Belt Sander Racer Confession #1: I Upgraded the Platen

6/9/09 In the post titled "I wonder what's under this thingy" I went into a bunch of detail about the stainless steel platen on the bottom of the sander. This was what magicians call misdirection. It's why magicians use pretty assistants.

That information in that post was true, but during the actual race I didn't use the stock platen. Nope, I was aware that an upgrade existed that would make the belt slip like Vaseline on a door knob, and that is the Porter-Cable 48119 Graphite Impregnated Sanding Shoe. Though this part wasn't made for my sander, it took almost no modification. I did have to trip 1/8" off with a pair of scissors, but that was it. I beeves that this single upgrade gave me an advantage over most sander in the field.