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power sanding tool option ?

Joined
Feb 27, 2006
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Hatteras Island NC
greetings,
i was in the great pumpkin (aka home despot) the other day & noticed the new bosch PS20-2 Lithium Pocket Driver. I thought it might make a nice 2" & 3" power disk sander.

I have used my 18volt dewalt drill for this purpose & have generally been pleased. I thought the Bosch would be great as it is much smaller and easier to handle.

I wondered whether a max speed of 400rpm would be adequate for sanding on the lathe. normally my work is spinning 800-1500 rpm when i sand.

no doubt it would also come in handy for my non-parabolic woodworking and carpentry tasks.

anybody out there use one of these for the purpose??
feedback, comments ???

thanks,
 
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
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Topsfield, MA. USA.
Sanding speed

Over time I have found that taking the sanding speed down to much slower speed is giving better results. For me the high speed sanding was causing a couple of problems. First and foremost there was too much heat - faster was melting the backing pads and cooking the wood. Also, the faster speed was creating rings of scratch marks. I have come to believe that the main reason to sand with the lathe running and the abrasive spinning is to avoid the concentric scratches.

To me it felt like faster the work piece is going around the more pronounced the scratch marks were. If the workpiece is spinning slowly I am comfortable running the sanding tool at higher speeds, or vice-versa. No longer both. When power sanding I currently run anywhere from 100-500 RPM on the lathe, and use a milwaukee close quarter drill running no where near its max speed (~1200 rpm). When hand sanding I will go only as fast as I can without one thickness of sandpaper getting hot.
 
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Joined
Aug 8, 2005
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Ballard (Seattle) WA and Volcano, Hawaii....on top
mrGeeze said:
greetings,
i was in the great pumpkin (aka home despot) the other day & noticed the new bosch PS20-2 Lithium Pocket Driver. I thought it might make a nice 2" & 3" power disk sander.

I have used my 18volt dewalt drill for this purpose & have generally been pleased. I thought the Bosch would be great as it is much smaller and easier to handle.

I wondered whether a max speed of 400rpm would be adequate for sanding on the lathe. normally my work is spinning 800-1500 rpm when i sand.

no doubt it would also come in handy for my non-parabolic woodworking and carpentry tasks.

anybody out there use one of these for the purpose??
feedback, comments ???

thanks,
Mr. Geeze,

Folks have always told me firmly that power sanding is done at fairly low rpms on the lathe and the sander, mostly to avoid overheating the wood. I typically sand with the lathe running at 150 200 rpm and the sander....well, it doesn't have any indication of RPM, but I am running it fairly slowly. I use a refurbished Milwaukee close quarters drill for my sander (the Sioux sander under a different name).

I have used my Dewalt battery powered sander to sand as well but find the Milwaukee unit to be lighter and easier to hold for long periods. The dewalt worked fine otherwise.

Dave
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
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Smith County, Texas
Russ Fairfield (Grusserry@aol.com) has an excellent 3-DVD video set out on finishing in which he states many times "slower is better" when it comes to sanding, and then explains why. Since slowing down I've had much better success - less scratches, fewer cracks (heat), finer finish as the sanding disk doesn't bounce as much. Contact Russ. He's a wealth of information and doesn't mind sharing. Ed
 
Joined
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Wimberley, Texas
Geeze, What they said. Also for difficult areas (end grain, unskillful turning, etc.) I lock the spindle with indexing doodad and sand at low speed (maybe 3-400 rpm or even slower) with cheapo close quarters drill, move a couple notches and repeat until the area is cleaned up. Then turn the lathe at 100-150 rpm and re-sand the same area to "blend" it. So 400 rpm is not too slow if the tool can do the work at that speed.
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
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I sand at 1725 with a 2 or 3" disk, and the work's rotating at 680. Been up and down and around, and it's a case of not pressing that produces the best finish. Speed's not really that important. Of course I use my sander as if it were a rotary scraper, supported off the work, so maybe the conventional wisdom that faster speeds make better cuts applies?

Good speed might even be better, in some cases, because slowing the work to zero allows a slow or unsteady hand to dig in.
 
