Patent ID: 8894469

Claim:
A sanding machine, comprising: a housing; a bottom plate mounted under the housing, the bottom plate having an upper surface and a lower surface for supporting a burnishing element, the lower surface having a stationary recess formed in the lower surface proximate an end of the bottom plate, and including a projection extending along a length of the recess thereby dividing the recess into a clamping area proximate the end of the bottom plate and a tensioning area distant from the end of the bottom plate; and a clamping mechanism positioned at the end of the bottom plate for clamping and tensioning the burnishing element, wherein the clamping mechanism comprises: a generally U-shaped tensioning element pivotally mounted to the upper surface of the bottom plate and extending around the end of the bottom plate and towards the lower surface of the bottom plate such that pivotal movement of the tensioning element causes the tensioning element to contact the tensioning area of the lower surface; and a generally U-shaped flexible spring clamping element separately formed from the tensioning element and coupled to the tensioning element for pivotal movement therewith, the clamping element extending from the upper surface of the bottom plate around the end of the bottom plate and towards the lower surface of the bottom plate such that pivotal movement of the clamping element causes an end of the clamping element to contact the clamping area of the lower surface, wherein the tensioning element has a longer operational length along the lower surface of the bottom plate than the clamping element, such that when both the tensioning element and the clamping element are pivoted, the clamping element contacts the burnishing element against the clamping area prior to the tensioning element contacting the burnishing element to move into contact with the tensioning area to cause the burnishing element to extend over the projection thereby causing tension of the burnishing element to increase.