Sander Safety

There are many different types of sanders; each with it's own purpose. The three that will be used in class are the belt sander, disc sander, and the oscillating spindle sander. 

The belt sander is to be used to sand edges and ends of boards. For safety reasons, the face of the board should always remain on the machine's table. Faces are not typically safe to sand because doing so would place your fingers too close to the sanding belt. The safety margin on the sander is 2". 

The disc sander in class is attached to the belt sander. We typically don't use it and stick with the belt sander, however, since it is in the lab, proper use will still be covered. The disc sander is similar to the belt sander as far as safety concerns go. One major difference is you can only use one half of the exposed sander. The disc spins counter-clockwise, therefore, nothing should be sanded on the right half of the machine's table. The material will be lifted and thrown by the upward rotation on that half. Due to this, always use the left half of the table where the sander is rotating downward toward the table.

Both the belt and disc sander have some common safety concerns, The distance between the sanding belt or disc and the machine's table should be no greater than 1/8". If the gap is larger, material, or even worse, fingers can get pulled down and wedged in the opening. Sanding belts or discs that have any tears or holes should be replaced immediately. The holes and tears can catch the material being sanded and pull or throw the material. Both sanders are primarily for sanding flat or convex surfaces.