Blake from Lumberjocks.com made a stationary vibrating 1/2 sheet pad sander. Here's how he did it: I finally made myself something that I have been wanting for a long time: a stationary vibrating 1/2 sheet pad sander. It was inspired by Doug Stowe’s version, which is apparently just a sander sitting on a half-inflated wheel barrel inner tube. Simple but effective… gotta love it. Very Doug Stowe.
But I just can’t help trying to improve on any design. So I came up with this idea for a box that the sander would sit in, which would, of course, include the dust port to suck out all the sawdust. Integrated dust collection… gotta love it. Very Blake. (If you know me at all, you know that every tool gets a dust port in my shop.) The box will just be held fast in my vice, and then stored easily under the bench. It works beautifully and I highly recommend this design. For those interested in the full story, read on…
I have a mini production run of small boxes in the works for Christmas presents. They all need quite a bit of sanding. I had been wanting to make one of these so today I finally splurged and spent a whopping $8 on an old Craftsman half sheet sander at the Used Tool Store, where I work. I built the box and the original version had an inside shelf which was just the right size for the base of the sander to rest on (it sort-of wrapped around the midriff of the sander). I made sure that this shelf was well padded to cushion the whole thing from vibration. Well, this didn’t work. The sander made the box, the bench, the floor, the walls, the cabinets, and the mice living in the cabinets all vibrate like crazy. So I ripped out the shelf and installed two pieces of rubber to cradle the sander.
This design was much simpler and much more effective. The rubber straps were temporarily held in place with carpet tape and then sandwiched down by the top piece of the box. Now the mice can sleep peacefully. I epoxied a hose coupler into a hole on one side of the box to connect to my shop vac. The opening around the sander is perfect to create enough suction to make it dust free.
I think this will be one of my favorite new tools. It’s just right for “softening” edges of small projects."
I finally made myself something that I have been wanting for a long time: a 
I have a mini production run of small boxes in the works for Christmas presents. They all need quite a bit of sanding. I had been wanting to make one of these so today I finally splurged and spent a whopping $8 on an old Craftsman half sheet sander at the Used Tool Store, where I work. I built the box and the original version had an inside shelf which was just the right size for the base of the sander to rest on (it sort-of wrapped around the midriff of the sander). I made sure that this shelf was well padded to cushion the whole thing from vibration. Well, this didn’t work. The sander made the box, the bench, the floor, the walls, the cabinets, and the mice living in the cabinets all vibrate like crazy. So I ripped out the shelf and installed two pieces of rubber to cradle the sander.
This design was much simpler and much more effective. The rubber straps were temporarily held in place with carpet tape and then sandwiched down by the top piece of the box. Now the mice can sleep peacefully. I epoxied a hose coupler into a hole on one side of the box to connect to my shop vac. The opening around the sander is perfect to create enough suction to make it dust free.
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