure that it was smooth, well balanced and at exactly 12″ diameter.

In part 2, we will look at building a table and options for a miter gauge and jigs.

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