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I've been thinking about how to build a powered radius dish sander for awhile and came across a picture of someone using a pottery wheel. I found this one for $120.52 (shipped). It works great. 0-360 rpm.

I tried a couple of different mounting methods. In the end, I fabricated a round block with a 1/4" hole in the middle. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the center of the pottery wheel and used that as an alignment tool for the radius dish, which also has a hole in the center.

Then, I used the blue tape and superglue trick. I was unsure how it would hold up, but it works great.

I then drilled three holes in the bench and set the legs in holes. I screwed some blocks underneath to space it up a bit. This lowered it and holds it in place.

The whole project took about 2 or 3 hours.

I'm actually really impressed with the pottery wheel's quality. It's pretty heavy. I don't know how they can sell it for that. It even has a digital control.

Here's a review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bDB_NDn72o
The woman in the review gives out the discount code 'Discount23.'

Here's the link to the wheelhttps://www.vevor.com/pottery-wheel-c_11146/vevor-pottery-wheel-10in-ceramic-wheel-forming-machine-adjustable-0-300rpm-speed-manual-lcd-panel-foot-pedal-abs-detachable-basin-sculpting-tool-apron-accessory-kit-for-work-art-craft-diy-p_010687990439

The picture of the inside guts of the machine shows what it looks like with the bottom removed. I wanted to see what was in there.

Pretty cool and a very good idea Thomas.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Nice! Can you elaborate a little bit more on how you attached the dish? I can't quite follow. Super glue?

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Pat

Did your wheel bog down at all with pressure?
My dishes weigh in at 11lb 12 oz.
Looks like a great method.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

I put blue tape on the pottery wheel dish and I put blue tape on the back of the radius dish. Then I put medium viscosity superglue on the radius dish tape, and I sprayed CA kicker on the radius dish. Then joined them. It holds fine for me, but still comes apart by lifting up. It’s the same way I learned to cut abalone on my CNC.

The key is to get the radius dish centered properly. That’s why I made the round plug. I drilled a .25” hole in the center of the pottery wheel to use for an alignment pin. I put a .25” hole dead center of the round plug and mounted it dead center of the pottery wheel with the .25” pin. My radius dish has a hole in the center that perfectly matches the round plug.

At first, I tried a different mounting method, but it was misaligned and caused vibration. Now there is no vibration and it runs smooth.

I’ve only run one set on it and it ran fine. It was a set of sides that I messed up so I wasn’t concerned about it. I didn’t push super hard, but I didn’t need to - just light pressure was all that it needed and the sandpaper did all of the work. I chalked the rims to see how well it was making progress, and it was certainly much faster than when I do it by hand.

The only downside is all of the dust that would normally fall to the table was getting kicked up into the air and it was definitely kicking up a lot of dust, I have a large air filtration unit on the ceiling right over where I did the sanding, so it wasn’t too bad after a little while.

I have an air quality monitor and the shop always settles down to an acceptable level in an hour or two.