Belt Sander Face Extension

When sanding the edge of a wide workpiece on my stationary belt sander, too often I wind up with an edge that’s either rounded or out of square. To keep the stock square to the sanding belt, I attached a fence to the side of my sander. It’s just an L-shaped piece of plywood that’s screwed to a couple of support arms.

To attach the fence to my belt sander, I drilled and tapped some holes on the back side of the sander and then bolted the arms in place. Note: You may have to use shims to position the fence at a 90° angle to the sanding belt. Now to get a square edge, I just hold my workpiece against the fence as I run it over the sander.