How to Build a DIY Sanding Station (Quick Overview)
This DIY sanding station keeps every grit of sandpaper sorted and visible, with a spot for your orbital sander and accessories. It is a small plywood cabinet, about 29 inches tall, with shelves that slide into grooves cut on the table saw. Hang it on a French cleat wall so your sandpaper is always easy to grab. Here is the build with a cut list.
How is it that any time I need sandpaper, the grit that I need is the one that I’ve run out of? Well this sanding station will solve that problem! I made this custom build to hold my orbital sander and separate every grit of sandpaper that I use so that it is visible and easy to grab. Now I know whenever I run out of something and I can put it on my shopping list.
If you want to organize your sandpaper, read on and I’ll walk you through how I made this!
DIMENSIONS: 29″ H x 12″ W x 6″ D
Space between shelves are 2 1/2″ and 5 1/2″
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MATERIALS:
TOOLS:
BUILD PLANS available HERE!
I started by cutting all the pieces of wood I needed out of 1/2″ and 1/4″ plywood. You could definitely use 3/4″ plywood instead, but this is what I had on hand and didn’t feel like it needed to be any more substantial.
Next, I penciled in marks where the shelves were going to go on the sides so I had a reference point.
I also made marks on the edges so I knew where to make the grooves for the shelves to slide in.
I cut the grooves on my table saw and used my brass setup blocks to set the blade height at .25″.
After cutting the grooves on the sides, I assembled the frame with pocket hole screws and wood glue. The frame consists of the two sides with the grooves cut, the top, bottom and backing. After that, I simply slid in the shelves! Note: The thicker shelf was screwed in and the thinner 1/4″ shelves slid into the grooves.
I screwed up a little bit on the center dividers and realized that the 1/4″ plywood wasn’t thick enough to have dados cut on both sides because it literally would have just cut it in half. So instead, I only cut the dados on the bottoms which threw off the measurements. had only measured to cut two grooves instead of one. It worked out fine with just the one groove on the bottom and I shaved down the dividers so they would fit. So if you are making this, double check the measurements on the dividers if you’re going to do it this way. You could also glue them in to make them more permanent and stable, but mine were a tight fit so I didn’t bother.
That is pretty much it! This was a fairly simple project and like everything, you can customize it to meet your needs. I wanted to make sure I had space for all the different types of sandpaper that I use on a regular basis as well as my orbital sander and some accessories.
Here is the sanding station along with all of the other tool storage projects I made for the french cleat wall. I did attach an accessory cleat so I could hang it and I go over the french cleat system in a previous post.
DIY Sanding Station FAQs
What does the sanding station organize?
It separates every grit of sandpaper so each one is visible and easy to grab, plus it holds my orbital sander and a few accessories. No more digging for the one grit you ran out of.
What plywood do you need?
I used 1/2 inch plywood for the frame and 1/4 inch for the thin shelves, mostly because that is what I had on hand. You can use 3/4 inch plywood if you want it more substantial.
How are the shelves attached?
Cut shallow grooves in the sides with a table saw so the thin shelves slide right in. The one thicker shelf is screwed in place. If you make the dividers from 1/4 inch ply, only dado one side so you do not cut clear through.
How does it mount to the wall?
An accessory cleat on the back hangs it on a French cleat tool wall, so it sits alongside the rest of my shop storage and can be moved around.
Are build plans available?
Yes. The build plans are available here. I share my plans for free, and donations are always appreciated.
Until next time, happy DIY-ing!
And as always, I make my plans free for everyone to use, but I always appreciate donations! Your contributions help me maintain this page and keep the projects coming! Thank you for your support!
About the author: I’m Selene Teitelbaum, the DIYer behind Selene Builds Things. I build furniture and shop projects and share beginner friendly tutorials and build plans so anyone can make something they are proud of. More about me.
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