[Matthias Wandel] is the preeminent YouTube woodworker, with dozens of machines constructed from wooden gears, remarkable machines that produce ideal mortise and tenons, and home-built table saws and jointers. actually building something instead of purchasing it is a hallmark of [Matthias]’ channel, and he’s at it again, building his own woodworking machines. this time it’s a 1″ broad belt sander. Of course anybody can go out and simply purchase one of these sanders for under $100, but what’s the point in that when you can build one out of plywood and a motor you picked out of the trash?

The design of this belt sander – just like the commercial version he’s improving upon – uses three wheels to guide the 42″ long strip of sandpaper around its course. [Matthias] is using rollerblade wheels for the front wheels. Rollerblade wheels aren’t the best shape for bearings, this can be fixed by using a table saw as a lathe. Yes, [Matthias] lathes with a table saw. He’s just that good.

The rest of the frame was thoroughly constructed out of plywood and powered by a 1/3 horsepower furnace fan motor pulled from the trash. There are a few interesting features that make this belt sander extremely useful: a rounded platen behind the belt makes sanding interior corners very easy, and is something that isn’t typically found on commercial belt sanders.

You can check out [Matthias]’ video below.