Shapeoko 3 spindle mount for DeWalt DWE6421 sander

thingiverse

I do too much sanding - it wears me out and hurts my elbows. So I built this custom adapter to hold a DeWalt DWE6421 random orbit sander in my Shapeoko XXL. I program a precise square or round spiral toolpath and let the Shapeoko carefully move the sander around the object being sanded. This setup not only saves my elbows, but it does a much more consistent job than I can do sanding by hand. It doesn't speed up or slow down and it sands each grit for a programmed time. The biggest benefit is that I can be doing something else in the shop while it's doing the sanding. My Shapeoko is housed in its own room (about the size of a closet) in my garage, so it contains a lot of the dust. I printed this adapter in four pieces. There's a bottom piece that is printed mirrored so you get two identical parts. The top is printed separately as well as the nut that holds the sander in place. Note that the nut on top is necessary so when the program is finished, the sander lifts off the surface of the board.