I have a bunch of rings to use for handles that need to be sanded flat.

Any ideas for jigs or ideas to get these rings flat and uniform with minimum hassle?

I don't want to use a hand sander. I just want something that I can use a disk, or belt or oscillating sander that will quickly level all of the handle rings uniformly.

It doesn't work to try to hold the rings by hand, because one side always ends up thinner than the other side.

Maybe something with the drill press and a disk sander in the chuck to allow the handle ring to be kept flat and the disk be brought down to the ring to level it?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

If anyone has jigs or pictures of any tools used for such a need, please let me know.

Roger

if they are bored and the bore is true you can put them on a dowel and touch them flat on a disk sander..put the dowel in a block that will slide flat on the table..if the bore is not true this option will probably not work...if the angle they are off is consistent then just offset them and it should all come out fine when they are shaped

John,
That is fine in theory, but it won't work if the dowl is hand held. As the disk comes in contact with the ring, the spinning sander will tend to through the dowl off to the side and create an angle.

So, that is why I am thinking about using a semi orbital sander since there won't be this side force.

I was digging through my box of things and came across a mini lathe chuck that I had built many years ago. I think that it might be just the thing to hold the spinning ring. Then, just hold a piece of sandpaper against the spinning ring and I think that it should clean up fine. I will give the small lathe chuck a try this afternoon and see how it works.

The key issue is no rounding of the edges and parallel sides on both sides of the disk. I really don't care what the center hole is doing since the center hole won't be part of the final disk anyway.

The rings that I have - have a variety of center hole sizes, so the use of a clamp, like the lathe chuck might work out well since the disks will be held by the edges rather than the center.

Roger

p.s.
These rings are not cork, but a much harder material, so the jigging and machining needs to be a bit more robust than the jigs that I use for cork.

I built one for my disc sander to flatten bark rings from pine, red fir, etc. The jig runs in the mitre slot of the sander. It consists of a piece of 1 1/2" ID piece of pvc about 3 1/2" long with a cap on 1 end. the cap has a 1/4" hole in the middle. The pipe is mounted in a L-bracket 90 degrees to the disc and about an 1/8 away from the disc.to The jig runs in the mitre slot 90 degrees to the disc. I then turned a 1" x 1 1/2" plug on the lathe and mounted that to a piece of 1/4" all thread. To the face of the disc I contact cemented a piece of 60 grit sandpaper. You the put the piece in the tube, bring the jig over and push the rod out till the ring touches the disc. the 60 gt keeps the ring from turning while sanding. Move jig over and repeat for the other side. Probably clear as mud.

Disk
Great idea. This is very similar to the cross vise that I use when sanding the end of rod butts.
I am sure that it works very well.

After doing some digging I came up with the motor and head stock from one of my original power wrappers that is fitted with a 10,000 rpm industrial universal motor.
I had used it for a bit for power wrapping, but even with the double belt reduction, really ran too fast for rod wrapping.
Since then, I modified it to use as a line winder when I spooll thread on spinning reel spools. I have a shureline stepped 2 1/2 inch chuck mounted on the headstock. It works very well for winding spinning reel spools.

It is controlled by a commercial foot pedal that is commonly used with routers and other universal motors.

Since there are some irregularities on the faces of the handle rings, I thought that the stepped chuck might work well, since I can leave the irregularity in a location which does not tilt the ring.

So, I chucked up several and the 5 000 rpm spinning head stock does a great job of cleaning up the handle ring. I use an 80 grit paper on a sanding board and it quickly trues up the face of the handle ring. Flip the ring over and do the opposite face.


Now to get the next 500 sanded.

Take care
Roger

500 ??? Are you serious ?? I lay them on a flat surface on maybe 100 grit paper do buy hand

That will take a long time Got a Production going do ya ?

Bill - willierods.com

Bill,
That was why I didn't want to do them by hand.

Roger