Sanding Station
My old Rockler router table stand wasn’t being used for anything since I moved the router table to the table saw. It was becoming a landing spot for junk most of the time, and I was getting tired of that. I already planned on using the frame to house a drum sander in the future with drawers in the frame to hold all of my sanders and accessories. The drum sander I wanted, the SuperMax 16-32, had been on sale for over a month and the sale was winding down. I knew I had a bunch of picture frames on the docket and it would be much easier using a drum sander to flatten the frames than simply a random orbit sander.
Before I ordered the drum sander, I wanted to get the soon-to-be sanding station ready to go beforehand. It was a simple project, really. I attached some scrap plywood panels to the sides, back and bottom of the stand.
I got some 18” drawer mounting kits from Rockler so I could attach drawer slides and install drawers in the frame. I still had a bunch of 16” drawer slides from an old bulk order and they would be perfect for this project. The drawers were standard pocket hole construction and went together quickly and easily. I got the finished drawers installed, the drawer faces attached and the drawer pulls screwed in place.
The bottom drawer was the deepest and it holds all of my power hand sanders. The middle drawer holds all of the sandpaper for the hand sanders. The top drawer will hold any miscellaneous items and the additional drum sanders rolls. To finish off the sanding station, the top needed to be installed. I couldn’t install the top yet because I needed to know the exact dimensions of the drum sander’s base.
Shipping...We Don’t Need No Stinking Shipping
I double-checked that Rockler still had one of the drum sanders in stock, which they did. I ordered it on the phone and had them set it aside for me to pick up in a couple of days. When I arrived, a couple of guys loaded the drum sander in the back of my truck and I was on my way home. When I got back, I used my trusty hydraulic lift cart to get the drum sander box out of my truck. That lift cart has become an absolutely indispensable tool in my workshop. It’s not used very often, but it comes in very handy when working with large heavy power tools.
I got everything out of the box, with the drum sander sitting on the lift cart, and decided to put together the base frame that comes with the drum sander. I wasn’t going to use it, but I wanted to get some measurements for the holes in the frame meant to secure the drum sander. After putting it together, I’m glad I opted to reuse my router table stand. I just didn’t think the stock frame was beefy enough to be rolled around all of the time on my workshop floor.
I got the measurements I needed off of the frame and used those to lay out the size of the top of the sanding station. The top was simply a lamination of three pieces of scrap 1/2” plywood and secured to the frame with screws. Using the lift cart, I raised it to the level of the sanding station top and slid it into place. I positioned it so that it was centered all the way around the top and screwed it to the plywood top. This thing wasn’t going anywhere.
The sanding station was now completed. Thankfully, I still had a set of locking casters for the old router stand to allow me to move the drum sander around. It’s definitely a lot heavier than I imagined it would be, but the casters make moving it around the shop a breeze. It feels like if I wasn’t careful it would tip over while rolling it around in the wrong orientation. It’s much like the drill press and its stand in that regard. I’m content with how it sits in its present state. The sanding station allowed me to centralize the bulk of my sanding supplies in one location. The sanding belts and drums for the Ridgid oscillating sander are in the drawer in the flip-top cart, so that is just fine with me. The drum sander was the last major power tool purchase I should have to make, barring a major breakdown or change (see dust collector (LINK)). I never envisioned having a fully equipped shop the likes of what I’ve got now. I look forward to working with all of these tools for years to come.
***UPDATE: August 2022***
After a couple of years of ownership, and only a small handful of uses, I decided to sell my SuperMax drum sander. When I originally bought it, I had many other things in mind to take advantage of having this tool in my shop. Unfortunately, those things never really materialized and the drum sander was just taking up unnecessary space in the shop.
With the drum sander gone, I’ve still got my power hand sanders and sandpaper in the three drawers (with some serious reorganization needed). I’ve actually got plans to reuse this old Rockler router stand for a sharpening station in the coming months. This is still up in the air, but that’s the plan at the moment. If I do decide to go in this direction, I will post another separate article and provide a link to it here.
***RETIRED: June 2023***
This (now) old sanding station has officially been retired from use in the workshop. I have decided to forego my plans for repurposing the old Rockler router stand as a sharpening station. At this time, I simply don’t have a real use for a sharpening station as I only have a few cheap chisels and one block plane. I can easily sharpen those on my workbench with the sharpening setup I currently use.
Any attempt to continue use of this stand as a sanding station will not work as the drawers don’t provide enough room for all of the sandpaper and sanders I currently have.
I will be selling the Rockler router stand and use what little I make from that to reinvest in other things for the workshop.
In its place, I have put together an all-new sanding station that will be much more function and offer far greater organization.
