Frame
The whole frame is just screwed together from 2x4's. Four 8' 2x4's should be enough, but it may be better to buy two 8' 2x8's
to get better quality lumber.
Motor mount
The motor tilts on a hinged piece of plywood to set the belt tension. It's best to make sure the motor can't move once the
desired belt tension is set, as the running v-belt will cause the motor to move up and down and shake the whole machine.
Making the wooden pulley
Although you could buy the right size of pulley for this sander, pulleys that attach to 1" thick shafts are in a higher price class,
so it's best to just make one out of wood.
Table construction
The table is made of two pieces of 3/4" plywood sandwiched and glued together. It's important that the layers are glued
together throughout to give the table torsional stiffness. Screwing the layers together would not be sufficient.
Drum construction
Pat's sander has MDF disks on a hollow 5/8" shaft. This makes the drum itself stiffer than the shaft. However, MDF can't be
trusted to stay completely straight, and Pat has had to re-true his drum from time to time. So I changed the design so that the
drum's stiffness comes from a 1" shaft.
Dust hood
You may want to construct the dust hood before truing up the drum.
Truing up the drum
It's best to use the thickness sander itself to true up the drum. Instead of sandpaper on the drum, a piece of sandpaper
attached to a piece of plywood is slid under the drum to sand the drum into true roundness.