What's the best way to do a lot of sanding?

[jpgreen]

I'm going to need to do a bunch of sanding in my business.  Possibly square log interiors, pine trim, cabinets, etc., etc.
What would be the most cost effective way and tool to get this done in terms of cost, speed, and dust control?

I've done some work with western pine lately, finished sanded even as rough as 120, then with a couple coats of Minwax wipe on poly (light 220 touchup in between) and then Johnsons paste wax, and it looks like a million bucks.

I've just got an old dusty and noisy belt and palm sander, and have never used any of the other type of sanders.

Any thoughts?..  :P 8)

[metalspinner]

For cabinet type stuff, I use the Performax 22-44 drum sander.  The boards eventually come out perfect.  It is a slow process.  But the results are worth it.  I'm not sure if the more expensive units are fasster or not.  Dust collection is a must.

On furniture profects, I follow up the 120 drum sanding with 180 Random orbit sanding then finish.

[thurlow]

For ROUGH ......hand......... sanding, I don't think anything's quicker than a 9 inch angle head grinder with sanding discs.  Can be had from about 16 grit thru..............  8) something finer. Dust  EVERYWHERE.   ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Bunch of Mexicans  : : ;D

[tcsmpsi]

A lot of that will depend on what finish you're starting with, jp.

So...what are you starting with?  Planed?  Milled?  Dug up out of the creekbed?

[woodbowl]

What's the best way to do a lot of sanding?

Yea....... how,  how ??   What JP said plus, .... on a double contoured surface down to a satin smooth finish.

Oh ..... also, must be done very fast!        

[Radar67]

Olen, on bowls I use an electric drill with a flexible sanding disk. You have to do the final sand to remove the circular lines by hand though.

Stew

[woodbowl]

Right now I'm taking the rough down with a 4" right angle grinder with 100 grit disk. Then I use a right angle, porter cable 6" HD varible speed random orbit sander with 220 grit pad. It's still a lot of work, especially on double contoured bowls. I really can't imagine how to make it go any faster.

The drawbacks are, it leaves your hands tingling and after just one bowl, I've had all the sanding that I want for one day. :-\

[LeeB]

woodbowl, have you tried the gel gloves? I have no knowledge of them myself, just curious. Too mush of the tingling can eventually lead to permanent nerve damage or so I've read.

[jpgreen]

I vote mexican..  ;D

I will be using square logs right off the LT40, and planed pine for shelves trim, cabinets, and stuff.

I was hopin' there was an orbital gizzmo with cheap disks that I could hook up to a shop vac, and/or mexican.

I recently found out that I'm 25 percent mexican so I can talk politically incorrect..   :D I was hoping for a minority 10 percent blood discount whilst I was at it.  ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

  NOBODY is going far around here, without a sense of humor.  : :D :D :D :D

[jpgreen]

Hmmm... If the buzz causes nerve damage, why are so many vibrators used for deep muscle massage?..  ;D

[ScottAR]

Look into the Festool rotex....  I like the looks of it, but my
wallet starts wimpering like a little puppy... 

[Larry]

I to lust after the Festool Rotex but lack funds.  Next best would one of the PC right angle sanders...7335 series.  Followed closely by the Bosch.  The PC beats it for aggressiveness while the Bosch has better dust pickup and less vibration.

PSA sanding discs are most economical but only if you use them until wore out.  Hook and loop otherwise.  I try to catch Mirka brand discs on sale at Amazon.com or Klingspor discs.  Both are high quality but the price advantage is with Mirka.

[Don P]

Ditto what Larry says on the PC, its a good sander. So's a flooring sander, rack em and walk it  ???

[Norm]

That's why it is so dangerous for me to hang around here with you guys. Here I am a recovering tool addict and you just keep showing me cool stuff like this.

You know I have to get me a new wallet. The one I have now must have a hole in it....can't seem to keep any money in it. ;D

[jpgreen]

Festool mentioned something about velcro with changing pads?
Is there a big difference between the festool and PC in regards to changing pads I wonder?

I've never used a hook and loop. Does that make the pads swap-able and reusable?

Looks like you can buy almost 3 PC's to the Festool.

[woodbowl]

I've never used a hook and loop. Does that make the pads swap-able and reusable?

That's the only way to go for me. You can change to different grits in a snap without all the mess.

You can go to Lowes, home depot or other box stores and get everything you need  to convert over. You may have to glue a new rubber pad on your sander. Shoe Goo is very good for this or you can use their glue in the kit.

[Handy Andy]

  When it comes to random orbital, I like the ones with the handle on the side.  Grabbing the top of the motor makes my hand hurt.  Mirka are good discs, I only fine sand to 120, as on some woods sanding finer keeps stain from penetrating.  When I use my belt sander, I just use 120 belts as sanding with rougher grit, you don't always get all the lines out when you switch to the fine.  Oh, and i like the hook and loop, although they cost more than the sticky ones.  My Bosch has a dust collector, guess you could make an adapter and hook it to your vacuum hose.  That would be a big plus.  Planning to make a downdraft table and just sand on that for a table, then the dust collector would pick it up and I wouldn't have to wear a dust mask.

[tcsmpsi]

Well, jp, I have long wooden blocks, rounded on the end, and rolls of 2" wide sandpaper of different grits, which attaches in with a wedge. 

