RIDGID Oscillating Sander Wrench

thingiverse

I love RIDGID's Oscillating Edge/Belt Sander. It is a wonderful addition to my shop that has served me diligently since 2012. The sander sits on a mobile flip top cart shared by my planer. Now, it is a beautifully useful tool, but the star-shaped nut on the top of the spindle that holds the drum or belt piece firm to the shaft is a problem. I can never loosen or tighten it with my bare hands. This is especially true when trying to put a drum onto the machine. I always have to grab a pair of pliers and crank to keep the drum from freely spinning once I begin to sand. Well, eight years later, I finally decided to do something about it. The nut is in rough shape and will only get worse. To avoid having to grab a pair of pliers and continue to destroy the nice nut, I 3D printed a custom wrench designed specifically for the star-shaped nut. I must say that the original idea was not mine; HauntFreaks over on Thingiverse deserves the credit with his version of this wrench at: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3389383. However, I took the time to build my model completely from scratch. When I found it, the light came on and I had one on the printer in less than five minutes. Two hours later, the wrench was done. Even when pulling it off the bed, I realized it wasn't going to suit me. It was too thin, flexible, and just not very tough feeling. Alas, I ran downstairs and tried it out. It did indeed work as advertised and was probably more than adequate. However, wanting to never have to deal with this again, I decided to make my own improvements. These improvements mostly consisted of making the tool larger and thicker. I wanted it to feel like a real tool in my hand and not a flimsy toy. Next, I put an arrow on the top of the tool to always remind me which way was loosening. If you have one of these sanders, you know that the nut is reverse threaded and you will always find yourself questioning, "Am I loosening or tightening this thing... darn... it's really on there... which way again?" This simple arrow will ensure I never experience that again. I let this one print overnight, taking a little more than five hours at 0.16mm layer thickness, four perimeters, and 40% infill. I printed it from black Amazon Basic PETG, my material of choice, on my custom eBot, but most any printer and most materials would do just fine (PLA, ABS, your choice). This one turned out great. It feels like a proper tool in my hand and doesn't flex while I crank on the nut. Now, for about 75 cents, I have a wrench that will save me from having to buy a $10+ nut. For anyone who wants to print their own, you can find it here: