Sanders

[CanadianScroller]

There are some great buys after Christmas, if any of us actually have money left!
There are many types of sanders on the market. What type of sander would you buy, and why?
Right now I have a 1/4 sheet palm sander, several drums for a drill press, and several smaller drums for a rotary tool.
I also have a thickness sander, which just needs sandpaper.

I would like to see comments on oscillating spindle sanders, belt sanders, disk sanders and oscillating belt sanders and if someone has a thickness sander, comments on that too.

[BobD (Archive)]

I do most of my sanding with a random orbit sander...but have taken the time to shape some poorly cut pieces on a belt sander (along with my knuckles <Grin>)

My friend Alfie just got a osscilating sander, but I haven't heard if he likes it yet.

As far as defuzzing scrolled work, the best thing I've found are the 3M bristle discs. You chuck them up on a mandral and use them in a dremel and they knock of the fuzzies very quick!

Bob

[Neal Moore]

Does anyone here have "hands on" experience with the SAND FLEE? I've seen it advertised and it looks like it might do a good job. I have my poplar surface planed at a local building supplier but always have snipe and chatter marks to sand out. They plane a 12 inch x 16 foot board for me for a dollar. Thought the SAND FLEE might be good for dressing up the surface. I've also been looking at the DeWalt 13 inch planer but hate to have the noise/shavings/sawdust throughout my basement.

[jttheclockman]

Neal

I suppose you know me by now when it comes to talking about tools. I am a firm believer in getting the best you can afford even if it means giving something up. If you get your boards planed already you should look into a drum sander. Now I have the Performax 16/32. They now make a smaller version that is a 12/24" model and is a bit cheaper. You would do yourself a great favor if you had one of these. With a sand flee there is no top it is just a roller with sandpaper. You supply the downward pressure. Now if you are doing a long board there is no way you can hold constant presure on that board. You must keep the board moving and if you do not you get dips or snipe in the middle of the board. Not what I want. For small pieces it might work well but there again buy once and not many times over. Here is a new model 10/20" for $500 A good planer will cost you that. Now the ideal thing is have both but if I were to choose the drum sander would be my choice and keep getting your boards planed outsource. I would not know where I would be without it. Just throwing the idea out. Here is what you are looking at. There are plans out there that will help in making your own. I think it is in the Wood magazine site.

[jttheclockman]

Carl

I have all sanders you mentioned and more such as detail sanders and dremel sanders. Some times it comes down to sanding blocks or sanding foam blocks. Some times it comes down to wraping a piece of sandpaper around a dowel to get the job done. What kind of comments do you want. If someone is looking for a particular type of work to do then they must ask themselves how do I make it easy to sand this piece. If you are doing flat work then a good random orbital sander. If you do contours then a drum sander wheather it is drill press mounted, handheld mounted or the best oscilating drum sander. So it depends mainly on the type of work you are doing. Ideally you want over the years to build your arsenal and have one of each so you can meet the next challenge headon. A good belt/disc sander is very useful in scrolling. As is a good drum sander that I mentioned in the above post.

[boogatoo]

6&quot; Disk- 4&quot;x36&quot; belt sander

6" Disk- 4"x36" bels sander from RYOBI

Usualy Ryobi tools are average quality but this one is an exception. I purchased it for 129$ CAN. at HomeDepot, probably around 79$U.S. in the states. The base is a solid cast iron (not only metal sheet with some weigth added like some others).

