I have two of theses whatever's ... 

I know (or I think I know) that they are for sanding.

Doing a google search and looking at 100's of images 

I still have no clue. I was thinking maybe an attachment

for a buffing grinder.

 

 

search "sanding mop" and you'll see very similar constructs.  Most of those have much smaller spindles, but if you also look for "mandrel" you will find larger shafts.  Yours looks unique in that the flaps can be replaced by the user (vs buying an assembled mop).  The threaded end perhaps connects to a mandrel with spindle that fits drill press chuck.

I thought about using it. But it looks so dangerous.

With the bars and screws I could just see the end of

a board catching on it. 

3 minutes ago, Kevin Beitz said:

I thought about using it. But it looks so dangerous.

With the bars and screws I could just see the end of

a board catching on it. 

In motion, the flaps stand straight out from the shaft.  Not sure the scale of your pic, but it looks like the flaps are 3--4"?  The extended flap edges are the working surface, so the workpiece isn't that close to the metal.  

+1 to what Pete said.

The screws don't look original.  If the paper was wider and the screws were flush there would be a minimal chance of hitting the metal with some care during use.

I found DIY instructions on making one, and it turned out ok.  It works fine with irregular/curved surfaces.  I did find that with pine (not sure about other soft wood) the sanding tended to raise ridges on the wood surface because the dark grain lines are a bit harder than the lighter-color middle wood.  

 

On a completely unrelated thought:  how do I shrink the size of pictures like this one?  

3 hours ago, PeteM said:

 

On a completely unrelated thought:  how do I shrink the size of pictures like this one? 

I use IrfanView (on a windows machine).   There are similar programs for Macs from what i understand.  

this picture shows as 4608x2176

and then click image - resize/resample to create 500x236

Edited December 26, 20196 yr by p_toad

I use paint shop pro..

29 minutes ago, p_toad said:

how do I shrink the size of pictures like this one? 

 

I am in the habit of changing all my pictures to 640X480 pixels and do it on the PC. 

 

Go to picture folder

Left click picture and it is highlighted

Go to top and left click EDIT

Left click RESIZE

Left click PIXELS

Change horizontal value to 640

Hit OKAY

X off and it asks do you want to save changes?  Save

 

640x480 seems to be the size most forums prefer the pictures to be in my experience.  Works well when emailing them too.

 

 

Another way is to post your picture and before you hit submit double left click the picture and change the SIZE width box to 640 and click update.  If you forget and hit submit you can edit your post and still change it.

 

I use these methods since I don't do enough pictures to warrant using a special program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 20196 yr by HandyDan

Irfanview is a free program.  If you have space, it is a very easy program to operate.  

 

Another point in 640 X 480 is that it is small enough to pass through the routers.  There was an effort about 20 years ago to reduce viruses if the email or uploads were smaller than 1.5 mg.  So that format will have little if any trouble getting through the gateways of the servers from your email to this server.  

I do like Dan and use the software here . Makes it much easier. If not that I have several programs that will do it but mostly use Picasa.

 

I have had good luck with a sanding buff inside bowls and for spoons. I have not tried making one as yet.

if you are running win 10, i found the recently released powertoys (with the picture resize utility) here:

 

https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/

After Bill Gates stepped down from CEO of Microsoft about 20 years ago, I have seen Microsoft go down.  I just purchased this new Dell and Microsoft wants to limit all my apps to Microsoft approved and tried to limit what I could have.  I finally found the setting and turned that trash off.  Microsoft reminds me of what Apple was in 1985.  You could only run Apple software or approved software which cost a fortune.  I use OpenOffice, Google Earth, Irfanview and a few other off records programs that work better than anything Microsoft offers or approves.  

 

Ok, end of rant.  Soapbox stored for future use.  

On 12/26/2019 at 11:43 AM, PeteM said:

On a completely unrelated thought:  how do I shrink the size of pictures like this one?  

You can also do it right in the posting before submitting...

I usually copy/paste a picture in the reply box.

  

Then, Ctrl/Right click, and an option box should open.  Choose Edit Image and you can change the size. 

If you enter a number for the width, it will automatically change the height if you maintain the aspect ratio.

You can check the result and make further changes if you want.

On 4/13/2020 at 4:14 AM, RedMGB said:

You can also do it right in the posting before submitting...

I usually copy/paste a picture in the reply box.

That's right Red! We have a wonderful image tool relative to most forums, once your image is in your post, you can double click it for sizing and linking options.