Abstract: An apparatus for collecting dust for a sander. The sander has a generally planar sanding platen affixed to the main body of the sander by several flexible support columns. The sanding platen is driven by an eccentric mounted on a shaft from the main body of the sander. That same shaft drives a fan in a chamber in the main body that is in flow communication with passages through the main body, through the flexible support columns, through a portion of the sanding platen to holes in the platen that are coincident with holes in the sandpaper. Dust from the workpiece being sanded passes through the holes into the platen, through the support columns to the fan chamber without exposing bearings, supporting the shaft and the eccentric, to the dust.