Electric vs Pneumatic sanding

[Michael Nathal]

When comparing electric to pneumatic, you should make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Most electrics are rotary sanders, most pneumatics are ROS. Dennis Weiner's post sums up the available electric ROS with a 3 inch diameter or smaller sanding head. I use electric rotary drills mostly but want to mention that ROS sanders can take advantage of the new mesh sand papers that cut better and last longer. Specifically, the 3M Cubitron II sanding disks win just about every review/evaluation that I have seen on YouTube. My person experience with the Cubitron II is that they work great with ROS but are nothing special in a rotary drill.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

Based some limited experience I've had with air powered die grinders, whether that particular tool fits your needs depends on what you want to do with it. I don't believe that an air powered die grinder is suitable for just regular sanding. Rather, it is useful for bowl decoration and some light carving; possible sanding off the nub left after turning a tenon down. For me an electric right angle sander works well for bowl sanding; both outside and also inside if the bowl is an open form.

 

[Doug Freeman]

This is the var speed electric polisher that I use for ros. I made up extensions for the 3” pad, as well as adapters and extensions to use 2” pads. $79 for the polisher.

Amazon.com

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

More importantly, I resolved to improve my skills to the point where not so much sanding is needed! Still might be sanding too much but only half as much as I did 4 years ago.

That's where I'm at, too. Still trying to get that cut I can start sanding at 180.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I bought the Woodturners Wonders kit with the electric angle drill, mandrill and 3” pads to screw onto it. The drill lasted around 1.5 years. I bought a pneumatic 90 degree die grinder and like it much better. Will never go back to electric.

 

[Bill Blasic]

If you look at the sander Doug mentioned above you can click the little coupon box and get 15% off making it $67.07. Back a few years when I was still writing articles I got the angle drills from Woodturners Wonders and VincesWoodnwonders. They looked the same but were different colors, yes I took them apart and they were exactly the same the only difference was the color. They both reside in the same drawer and they still work when used.

 

[robo hippy]

I was at the local Ace Hardware store yesterday, and asked about the Milwaukee angle drills. They are no longer made. Dang! With my Sioux and Milwaukee drills, I could get 500 or more bowls sanded before I needed to have the bearings replaced. I did buy one cheap one from Harbor Freight and the trigger died in about a month. Sanding at slow speeds and low pressure greatly extend the life of your drills.

robo hippy

 

[Steve Worcester]

I’ll have to look into that. Not familiar with the Stilton mandrel

Skilton mandrels are made by Tim Skilton i Australia. He makes a 30mm, 50mm and a 75mm. Many of the turning supply companies carry them, some call them Skiltons, others put their own brand on them.
they are two layers of different density foams thermo-welded and a tee nut inside, then a washer on the top and the shaft screws down into the T nut. The ones we (turningwood.com) wells uses a 1/4" hex shaft, I think we are the only ones that import them that way.
You can check them out HERE

 

[Steve Worcester]

I have to say I have tried alot of these.
Pneumatics require alot of air, CFMs. You don't need a big compressor, but do need a big tank, which is usually only available with a big compressor.
Die grinders are way to fast in my opinion.
Corded Sioux right angle drills were the standard years ago but then they changed some internal components and they melted inside. In a drilling application, that design may have worked, but with sanding, the duty cycle is much greater. All of the cheap (sub $50) right angle drills work, but are usually noisy and pretty much disposable.
I have tried air powered random orbits, they have no torque and are easy to stall.
I used a normal Dewalt drill for a long time, it was heavyer, but it worked.
For the last 3 or so years, I have been using the Milwaukee M12 sander polisher , 2438 model series. It is light, respectable battery life, batterys are readily available. It uses a weird 9.5mm thread to attach the mandrels, but comes with a 3" hook and loop backing pad, so you just use a interface pad on that and then hook and loop sandpaper. It comes with a 2" twist lock mandrel, but I found it was easy to remove the shaft of that and rethread to 1/4x20 you use more readily available mandrels.
It is variable speed, and has two speed settings, I set it to 1 and it is plenty fast.
You can buy adapters on Amazon that are M9.5 to 1/4x20 also

 

[Donna Banfield]

I use electric corded drills for sanding up to 180 grit. Then I move to ROS Grex models. The lathe is not running under power at this point. I have a California Air cabinet compressor with in-line air dryers. While the cabinet is noise cancelling, and adequately serves most of my pneumatic needs, it isn't sufficient to run my ROS. For that I have an empty 60-gallon tank (no motor) connected to the system that I use when sanding. I turn the compressor on, and after the compressor stops running, open the valve on the 60-gallon tank. That gives me additional air to keep the ROS running. When done, I close the valve on the empty tank, so the tank is still full for the next sanding session. Note, I only use the ROS for 180 (I begin ROS sanding with a fresh 180 grit disc) and above, which is about 25 minutes of sanding. The continuous run cycle for the California Air cabinet sander is around 30 minutes. So, I set a timer on my phone (in-ear Air Pods for noise cancelling) and hear the timer when I need to quit. It is rare that I don't finish sanding with the Gres ROS within that time limit.

