Desktop Sander / Burnisher

[LomaeArts]

Some of the youtubers we follow have neat toys to make processors better/quicker.
One such item I drool over in the Campbell Randell Variable Speed Burning Machine.  Chances of getting one in Australia are pretty minimal and if it was available, I would probably be hit with a 50% export Tariff ;).

So I after some time on my CAD I came up with these.

• The sanding wheel is 89mm diameter and has a small flat area so the sand paper has a slight overlap and you don't feel a bump.  I choose the diameter to suit strips cut from an standard sheet of wet and dry sand paper.  Currently I am testing 180 grit and am extremely satisfied.
• The Dust collector is NOT my work.  I blended a vaccy adaptor on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2806410) to suit my needs.
• The burnisher works well.

These are all printed in PETG and time will tell if the stand up to abuse.

Both the sander and burnisher are driven by 1/2hp 3 phase motors with VFD to control speed.

When I get this mounted in their (yet to be designed frames) I will share moer details.

As always I am very open to comments and observations.

 

[kgg]

On 7/20/2025 at 8:47 AM, LomaeArts said:

As always I am very open to comments and observations.

I do like your idea of modifying a motor to give you what you would like particularly if you have a motor on hand. I modified what is called a variable speed buffer to do sanding and burnishing. I would be interested in seeing your end result. 

[Cumberland Highpower]

On 7/20/2025 at 3:47 AM, LomaeArts said:

Some of the youtubers we follow have neat toys to make processors better/quicker.
One such item I drool over in the Campbell Randell Variable Speed Burning Machine.  Chances of getting one in Australia are pretty minimal and if it was available, I would probably be hit with a 50% export Tariff ;).

So I after some time on my CAD I came up with these.

• The sanding wheel is 89mm diameter and has a small flat area so the sand paper has a slight overlap and you don't feel a bump.  I choose the diameter to suit strips cut from an standard sheet of wet and dry sand paper.  Currently I am testing 180 grit and am extremely satisfied.
• The Dust collector is NOT my work.  I blended a vaccy adaptor on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2806410) to suit my needs.
• The burnisher works well.

These are all printed in PETG and time will tell if the stand up to abuse.

Both the sander and burnisher are driven by 1/2hp 3 phase motors with VFD to control speed.

When I get this mounted in their (yet to be designed frames) I will share moer details.

As always I am very open to comments and observations.

 

I've got a Campbell Randall VSB Burnisher.   Honestly It's not as good as you're hoping it is.  Mine collects dust....

They're built out of a common brushed sewing servo and fitted with an adapter that allows you to use Galli Burnishing wheels.    The Galli wheels are a great item, lots of different wheels, grinding, diamond, leather, wood, phenolic, etc available.  

The bad part is that they have poor speed control ("0" to 3000K RPM)  and almost no torque.  A burnisher needs a little bit of low rpm torque.  The Galli burnishing wheels have a bit of diameter to them so a low torque, hard to control cheap brushed servo isn't really what you want.   

The dust collector shield on the Randall VSB is actually a plastic dust collector hood from the Bosch Router.  

I ended up building 2 of my own burnishers, one out of a LOBO profile sander and the other out of a washing machine motor.   Sometimes i use the DC burnisher on the front of my Galli FCE, but it's only setup for horizontal burnishing.

I also have 2 other heavy factory made motor driven burnishers.  One is a Randall in a hammered green paint.  It has lots of torque, but setup with steel burnishing heads and kinda not that great.  The other is an ancient machine that's almost identical to the Randall (Looks like Randall Copied it) that has a large multi groove cocobolo (or somthing similar) head about 6" in diameter.   That one sees a fair amount of flat use.

I guess my suggestion is to build your own and don't buy one.  It looks like you don't need that advice though!

 You need decent lower speed torque and ability to vary the speed. 

1/2hp 3ph motor is probably  a good choice.    I've run `1/3hp motors on burnishers and found them overheating from the load if I use them for a period of time.  a 3ph motor is less prone to getting hot as well.     If you're doing heavy burnishing I'd probably go so far as to recommend a 3/4hp motor.  

Edited July 21 by Cumberland Highpower

[CdK]

@Cumberland HighpowerDid not know about the Galli Burnishing wheels and did a search and came across this beast: https://youtu.be/-hXaNNV9wGo?si=_7ke0kzdVgUQQ9iv Fascinating what machines are out there.

I'm actually considering making/building a horizontal burnisher for doing the edges on larger items such as bags and briefcases. I saw such machines being used in some of the videos that I saw on utube and my interest was piqued. I have 2x 750W servo motors that came off sewing machines on hand and considering using 1 of these as I could control the speed with a pedal. Thoughts?

@LomaeArts I like your thought process, many ways to accomplish what you are going for.

 

 

[Cumberland Highpower]

CDK I have one of those.  The burnisher on the front of it is what I was referencing.  It's a DC motor with an on and off switch.  Not variable like the rest of the machine is.  I bought mine used and I think I paid $6500 for it with a new painting attachment (yeah I really needed it at the time!).  New I think they're like 15k or more? I don't know....Anyway....

I use it sometimes.   What I did find useful on the Galli and the Randall Burnisher (made from sewing machine motor) was the slick plastic they faced the little table/shelf with.  It might be Teflon, I don't know.    Low friction to be sure and seems to aid the fluid movement of the burnish process.

 

Edited yesterday at 02:53 AM by Cumberland Highpower

[CdK]

@Cumberland Highpower I had not yet considered the table surface yet but what you mention makes sense. I will probably use HDPE or such as I have that on hand and should be quite suitable I think. I'm thinking that the table top be circular so I can get into openings etc like when I do when doing tote bags with circular cut-outs for the handle. Similar to what some spindle sanders are but without oscillation and variable speed control using a foot pedal.