Ummmm.... Okay

No picture but I can imagine what it is.

We went shopping in Aldi yesterday and I bought a belt sander belts pack having 3 grades of grit, 6 belts in all for under £2.

I will be cutting the belts to make strips that will be glued flat to a plank.

Total cost about £3.

I saw that Mark when it was 62 bucks and was thinking same thing >> What are people thinking ??? << I wish i had there money to burn on some other needed stuff!!

Looks like e***2 and a***f had a fight for it.  e***2 got sick of it and made a high proxy bid of $150.50 or greater and a***f nibbled him up about seven times before he quit.  No telling what e***2's high bid was.  Crazy!

Like others here (I had to go down in the basement and take a picture of mine ) I just wrap various grits around an old 1X2.  



Net expenditure zero.

I use a standard autobody rubber sanding block. It certainly doesn't cost $163.  Matches your blue autobody hammer.

Me too George.  My go-to.  

Coxfledgling wrote:No picture but I can imagine what it is.

I posted the Ebay sales photo below Eric's, but here it is again cropped to eliminate the superfluous background:

getback wrote:I saw that Mark when it was 62 bucks and was thinking same thing >> What are people thinking ??? << I wish i had there money to burn on some other needed stuff!!

Was it you or Eric that bought bulk fuel components recently for a song? (Methanol & nitro.) That was a good deal.

rsv1cox wrote:I use a standard autobody rubber sanding block. It certainly doesn't cost $163.  Matches your blue autobody hammer. Me too George.  My go-to.  

Yeah, I have a couple of those, plus a wooden sanding block with clamp. Ended up replacing a couple rubber sanders. After 30 years, the rubber had hardened, but now you can buy them in many places. I put different grades of paper in each, extra coarse (60 grit), coarse (120 grit), medium (220 grit) and fine (360 or 400 grit). Then I don't have to swap paper.

I have man of those Great Plane bar sanders.
The little ones at 6 inches long, to the 12 inches, to the 24 inches, and last the ones that are 36" long.
So, the 12" bar went for $162.00, my 24" bar should go for $324.00, and my 36" bar should go for $486.00!

The tough par now that Great Planes is gone getting the correct "old" sandpaper (with one sticky side).
I have found sandpaper that will work but have to trim about 1/4" off the one side to fit the bar width.

A little waste of money on trimming that little bit of sandpaper off to fit the bar width.

I have 4 each of the 6-inch, 12-inch, 24-inch, and the 36-inch.
one each has 180-grit, 150-grit, 220-grit and 320-grit sandpaper on them.

But I'm willing to part with them at the above prices!

I can find some cheap aluminum angle stock for a lot less to replace them?

sosam117 wrote:I can find some cheap aluminum angle stock for a lot less to replace them?

Cheapest would be laid in ceiling grid T bars,

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Armstrong-Ceilings-Prelude-23-06-in-Galvanized-Steel-Ceiling-Grid-Cross-Tee/3036694





This one is 24" long and 1" wide, cost $1.88 US each at Lowes, Home Depot prices are similar. You can also get them in 48" lengths.

They are of a lighter gauge sheet steel, so you wouldn't want to apply a lot of pressure, because they would distort for say, sanding metal edges. However for sanding balsa and foam they should be fine.

One can glue a 1" wide strip of sandpaper using a suitable glue for it, which will allow it to stay planted in place but also be easily removed for replacement. Because there has been changes in glue technology, I won't suggest what to use, because my experiences are dated for the older stuff.

This would be more of what the original Great Planes sanding bar would be like.
I went to my local machine shop in my area and purchased some lengths of aluminum "T" bar material.

This one on Amazon is 12 feet long but maybe find it in a shorter length (like 1 foot / 2 feet / 3 feet long "T" blocks?)
https://www.amazon.com/CRL-Satin-Anodized-Aluminum-Channel/dp/B003IJLDU6/ref=sr_1_11?adgrpid=1339206518235928&hvadid=83700606704777&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=101035&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83701291121253%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=6587_13218777&keywords=t%2Bbar%2Baluminum&qid=1659266582&sr=8-11&th=1

But at 12 feet long and at $45.19 (plus $20.40 shipping) you'll have plenty of "T" bar stock to make up many sanding blocks for you and your friends.
Or maybe cut up the "T" bar stock to 12 inches long (with a 12-foot-long piece you'll get 10 pieces).
Then sell them on *bay for $50.00 a piece plus shipping?

