3D Printed Sanding Blocks

I tend to do a lot of sanding and the sanding blocks I have used are mostly clunky, especially when you what a perfectly flat surface. Most are designed to use 1/3 or 1/4 sheets of paper which are odd shapes to hold in the hand. And the ones for smaller or even different sizes tend to use custom (proprietary) sized sandpaper sheets which limits the grits and usually the quality of the paper you have available.

So Jess and I set off to create a more perfect design.

I needed something thin, comfortable, designed to work flat surfaces, use sheet sandpaper efficiently (no waste), no sharp edges to get caught and ABSOLUTELY must hold the sandpaper under tension (no slack).

We ended up with two profiles: Landscape (Long Version) and Portrait (Short Version).

Due to wanting a perfectly flat bottom and structurally needing bolts held in the body I ended up going with a 3-piece design.

The design uses 2, 1/4-20 bolts to hold the compression plate in place and apply tension on the sandpaper strip. Optionally you can use the Thumbscrew design (also a Jess Orignal) linked below to make disassembly more convenient.

Printing is done in 3 parts:
1) Bottom Plate – for a smooth sanding surface
2) Top “Compression” Plate – to tension the sandpaper and provide a comfortable grip
3) The body – which serves to hold the sandpaper in place under tension.

There are 6 designs in this set available separately.

1) 1-Inch sanding block “portrait” profile
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968065

2, 3) 1.5-Inch sanding blocks “portrait” and “landscape” profiles
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968088
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968111

4, 5) 2-Inch sanding blocks “portrait” and “landscape” profiles
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968118
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968127

6) Thumbscrew “over-mold” for 1/4-20 nut
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3968028

Images (Paint and Prime)

Images (Finished Blocks)