Sabre saw as a die filer/sander

[MaineGeezer]

I don't know if this will be of use to anybody, but I'll post it. There's a machine shop tool called a die filer. They aren't very common now, but they hold a file vertically and it oscillates up and down. There is a table, adjustable for angle, to rest a workpiece on while you file.

The other day I had occasion to want something like that to sand intricate contours on a piece of wood. I dug out an ancient sabre saw and experimented. The blade holder was sufficiently wide to hold a needle file. The speed was way too high, but I had an universal motor speed controller I plugged the saw into to slow it down. The file cut was too fine to make reasonable progress on wood, so I glued a strip of 120 sandpaper to the side of the file. It works surprisingly well.

There is no particular reason to use a needle file -- as you can see, it's much too long in addition to not being coarse enough for wood. I'll probably replace it with a shorter piece of steel.

[ruby@magpage.com]

With a holder that could quickly grip a piece of sandpaper and allow fast changes, that would be a great item.

Ed

[MaineGeezer]

Acting on Ed's suggestion, here's a somewhat improved setup. A custom baseplate and a bar that can clamp a piece of sandpaper.

[ruby@magpage.com]

MaineGeezer

Great! Can you show a shot of it dis-assembled?

Ed

[MaineGeezer]

Sure..... This saw is an old Porter-Cable that takes hook-end blades. You would have to look at your own saw and figure out how to best clamp the replacement bar.

The bar is a piece of aluminum about 1/4" x 5/8", thinned down at the end where it fits into the blade clamp.

[ruby@magpage.com]

Thanks

Well done

Ed