Belt sander ate my Captain America shield at 2 AM

I was finishing up a foam shield for a Captain America cosplay in my garage last Saturday. It was 2 in the morning and I was trying to smooth the edges with a belt sander before the con the next day. The thing grabbed the foam and tore a big chunk right out of the top left corner. I had to start over with a new piece of foam and used a dremel with a sanding drum instead, which worked way slower but didn't rip anything. Got it done by 6 AM but didn't sleep at all before the event. Anyone else had a power tool disaster ruin a build close to a deadline?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordanr8912d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah belt sanders and foam are a nightmare combo. One little catch and it just rips a chunk out like nothing. It's brutal losing hours of work that close to a deadline. Been there way too many times myself. That's why I always keep a spare sheet of foam around now, learned that lesson the hard way.

nelson.gavin12d ago

lol I feel that so hard. I did the same thing once with a random scrap piece of foam that was supposed to be the main part of a prop. Belt sander caught it and just turned it into confetti in like half a second. I just stared at the wall for a solid five minutes wondering what I did to deserve that. Now I'm super paranoid and keep a whole stack of foam scraps in my shop like a hoarder.