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
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MichaelMouse said:
I sand at 1725 with a 2 or 3" disk, and the work's rotating at 680. Been up and down and around, and it's a case of not pressing that produces the best finish.
Thanks MM. I was beginning to think that the finish I'm producing using this combination of tool speeds must be an illusion since everyone concurs that slower is better. :rolleyes:

I find quicker speeds with a very light touch work best for me. YMMV
 
Joined
May 29, 2004
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billerica, ma
You can pick up a knock off of the Souix angled driver on Overstock.com for about $40. Works just fine for sanding.

I have to agree with slow is better. Just enough speed to prevent creating low spots in soft spots. The problem is that, especially with the finer grits, you can build up heat super quick and temper/burnish the wood (make it super hard with tiny cracks). To fix this, you have to sand all the way through what you've done. I've also increasingly stopped the lathe and sanded out bad spots then resanded the whole piece to blend.

Dietrich
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
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Sierra Foothills
A recent article I read in one of the woodworking magazines focused on proper sanding methods for turners. I don't remember the name of the young lady who authored the article but the focus of her argument was that slower is better. Of course, as an expert turner, her finished turnings don't require the amount of sanding that some of mine do. But I never sand at a set speed. I find there are situations where I need to sand at lower speeds (the lowest speed available on my lathe is 500 rpm) and I sometimes kick it up to 1350. I tend to sand spindle work at a higher speed than I do with bowl work and I have found it better to sand intricate elements (beads, fillets, coves, etc.) at lower speeds. IMHO it isn't so much the speed of the tool but the skill of the operator in knowing where, when, how long and at what angle to apply the abrasive material. If you use a coarse grit abrasive on a soft spot and allow it to remain for too long a period you can't avoid digging a hole. Personally, I like the 400 rpm tool you describe; I'd like it better if it were variable speed. It should be easier to control than one that's running at high rpm and promises to jump out of your hands throughout the sanding process. Remember; a light touch is more effective than forcing the sanding tool. And, in the long run, it'll take less time to finish the job because you're not having to go back and fix all those ugly marks in your work piece.
 
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odie

TOTW Team
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More 'n' one way to skin a cat!

My Sioux angle head sander is at least 20yrs old now.

I purchased it strictly for sanding bowls, and back then I wasn't aware of the current thinking regarding "slower is better"......so, it's the faster 0-2500rpm variety.

I'll have to admit that I've had a few bowls with burn marks created by heat from sanding.....and it sure has bugged the hell out of me when I've finished sanding and the burn marks become visible only after I apply a final finish on the wood! (Cherry seems to be among the worst for these phantom burn marks!) There have been a few bowls in my distant past that have been completely re-sanded after applying the finish.....grrrrr!

I'll tell you one thing, though......I'm glad I've had the experience of learning the hard way about sanding speeds.....rather than just listening to the voice of experience and getting something slower in the first place. As a result of this, I've had to learn by seeing, and experiencing what DOESN'T work!

One thing I've learned is there is a definite time to use all of that 2500rpm I have available to me.....and there is a time to use much less rpm....and everything inbetween. If your bowl has blemishes, or torn end grain, and you decide to go to 60-80 grit for starters, that's the time to use higher speeds. I've come to appreciate the higher speeds for aggressive initial sanding......sure beats the heck out of waiting for a slower speed to do what a faster speed does much quicker! Even if you do create some burn marks with the course grits, subsequent finer grits will remove them.

Generally, the finer the grit and/or the denser the wood, the slower the speed.....but, of course, there are exceptions to every rule! The Sioux angle head sander works well at any speed because there seems to be no power loss throughout the entire usable speed range (or, at least not enough to make any difference). It doesn't take long to get the hang of putting your 3rd finger underneath the Sioux lever for adjusting to any speed you desire.

MichaelMouse makes a very important point about the use of pressure. It's an important part of the equation, and one that becomes increasingly critical with finer grits. I've also had some trouble with sanding laminated bowls that had alternating end and long grains. Here excessive pressure will cause noticeable indentations in the long grain. It does require a delicate touch for pleasing results.

Remember that the larger the bowl, the faster it's outside edge is moving.....that plays a role in your choice of speeds, too! I seldom consider sanding at lathe rpms higher than 1200, and that would be a rare case......a small diameter bowl made from wood that sands very easily. Most of my sanding is either 370 or 650rpm. I would probably go slower than that if I could.....but, I have step pulleys, not a variable speed

....odie
 

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Joined
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