Not too long ago, electricity was put into use and they started making these sanding machines of all sorts of gobblety goo.  I've got a heavy Makita belt sander that I use on rougher stuff and a Makita palm sander for more delicate matters.

Any of them you use is going to take some getting used to be able to get the results you want.

I've been using what I have for a long time, and I would just use my belt sander on the rough stuff you mention. 

Of course, I try to get out of sanding every chance I get.    ;D

[ScottAR]

Ditto... I'm one of the few that uses a belt sander more than any
other kind.  I install counters in the rentals and they always need
scribing to the wall.  I mark em and hog away the waste with 60-80 grit.

There's no comfortable way to do it either...  Too high and I can't see
the line, to low and I can't hold the sander stable.  Just the way it is I
suppose. 

[Left Coast Chris]

Hi Pat.... I have recently had to do alot of sanding on my pickup then on my computer desk project.  As we would all expect I found that no one sander works best for everything.  I have the 4x24 PC belt sander (pleanty of power) for the big jobs and can put on a 60 grit to get rough stuff down fast.  It can really hog it out but for soft woods you have to be really careful not to gouge.

For finish sanding or getting into smaller areas I just bought the PC 1/4 sheet palm sander.  Its not too fast but good for finishing and getting into smaller areas.  It has more amps than others and is 14000 rpm.  The cheapies with lower rpm will leave circles.  This one won't.

If you are getting into pitch on the softwood beams sanding becomes a real bear.  I took my beams into a water blaster..... a big sand blaster can work pretty good also.  It brings out the grain and can give that natural look.  I liked it.  Not sure how fast it is.

For real speed a portable hand held planer would be the trick.  Baileys sells a big Makita but it is a chunk of change.  There was also a thread on a guy that mounted a planer on his WM head and ran it down the beam after sawing with good results.

I was impressed by a larger random orbit sander driven by air.  Has lots of power but you need a big compressor.  I bought a 6" but my compressor will not keep up.  At full rpm it can sand quite fast and has good results.  I like its speed and results.

As you can see Im in the trial and error stage.  I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for more ideas. :P

[jpgreen]

Hya Chris,

I hear ya and every one on the different sanders for the job. I really like the portable planer idea.  I've never tried one of those.

The DA you used on your truck sure does suck up the cfm's. The more expensive units use less. I've got a few decent belt sanders, and a good sears palm... who know's who made it, but it was their old industrial line.

I think I want to try the hook and loop, and a PC unit hooked to a vac.  That sounds cool for large areas of finish work, unless we can get Michael- tcsmpsi to fly out here and help us with our sanding Chris..  ;D

Maybe I could get him to bed the stock on my 358 Winchester, and hmm... lots of other gunsmith stuff..  :D

[tcsmpsi]

Sorry Pat.  I intentionally ceased taking commercial flights in '92. 

I can carry more stuff driving, anyhow.   ;D

A millhead mounted planer does sound intriguing, doesn't it?

[woodbowl]

For finish sanding or getting into smaller areas I just bought the PC 1/4 sheet palm sander.  Its not too fast but good for finishing and getting into smaller areas.  It has more amps than others and is 14000 rpm.  The cheapies with lower rpm will leave circles.  This one won't.

Farmer, I'm not familar with the PC palm sander, who makes it?

[jpgreen]

I think they mean PC = Porter Cable,  Olen, as far as I can guess.

With my left brain anyway..  ;D

[jpgreen]

I can carry more stuff driving, anyhow.   ;D

A millhead mounted planer does sound intriguing, doesn't it?

Yeah- I like those ideas (both)...  ;D 8)

Chris probably has a shotgun or 2 that needs a tuneup also..  ;D

[Left Coast Chris]

Yes, PC was meant to mean Porter Cable.... but I have had a couple of desktop PC's that I wanted to run through a planer....: :

and... Pat yea... I probably could supply some gun stalks for tune up... just let me know when tcsmpsi shows up 8) 8)      ........... there is one Marbles knife with Cherry Burl handle that won't need a tune up..

Also another possibility for the beams are scrapers.  Lee Valley has some .... I used an old draw knife also but the arm strong method would probably get old on the 3rd or 4th beam   :

[steverina]

hi i do alot of sanding and use a hitachi belt sander  nice finish

[SwampDonkey]

I have a table sander that is vertical or horizontal and a disc sander on the side. I also have a belt sander, orbital and a palm sander. I go courser to remove surface roughness and finer to get real smooth. Also, some woods I use water to lift the fibres between a couple or three sandings. Butternut is the worst for that. I'm not on a production basis. It's done when it's done.  ;D

[Don P]

The Hummel is the one I was thinking of for making tracks fast, its a vertical belt.
http://www.laegler.com/Html_e/Home3_e.htm

There was one on E-bay recently. They are a bear to scribe with though  ;D.

[solodan]

Pat, why don't you just plane the beams on a large one sided planer and some rollers? It is a pain, but goes quicker than sanding. Portable planers work real good, but will leave ridges if the material is wider than the planer. The large Makita one is 12", but not cheap at all.   I probably spend half of my time sanding, : especially on the wide slab and live edge stuff. I have alot of different sanders, and they all have their place, and they all have their faults. If you like the results of paste wax, definately give the Briwax a try. It is 3 times the price of the other waxes, but I think the results are at least 3 times better.