Sander for scoll work

[SSG Johnson]

Could someone stear me in a good direction as for getting a sander to use on some Intarsia work. Also a good all around sander for all kinds of work. I see that Judy and Jerry are using a grinder in the book is that a special attachment and where could I get one? Thanks in advance.

[arbarnhart]

I use the flex drum sander from JGR:

http://www.intarsia.com/Hardware.html

I got the adapter shaft and use it in my drill press. Great for contours. I used it on the horse head in my gallery.

Down at the bottom are the inflatable models.

Also, get an abrasive cleaning stick (they are on that page). Your sanding sleeves will last *much* longer.

[SSG Johnson]

Thankyou that is just what the doctor ordered. Nice work on the horse head how long have you been doing the intarsia and did you find it hard to learn. I think that is the direction that I want to take for now with the scroll saw for now Judy and Jerrys work really impressed and motivated me into wanting to learn to do the intarsia work. Thanks again for the info.

[arbarnhart]

The horse head is actually segmentation - all cut from one piece of wood and then contoured, stained and put back together. Some people call that intarsia and I am not trying to pick a fight over the semantics just calrifying what that piece is. It is a lot easier to do that because all the pieces fit. I have done a "different types of wood made to fit together" piece and it was harder. Anyway, I have been scrolling somewhere between one and two years but did a lot of bandsaw stuff prior to that so I had experience with following a line by feeding the wood into a blade. I did not find it too hard to learn, but I can't tell you how long it will take me to get really good at it (I am not that good; look around the galleries and you will see some really amazing stuff). But thanks!

[wwalker47]

Good general sander

I don't do Intarsia but I have the Delta belt sander that servers me well on all around scroll work. Here is the link. http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=136&p=834

-Bill

[lucky788scroller]

Have you a drillpress or a woodlathe? An inflatable drum sander would be a useful addition, or theres a soft sanding drum at www.seyco.com , called their 'flex drum" sander. you can buy just the kit, and run it on your lathe or drillpress. Another great shaping tool is the flap wheel sanding discs. I cant think of who that is , possibly Bob Raffo at rjr studios, sorry I dont have a link to it, but somebody else might. A nice belt sander too would be helpful for shaping. I did one intarsia project so far.I like doing it, and love the end results, but I hate sanding, so thats where I stand on intarsia!

[SSG Johnson]

No I dont have a drill press as of yet but I will before the end of the month. Thanks for the responce and the links.

[arbarnhart]

Looking at the seyco link, that is exactly the same flex sander as Judy offers (same models #, price, adapter and sleeves) but further down the page it reminded me of something to consider - dust! The flex sander will make dust like nobody's business and you should have a dust collector or shop vac sucking it up. A shop vac can work pretty well because you can just clamp the hose in place right next to the sander. You will pretty quickly figure out that you can aim the thickest stream of dust by where you touch the workpiece to the sander. Pay attention to recommended RPM also and don't keep the work piece in exactly the same spot too long (moving even an inch or so back and forth is fine) or the foam in the flex drum will overheat and you will get a too soft spot.

[SSG Johnson]

Thanks I got the Drill press last night and a sanding drum small one for it. Man the dust was unreal. I got the Delta shop master the small one bench model. It was 100.00. Seems to work pretty well but I can see where a larger sanding drum would work much better.