Flap sander source

[Rolf]

I am about to start on the Intarsia voyage. I already have a nice set of pneumatic drum sanders. I am wondering what kind of flap sanders do you use and where do you buy them?

[Trout]

I've got one for a Dremel...

I think I used it for about 30 seconds...
I've seen a really course one at Lowe's but it was more for metal...
Woodcrafters has them...

maybe I need to get one too...how about those wonder wheels, my next project suggest one...

bring on the replies...

Trout

[lucky788scroller]

I hope this is legal... http://www.saw-online.com/Resources/abrase.htm Good luck. Dale

[Marsha]

I think what you Americans call a Flap sander, we Canadians call a sanding mop, it sure looks the same only a different color. I bought mine at one of the wood shows, from Stockroom supply. They also have a website, http://www.stockroomsupplies.com. The sanding mop comes in several grits, and different mops for soft or hard woods.

My experience with the sanding mop has not been a good one. Everytime I use it, I either send things flying around my shop or I break a piece off my project. It's also very hard on the fingers, when you get them to close. I find it is very difficult to hold a small piece against the mop while it is spinning in the drill press. It's probably my least favorite thing to use and if I can, I avoid it.

I was using the mop on the weekend to clean up some ornaments I had cut and I broke 3 of them before I quit with the mop and sanded the ornaments by hand. I think using a sanding mop or flap sander on small intarsia pieces could be dangerous, not to mention how many pieces you'll be looking for amongst the sawdust.

FWIW, this is just my opinion and I'm sure there's lots of scrollers out there who love them.
Marsha

[Trout]

this is what I know as.....

a flapsander....this one is for a Dremel...


Trout

[Marsha]

Here's a pic of the sanding mop. I quess it is quite a bit different, from the flap sander, this one goes in a drill press.
Sanding Mop 002.jpg
It looks pretty innocent, but it's not.

Marsha

[Rolf]

I am leaning more towards the mop. What do you Intarsia wizards use?
for the almost final smoothing. I amalso thinking of using it to gently round the edges of puzzle pieces.

[Back2Jake]

Unlike Marsha, I love the mop sander for touch up sanding. Yes on occassion I set a piece airborne but they seldom break. I have a painters drape along side my drillpress with the mop sander to stop the flyers from going too far. Learned that one the hard way, have another saw right along side this equipment and it made it really hard for the partner to saw while I was sanding because she'd occassionally get hit with objects. Giggle. Well, it was funny when it happened but they do hurt.

When using the mop sander, it takes a gentle approach and a good grip. These things are very dependant on the amount of coffee I've had that day so I can understand Marsha's post.

The flap wheel which I have for both the rotary tools and the drill presses, are much more aggressive in my opinion. I also have had instances where they have left ridges of distaste on the pieces being sanded so I tend to stay away from those on the drillpress. They do tend to catch more objects than the mop wheel and are harder on my hands. I am not one for manicures of any sort let alone the flap wheel type.

Take care
Toni

[Marcel in Longueuil]

My understanding of the mop sander is that you have to break it in in order to soften the mop.
If you look at the Stockroom supply's video, they suggest using a piece of wood and just go into it in order to soften the "flaps".

http://www.onlinewoodshow.com/demos/stockroomsupply/videos/howtobuildsandingmop.php

http://www.onlinewoodshow.com/demos/stockroomsupply/videos/sandingmop.php

Marsha did you use the spacers?
It does seem agressive, but it does seem to do the job too.

They also have them for the dremmel type tool, they are called the mini mops

And here is the correct link to the site

http://www.stockroomsupply.com/

Regards,
Marcel

[Rolf]

Thanks for all of the input.
I have several of the left handed arbors from my metal polishing stuff.
So I decided to buy a bunch of the sandpaper from Klingspore and make my own mop.
I will make myself a cutting jig for the sandpaper.
I figure from the pictures that the strips are 4" long by 1.5 inches wide. If someone has some of the strips and could measure them for me I would appreciate it.

I cheap out on the weirdest things. I think nothing of spending $1100 on a saw and get squirmy when I have to buy a new pair of socks for a few dollars.

[workin for wood]

don't forget the stockade reciprocating sander for all your fretwork needs...it's like a pen that sands up and down in tiny places. I love to use dynabrade, that's the premier in sanding equipment. The have a flap sander that is similar to a mop, but much better. You do have to break it in and get it all gnarled up for it to really begin to work good. They have a pnematic angle tool that really maximizes the flap wheel. There is a big difference in quality too...a mop wears so that the abrasive is gone but the leather is still in tack, therefore you beat and polish your wood in to submission...the dynabrade will not do that, when the abrasive wears down to the point of no return, the backer will break off, exposing a new fresh area of abrasive. The abrasive also lasts longer because of it's 3M abrasive design, where every granual is actually a triangle, and when the top of a triangle breaks off, two new triangles are born. Unfortunately, you do have to have a business liscence to do business with dynabrade. I have a good friend that is a cabinet maker, so I buy my wheels from him.
I don't know why, but there is so much incredible equipement out there that is not available to just the average people like ourselves.

[Rolf]

Thanks Jeff,

I have access to all of the commercial sites.

[earlinjax]

I got my sander from Kingspor. I really like their sandpaper and the mop works great -- unless you press too far into the mop. There is a head of horse puzzle somewhere in the shop. It hasn't turned up yet. I think NASA should be looking at these things for getting small objects into space.

Earlinjax