Hello All,
Going to put up instructions on building a slow running (oscillating)power sander from a battery operated toothbrush and it is fairly inexpensive to make.
I have used this to sand/file plastic, all types of fillers (Squadron, Mr. Surfacer, Testors Red, and CA). I have also used it to sand photo-etched and other parts made of metal as well as wooden parts.
The three major items are:
1: A battery operated toothbrush one that has replacement heads (the one in the picture is an Oral-B Cross Action). Cost around $10.00 or in my case $5.00 as a clearance item.
2: A Marvy Uchida Craft Punch - 1/2" inch hole. Cost around $5.00. I use this to punch out the sandpaper discs or you can draw a ½” inch circle and cut it out as well.
3: Mounting Dots 1/2 diameter x 1/8 thick double sided adhesive form used in scrapbooking. Cost between $2.00 - $5.00
First I cut off all the brush bristles on the round brush head and filed the ends down till they were flush with the carrier piece (round disk that the bristles are mounted in).
In the case of this type of brush head I removed the bottom section completely from the brush head unit.
Next I apply one of the mounting dots to the face of the round brush head area and then using the punch cut off a circle of what ever grit sand paper you what to use and attach it to the other side of the mounting dot.
Also since the mounting disks are made of foam and the toothbrush was made to be rinsed under water it works great for wet sanding and polishing, which is kind of hard to do with an electric tool. Something I seem to recall from childhood science class about Electricity + Water = crispy critter
I can usually get about 6-7 months of life out of the batteries, depending on how much bench time I am getting in, also I use rechargable batteries as well better investment I think.
Another idea instead of using the foam dots is to use velcro dots, that way you can have a variety of different grits of paper (rough, medium and fine etc..) ready to go.
Disclaimer: Test the adhesive on the dots or velcro adhesive to make sure it does not soften and get gooey in water, before sanding your model.
Also with the style of toothbrush above you can purchase replacement head units, so you can set up different types of grits and just pop them on the brush when needed.
Now modelers its post time.
Cheers,
Thom