This is a great tool and small enough to store it on a cabinet shelf.
• Input: 1/2 HP, 120V, Single Phase, 60 HZ
• Belt Speed: 1900 SF/M
• Disc Speed: 3450 RPM
• Table Size: 8-1/2” x 5-3/4”
• Table Tilt: 0-45&#176;
• Belt Tilt: 0-90&#176;
• Tool Weight: 53 lbs

http://www.ryobitools.com/index.php/catalog/tool/bd4600/

[lucky788scroller]

Well, as for the sand flee, Ive seen it demoed quite a few times, but I havent first handedly use it.Im hoping to win one with a scrollsaw pattern i designed for the contest, but thats just dreaming! Anyways, At a scrollsawing event in WI after I scrolled out somthing in the saw corral, I took it over to Bob Raffo (the guy selling and demoing the sand flea), and had him run it across the sander a few times, and it worked great for that.Even the finest fretwork I've seen sanded on the flea. It is pretty much a finishing sander type tool, and works good for what its intended for in that aspect. For dimensioning lumber it wouldnt be of much use. Like John said , long boards would be pretty much impossible to clean up on it. And, since your wood is face down, running over the sandpaper, you can not use it like a planer or a performax (pfmx) to get a uniform thickness on your wood.Again, I agree with john on the pfmx. Its a valuable tool in any shop, wether just for scrolling wood, or furniture building.There is nothing better then taking a nice curly maple board that if you planed it would just tear out the grain, and running it through the performax to see a beautiful smooth surface, without tearing up the grain.For thicknessing wood, it will work pretty good, but you got to remember, it is a sander, not a planer, which is designed to cut away wood at a much faster pace. But, I've run multiple passes through my pfmx to get a few boards from 3/4 inch down to 1/2 inch, mainly because I was to lazy to dig out my Ridgid planer (Im not real organized).The pfmx is a sweet machine, worth every cent.
I have a Ryobi oscillating spindle sander (oss) as well I use on occasion. It was a fairly cheap tool, and although its not the most quiet tool (one of the louder) I own, it does what I ask of it. Its the older model, with a rectangular table (melamine table I think), and there are clones of it by a number of manufacturers out there. It comes in handy for sanding curves that I oops on the scrollsaw, or that I rough out on the bandsaw. When the 4H group starts coming and working here, that sander seems priceless. Ive had it about 4 years now, and we havent broke it yet.For less then $100, the oss is worthwhile.
As far as other sanders, I have a soft drum sander that I run on my woodlathe,it comes in handy for shaping intarsia type things.I have a couple 1/4 sheet sanders, that i rarely ever use, and a nice Bosch random orbit sander that I use often.I have the misc little drums to chuck in a drillpress as well, and I havent used them in so long I dont know where they even are.
On my wish list and someday will be mine list is a 12 inch disc/ 6X48 belt sander. I narrowed it down to the Shop-Fox model, but have yet to take the plunge! I hope my ramblings helped. Dale

[CanadianScroller]

thickness sander

I have a thickness sander which I have not used yet.
I picked it up from a garage sale for $1
It is circa 1940, the sandpaper that was on the drum was very coarse, I removed it and found the company had gone out of busines in 1945.
Its operation is similar to that of the sandflee.

A drum that is covered by a layer of felt protrudes through a flat table.
The table and stand are solid oak. The belt for the drum is 8: by 25 inches and it is difficult to get the paper for it. (unless I buy 150 foot rools from floor refinishing suppliers)
I have picked up some 3" rolls of paper and have just figured out that I need to have a taper on the paper the same length as the circumfrence of the drum.

I will try to mount the paper in the next few weeks and give you the results of the project.

[PiALaModem]

Carl, that sander, like the Sand Flee, can't really be said to be a thickness sander. It will smooth a face nicely, but As JT points out, it has no mechanism to provide pressure.

If you're just out to mask surface imperfections like the "chatter marks", the sand flea or this sander will do the job. (Though it becomes more difficult as the board gets longer) So would a small random orbit sander!

You'd need a thickness sander only if you're trying to make a board with a true and even thickness. In most cases, it's more that a scrollyer needs, unless she's resawing her own thin boards. I use it extensively for just that purpose in my musical instrument making, creating the thin pieces I need for soundboards and backs and sides.

[jttheclockman]

Carl

That looks exactly like a floor sander wheel. Why can't you buy individual sheets from a floor sanding rental place?? That is how they are sold when sanding a floor. Precut sheets.

[CanadianScroller]

There are a couple in town, I checked one and the sheets were too small, I will go check out the other, Thanks JT