These work out well too. Just as good as the old Great Planes sanding blocks.

Here are the two of the 12 inches -- aluminum "T" bars that I have left from the 12-foot length I purchased from my local machine shop years ago (about 2003?)
Sold off the others to local club members for $10.00 each (at 12 inches) which was way cheaper than Great Planes cost for theirs?

GallopingGhostler wrote:

batjac wrote:What am I missing here?  These went for $9.99 in the hobby shop.

eBay Sanding Bar

The SMH Mark

Winning bid out of 21, $150.50 + $12.00 Shipping = $162.50 total. Wow, one can make one of their own by gluing sandpaper to the bottom of a wooden block. I use a standard autobody rubber sanding block. It certainly doesn't cost $163. I guess some people have money to burn.

i remember have se this tool in a auto parts zone wit body filed paint and al that Cost no more than $20 Was almost the same just a difrent stickers

I like these and have a few sizes. A search of completed listings shows they do command a good price. I had no idea.

davidll1984 wrote:i remember have seen this tool in a auto parts zone wit body filed paint and al that Cost no more than $20 Was almost the same just a different stickers

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember something like that 15 years ago. I think they were also selling at Lowes, Home Depot. At the time, I had my trusty sanding blocks (the rubber autobody ones) and as such, saw it as an unnecessary expense.

I have several -- one or two of each length that Great Planes sold -- and really like them. I use just standard sandpaper, trim it to size and stick it down with one of those purple glue sticks (any glue stick should work). These sticks hold quite well, but are water soluble, so peeling the paper off and cleaning the bar is pretty easy.

However, seeing the selling price was quite a sticker shock -- maybe a collector finishing out his collection.

i have ONE Great Planes sanding bar, I love it. right heft, ergonomically easy to use,

NOT at that price though. I saw it and - like everyone else here, was thinking "what the what????"

Wow. I remember those and how cheap they were. I have a 12" one only and regret not buying the others back in the day. Now I know why!

Woo-Hoo!!!  I saved $160.50 today!!!

I was at the field today, and the club president pulled some things out of his van and put on the table in the clubhouse.  The table has all kinds of stuff, and it’s more-or-less a “Pay what you think it’s worth” type of deal.  I never set my own price.  I always ask someone else what they think things are worth before I throw money in the coffee can.  One of the things he pulled out and set on the table was a Great Planes 22” sanding bar:




As you saw above, the 11” sanding bar went for $162.50.  I asked the club president what he thought I should pay for the bar.  “How about two dollars?”  Two dollars it is…  That’s actually about what I would have thought a grungy, used old sanding bar would be worth before I saw that eBay auction.

So, I saved $160.50 at the field today.  Using wife logic, that means I can buy an ARF kit for $160.50 and I’ll be even for the day…

The Balancing Out the Universe Mark

Back when I was a frequent Tower Hobby customer. I bought 3 36 inch great planes sanding bars and got 300foot rolls of 120 grit, 220 grit and 400 grit sticky back sandpaper from East Wood...the bars were band sawed into various lengths and the too wide sand paper was easy to apply and eXactO off the excess

if some one interested in a fairly substantial collect of these tools...let me know....I bet I can beat the e-bay price by a LOT

I just saw this. Dubro now has these in 5.5" and 11"

https://www.dubro.com/products/kwik-sand-hand-sander

I bought one of those 20 years ago. Never used it. Will sell for $149.99 plus $12.00 shipping.........

fredvon4 wrote:........I bought 3 36 inch great planes sanding bars and got 300foot rolls of 120 grit, 220 grit and 400 grit sticky back sandpaper from East Wood...the bars were band sawed into various lengths ...........

Great idea. The ingenuity of folks on this forum always impresses me!!!

This is going back to the early 80's but Tower Hobbies when they first started offering the Great Planes sanding fixtures also offered Perma-Grit files and sanding bars. I bought all of the Perma-Grit tools they offered. They're incredibly durable. One time I used one to file off epoxy which wasn't fully cured which clogged it badly. I left it like that for a long time until I figured out I could soak it and wire brush it. They work very well and even today the cost of them is reasonable and they have the 12" extrusions.

I make most of my sanding tools…. Mostly can be fabed up quickly with different shapes/ grits…. The big one I’ve had a long time and abuse the handle for other tasks