 

[Bill Boehme]

When I was in plant operations, the most expensive utility was compressed air.

No doubt, but then you have to ask why air powered tools are so commonly the choice.

@Doug Rasmussen, the answer is safety. I worked for an aircraft manufacturer and walking down the assembly line, I saw workers all over and inside the aluminum structures bucking rivets and drilling holes. The airframes had plenty of sharp edges and tight corners to make using corded electric tools hazardous. I imagine that even in other industrial settings that don't involve crawling all over things with sharp edges, electrical cords on the floor would lead a rough life. Air tools are noisy as hell and that's why workers wear hearing protection.

I have a Sioux angle drill and various air tools, but I almost always hand sand. My close friend Arthur Eyetus tells me it's time to start using power tools to sand. One thing that I don't like about sanding with air tools is the exhaust air always seems to be blowing in the wrong direction. The exhaust air sometimes contains oil mist.

 

[Craig Hertzog]

Skilton mandrels are made by Tim Skilton i Australia. He makes a 30mm, 50mm and a 75mm. Many of the turning supply companies carry them, some call them Skiltons, others put their own brand on them.
they are two layers of different density foams thermo-welded and a tee nut inside, then a washer on the top and the shaft screws down into the T nut. The ones we (turningwood.com) wells uses a 1/4" hex shaft, I think we are the only ones that import them that way.
You can check them out HERE

I actually ordered one from you the other week, I think it said you’re out of town till the 15th though. So anxiously waiting lol

 

[David Gilbert]

Let me add my 2 cents to this long thread. I tried hand sanding with a corded right angle drill and hated it. It was noisy, hot, and killed my hands. I borrowed a Grex and found it lacked power and took too much air.
My solution was to hang a sump pump motor from the rafters and use a flexible shaft with a drill chuck (Garrett Wade, & others). It runs too fast at 1750 but has lots of power and if used with a light touch it's great.
I have one other solution after abandoning the Grex. I have a 5" Ridgid random orbital sander that is too big for my bowls. I removed the 5" pad and made a small adapter that accepts my 3" mandrels (photo is below) Works well at the slowest speed (1000) but only works on my largest bowls.

 

[Matt Miller]

I use a $15 HF variable speed drill connected to a $10 Wen foot pedal. Wrap a piece of 12 ga copper wire around the drill handle and control the drill speed on the fly with a tweak or twist. I can hold the drill easily at any angle without fatiguing my arthritic hands from squeezing that trigger.

 

[Matt Miller]

Didn’t see a way to upload a video showing how well the $.10 trigger adjuster works but a quick squeeze gives you more or less rpm and holds it well. Makes sanding much easier. The Wen foot pedal is momentary on.

 

[Matt Miller]

I use electric corded drills for sanding up to 180 grit. Then I move to ROS Grex models. The lathe is not running under power at this point. I have a California Air cabinet compressor with in-line air dryers. While the cabinet is noise cancelling, and adequately serves most of my pneumatic needs, it isn't sufficient to run my ROS. For that I have an empty 60-gallon tank (no motor) connected to the system that I use when sanding. I turn the compressor on, and after the compressor stops running, open the valve on the 60-gallon tank. That gives me additional air to keep the ROS running. When done, I close the valve on the empty tank, so the tank is still full for the next sanding session. Note, I only use the ROS for 180 (I begin ROS sanding with a fresh 180 grit disc) and above, which is about 25 minutes of sanding. The continuous run cycle for the California Air cabinet sander is around 30 minutes. So, I set a timer on my phone (in-ear Air Pods for noise cancelling) and hear the timer when I need to quit. It is rare that I don't finish sanding with the Gres ROS within that time limit.

I like the idea of extra air storage with an isolation valve.

 

[Michael Allan Cooper]

The 90 degree angled head on a pneumatic sander allows you to get into a lot tighter corners than a straight drill. But these sanders don't have a Jacob's chuck head, only 1/4 in round female collet chuck. A lot of the 2-in and 3-in disc sander disc sets utilize a hex shank. The cfm air flow also varies a lot also in different brands.