I have been using my first homemade sanding beam quite a bit. This tool works great as a fret leveling beam for building guitars, as well as many other uses around the shop where you need a flat surface to sand something. The first design had a few limitations and I though I should make a new one to fix some of the issues with it.
I started out with some scraps of canarywood that I glued into a block that would become the handles. After planing it down and cutting the aluminum beam to size, I cut some shoulders that would fit into the tube. I routed a notch to accomodate a clamp, rounded the corners, and epoxied it into the tube. After a quick final sanding, I gave the handles a coat of Danish Oil.. This is still my favorite shop project finish.
With the beam complete, I attached some strips of sandpaper using masking tape and super glue. This is a great tip to have in your arsenal. A big thanks to Crimson Guitars, for providing this info. There is a link below to their video, describing this idea in detail.
You can also check out my sanding beam video below.