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111 comments on DrumBeat: December 31, 2008

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ericy on December 31, 2008 - 2:35pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

And the thing is that the auto companies see these changes as a problem that needs to be solved.

But ultimately people will race virtually anything that moves. I saw something on TV once where they have belt sander racing. My recollection is that you pick it up, lock the trigger, let it spin up to full speed, and then drop it on a long board that serves as the track. When the thing gets to the end of the track, I guess the power is cut because it pulls out it's own power cord. I was telling a friend that that was one type of racing that was in my budget :-).

But despite having read this a couple of years ago, I still don't have a belt sander.

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Lynford on December 31, 2008 - 2:50pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

A couple years ago Porter Cable 3 X 24 belt sander took everything hands down but now since Bosch and others have come out with new models we will have to again have races. There are two kinds ...

1. The 50 foot race where you use an 14 gage extension cord. The sander has to be pretty well tuned or it will hit the sides of the track and sometimes roll over or at least slow down. Raced Man on Man "Sander on Sander". Loser buys beer.

2. The distance contest where the sander runs as far as the cord will allow, pull the plug and coast to a stop. There is a handicap for cord length to even the playing field. A distance carved plaque is given with the sander's manufacturer and distance hand carved on it.

To be a knowledgable woodworker you have to know all these things. :-)

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NeverLNG on December 31, 2008 - 3:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

There are battery operated belt sanders. Probably wouldn't go as fast, but most likely would go farther. Modern tortoise and hare?

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tstreet on December 31, 2008 - 4:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Need to work on a solar powered sander, good for races in the desert.

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bruce from chicago on December 31, 2008 - 6:02pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

In one cabinet shop I worked at a few years ago we would have belt sander races where a person would perch on top of the belt sander (usually Porter-Cable or old Stanley), reach down to control the trigger, and off you'd go! Forty or thirty-two grit would give the most traction. Foreman: "why the hell do you want forty grit belts?" The shit you would do during slow times in the shop.

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ET on January 1, 2009 - 12:15am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Being into 'renewable' energy, I prefer retractable tape measure races. Hook the tape on the end of a board, stretch to agreed upon length, let tape slide to board end. Must of course have classes for length of tape and so on. The amount of esoterica involved would obviously take too much space to explain.

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111 comments on DrumBeat: December 31, 2008

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