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Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 4:49 pm
by Rbraniganpipes
Have any of you guys ever made your own french wheel or detail sanding disc?
If so, does anyone have a schematic that they would be willing to share?

I know that J.Alan makes them, but I am not ready to spend that much money on french wheels if I could possibly make them on my own.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:41 pm
by W.Pastuch
I've made a couple.
It's extremely simple if you have a lathe and basic machining skills :) I can do it, but there is no way I can draw it, so I apologize for not giving you a schematic! It's way beyond me to explain theoretically, but basically just make a disc from phenolic (super resistant) or acrylic or aluminum (scarier to machine) sheet (more or less convex) and coat it (or don't?) with a superglued layer of leather/foam/padding and it's done. Oh and thread it and mount it on something with a thread with two nuts behind the disc.

edit- also you want to figure out the edge profile because it needs to be just right, taking into consideration padding and sandpaper thickness, so you may need to have to go back and reshape the edge if you find it too.... something. It's tricky.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:10 pm
by sandahlpipe
I've made my own as well. It's not terribly difficult. Cut out and turn a piece of acrylic stock so that the edge is rounded towards the back and drill a hole in the middle. Epoxy a bolt into it that fits into the arbor. Then you use a spray adhesive to apply a sheet of felt and sandpaper over the disc. For me, the harder part was cutting the sandpaper properly and getting that glued on.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:22 pm
by Rbraniganpipes
Perfect! Thanks guys.

I have some acrylic sheeting, and was going to get a few hole saws to cut the circular discs. I was thinking of making the outer padded circle 4 inches in diameter, and the inner circle that holds the sandpaper on 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Do you guys think those measurements would work well? I am guessing that if i do this, i would need to buy hole saws that are at least 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch larger than the sizes i am going for?? is that correct to assume that?

I have the Beal arbor on my motor already, so I will get the correct bolts, nuts, and washers.

I wasn't sure about the edge profile, but figured I would have to cut it back to allow for ease of sanding in tight spaces.

Appreciate all of the help thus far!

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:39 pm
by LatakiaLover
Be VERY careful and cautious when doing this. I've seen---as in owned it myself so know its usage history---an acrylic disc that developed radial cracks, and would without-a-doubt have exploded sooner or later.

I've also seen firsthand the energies involved when spinning shit disintegrates. :shock: It is NOT trivial.

The only discs I use now are made from one of the higher strength aluminum alloys.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:15 pm
by sandahlpipe
I'm not sure I'd try to cut acrylic with a hole saw. I suppose it could work, but you're still going to need to profile the outer edge and I don't know how you'd do that and have it accurate without a lathe. You don't want wobbles. I just drew a circle with a compass and then cut it out on the bandsaw to the rough shape for the outside edge.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 9:28 pm
by Rbraniganpipes
Jeremiah, that makes perfect sense. I'll give it a go on the lathe. My only question is after you cut it out, how would you secure it in the chuck? Would you screw it into a pre cut piece circular piece that you can clamp in a 4 jaw chuck with normal wood turning jaws?

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 9:28 pm
by baweaverpipes
Rbraniganpipes wrote:Have any of you guys ever made your own french wheel or detail sanding disc?
If so, does anyone have a schematic that they would be willing to share?

I know that J.Alan makes them, but I am not ready to spend that much money on french wheels if I could possibly make them on my own.
PM sent.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 9:36 am
by sandahlpipe
I think I put the disc on a pin gage

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:11 pm
by DocAitch
Finish the center of the disc with bolt, washers, nut and reinforcement on your drill press. Then use the chuck of your lathe to hold the bolt. You can then shape your edge. You may have to change the bolt or dress the threads when you are done, depending on damage done to the threads with the chuck.
In the past, I have shaped rough sanding discs out of ply wood using a hand drill secured to the bench with hose clamps and done the shaping with a die grinder. Final shape and finish can be done with the disc on your Beall arbor.
DocAitch

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 9:05 pm
by RDPowell
I've made two of'em and they work pretty good but, I don't use the Beall system, instead I use a keyed 1/2" chuck on a 1750 rpm motor mounted on a stand in stead of bench. I cut two pieces (one smaller then the other) Plexiglass on a band-saw, drill it and counter sink one for an arbor and then mount to the lathe using the arbor to true them. Then I applied two layers of quality felt to larger one, cause I didn't have any thin foam and I'm done. Probably took me an hour or two to make both.
Image

Image

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:49 am
by DocAitch
Nice work. I use a keyed chuck on a motor for my rough cutting wheel, didn't bother with turning the shank of the bolt smooth.
DocAitch

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 9:30 am
by RDPowell
DocAitch wrote:Nice work. I use a keyed chuck on a motor for my rough cutting wheel, didn't bother with turning the shank of the bolt smooth.
DocAitch
Thank you and Neither did I, that's an arbor.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 12:15 am
by dogcatcher
This is what RD Powell used, or something similar to it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buffing-Wheel-A ... SwnQhXo73L

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 2:34 am
by caskwith
I made one, never could wrap the sandpaper around it properly though, I could use the face ok but once I got near the edge it would grab and bump. Never got on with it.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:32 am
by oklahoma red
caskwith wrote:I made one, never could wrap the sandpaper around it properly though, I could use the face ok but once I got near the edge it would grab and bump. Never got on with it.
I get much smoother results at the edge of the wheel by adding a LOT more tabs to bend and attach to the back side. Yes, a major pain in the arse but worth the effort.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 10:16 am
by DocAitch
caskwith wrote:I made one, never could wrap the sandpaper around it properly though, I could use the face ok but once I got near the edge it would grab and bump. Never got on with it.
I wrap the paper, but had to teach myself to wrap with the folds facing clockwise from the back. The natural tendency for a right handed person is to run the folds counter clockwise, which puts the high part of the fold in front and makes things bumpier. (This assumes that your motor is running counter clockwise and you are cutting on the left side).
DocAitch

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:07 am
by RDPowell
I cut all mine as you can see in the photo, not really hard and only takes me maybe 5 minutes to do and it lays pretty smooth except on the edges
which as far as I'm concerned doesn't matter.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:33 pm
by Rbraniganpipes
Thank you all for your insight. I really appreciate the help.

Re: Anyone ever make a french wheel?

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 12:48 pm
by Charl
Luckily it lasts quite long before you have to cut another.