6x48 Dunlop Sander Guard

[woodchucker]

I've had this sander for years. I rebuilt it long ago. But It didn't have dust collection or a guard. I got it for woodworking, but now use it also for metal working.
I had to prep some welds on 3" square tubing. I was getting pelted by metal. Time for a guard to prevent me from wearing all those chips.
Before

Blocks for holding to the sander and holding the shape of the curved shield.

Fixing to the sander will be using both magnet and set screws.

 

[woodchucker]

On one I used drill down to rough the shape. On the other I used the bandsaw to rough the shape.
The drilling was easier overall. The bandsawing was very slow using a 10tpi blade. I wish I had a blade with less teeth for the Milwaukee porta band.
The bandsawn was easier on the rotary table to cleanup.


I used a ball nose end mill to shape the inside relief cuts.
The tip of that end mill was so small it was nearly impossible for me to smooth out the bottom. It was like dealing with a pin. Only the edges where the rotary table controlled the cuts was smooth, everything else the tip left extremely small tracks that were very difficult to cleanup.



Test fit to the sander.

I was going to use some aluminum flashing that I had. Then I looked in my scrap pile and saw the a part of a PC carcass that I had dismantled.
That seemed to be a good fit for the back of the guard. Then I found a piece of 4" duct pipe. That seemed more stout than the aluminum. I folded over smooth edges on the edges of the pipe, and riveted the two together.