Sanding the Timber to the required thickness, for Scale Model Horse drawn Vehicles.

I needed something to be able to make the timber I required for the models, to be of a very uniform thickness, so I checked on the web and found a drawing for a Thickness Sander.

This was tad on the larger size for the timber I required, so drew it up to a size that what I reckoned, would be about the correct sized machine for what I needed.

Found a bit of scrap Aluminium sheet at work and the boss said  - ‘go’.

Mainly of  Aluminium construction and have a sheet of 1mm glass on the rise and fall table to enable easy pushing of the timber thru the sander. It has two drums for the sanding, they are loaded with different grades of Emery Paper, one coarse and the other fine. Easy to change the drums, whenever they are needed to be changed.

This works so well, I can keep shoving a bit of timer into the machine until it is about 0.010 thous thick, the next time thru the sander it turns to $hit. The timber is so thin you can hold it up to the light and nearly see thru it, but it shows all the tiny minute grain holes that the timber has.

The table is raised by the hand wheel underneath the front of the table, the thread is M14 x 2, so with the drum at the centre of the table, as you raise it one turn, the table raises 1mm, it’s very accurate and the thickness can be controlled very easily, — easy as, eh.

The timber I use for my models is of the Beech family, it’s Tasmanian Myrtle, the grain is just about non existent, it’s a very, very fined grain timber that could be used from 1/87 th scale right thru to full sized furniture, bloody marvellous stuff actually. It takes a coat of paint just like a sheet of polystyrene, big bonus actually, you can give it an undercoat WITHOUT any grain standing up ruining the fine finish. If some does try to rear it’s ugly head, then a used toothbrush rubbed over any imperfections, soon removes it. The only time I have to do any sanding, is if I have stuffed up and got some runs on the model.

Now other modellers use the actual timber that the full sized item is made from, but to me, some of these timbers have a very opened large pored grain. So when you now use it in a model, it actually looks like crap, with bloody great big holes in it, from all the open pores in the grain.

Choice is your’s alone to use whatever Timber you want too, but take a close look at the timber you want to use and think of what it would look like when it's used on a model, would it have any big unsightly holes showing in the finish of the timber.

Any questions then please ask.