Typical Disc Sanders:

Burn end grain

Melt thermoplastics

Are too fast for flexible sanding of complex contours

Before you say "my wife will kill me" let me give you some arguments.

This is easily removable

The end of this Instructable shows a $1 dust shield

You can make her things, so you might live.

Before you say "Kitchen Aid will break since they're now made with plastic gears..."

That's false.

Sanding is not as tough on the motor as mixing bread dough and thick batter

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I changed the title to "Not-A-Disc Sander" after observing that the picture & title gave the idea that I turned the Kitchen Aid into a typical disc sander. There was lots of feedback like "why not just get a disc sander?" which indicated people didn't read or watch. So, to be clear, this is not a typical disc sander. It fills a particular gap very well, which I explain in this Instructable, and demonstrate in the video.

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Okay, Why the Who Wha?

As this is a bit of a foreign tool category to most of us, I hope to primarily convince you that it's indeed a new category. Secondarily, I'd like to convince you to do it.

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Let's start with Why the Wha:

I've been using a slow-speed, high-torque sander in my shop (as a lathe attachment) for the past 3-4 years and it has been a wildly useful tool. Advantages of a low-speed, high-torque, stationary sander:

Greater control of the workpiece Prevents excess material being removed at once Doesn't burn end grain Doesn't melt thermoplastics. I use this thing to sand off elephant's foot on 3D-printed parts often. Aggressive finesse by use of force rather than speed (again, no end grain burning!) Enables sanding to be part of the sculpting/shaping process for items like spoons.





Ok, now Why the Who:

The KitchenAid Mixer is the perfect candidate to drive a slow-speed, high-torque sander. Not only is it the perfect candidate, it's begging to be a shop tool.

It's heavy It's crazy powerful with lots of torque It has a variable speed adjuster setting It has a PTO attachment port. (in other words, it's a tractor)

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History: Previous Slow Speed Sanders I've Built/Tried/Used

Here are my previous slow-speed sander builds over the past few years that led up to the Kitchen Aid.

Drill - handheld: hard to control.

Drill - clamped in vise: Awkward to clamp, hard to control speed.

Variable speed right-angle grinder: Actually a decent setup, A bit too fast

Lathe attachment: Still a bit fast (on my lathe) but otherwise very nice.

30RPM motor: Too slow.

KitchenAid: For spoon sculpting, the KitchenAid is, IMO, far better than any of my previous setups.

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Resources

7-minute YouTube walkthrough of the design, reason, and build:

Thingiverse for 3D Printed Parts: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3507813

My website for additional content outside the scope of this Instructable.





Let's get on with it!





Warning about Sanding Dust:

Unlike fairy dust, sanding dust is REAL. And BAD. Don't breathe it. There are various ways to avoid breathing sanding dust (use a dust mask, sand outside, use a filter box, capture it with a dust collector, etc) that are outside the scope of this Instructable, but I felt that at least a warning was necessary.