Sanding inside hollow forms rig

[Randy Anderson]

In doing larger hollow forms the opening is large enough to see a good bit into the form. I need to do more cleanup and sanding to make it look nicer, to a point. I made this little tool recently and so far working well. It's a DeWalt 90 deg drill adapter, a 10" flex drill extender and a piece of 3/4" angle. I can hold on to the angle, hold my small sanding drill motor on the end of the flex extender and with a sanding disc on the 90 deg adapter do a good job of sanding up to about 9-10 inches, depending on the opening. Not doing a fine finish sanding but can get it looking a lot nicer than just doing my best holding paper inside or paper on the end of a stick while the piece spins. The tie wraps work OK for now but hose clamps or even some epoxy will end up better I think. The tie wraps can slip or get loose. The low profile of the DeWalt 90 deg head fits into some fairly small openings.

 

[Darryn Achall]

This could be a promising thread. I use a wooden dowel with a slot cut in the end. Wrap a strip of sandpaper through the slot and around the dowel end. I'm sure there are better ways to sand in a hollow form and look forward to trying out some new ideas. I have a DeWalt 90 deg adapter and may to try and rig something up.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

I usually use long forcepts to hold a pad wrapped in sandpaper. I think they came from Harbor freight.

 

[John Dillon]

I usually use long forcepts to hold a pad wrapped in sandpaper. I think they came from Harbor freight.

Would not recommend you put your fingers in the finger holes of the forceps. That's a big ouch if the forceps get tangled-up, or twist, in the hollowform...........

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Would not recommend you put your fingers in the finger holes of the forceps. That's a big ouch if the forceps get tangled-up, or twist, in the hollowform...........

NO but they sure do reach deep.

 

[hughie]

I have made something very similar one of the drawbacks is the right-angle drive can have a short life. I still use them but mostly use the inertia sanders for the internal work. I run my inertia sanders on a couple of skateboard bearings which has proved to be very successful

 

[Denny Nebgen]

Nice idea. I'll look into that. I am hollowing out a piece on the lathe now. How do you get the round shaft of the sanding disc to match up to the hex shape of the 1/4 inch drive head?Thanks

 

[Dave Hulett]

I usually use long forcepts to hold a pad wrapped in sandpaper. I think they came from Harbor freight.

forceps work for me.

 

[Denny Nebgen]

I have trouble with the forceps as I only can get a small portion of the paper onto the surface at a time.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Nice idea. I'll look into that. I am hollowing out a piece on the lathe now. How do you get the round shaft of the sanding disc to match up to the hex shape of the 1/4 inch drive head?Thanks

You have to purchase hex shaft. I got some from Woodturners Wonders

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

I have trouble with the forceps as I only can get a small portion of the paper onto the surface at a time.

I use a piece of Kaizan foam and wrap the paper around it , then good contact with wood

 

[Denny Nebgen]

I use a piece of Kaizan foam and wrap the paper around it , then good contact with wood

Thank you. I will try that.

 

[Russ Braun]

I usually use long forcepts to hold a pad wrapped in sandpaper. I think they came from Harbor freight.

They didn't come from your days of being a hippie Gerald?? Mine all have burn marks at the end, haha!!

 

[Russ Braun]

What’s the smallest size opening this rig will fit into Randy? Silicone might work well to hold it together. I would wipe down the angle / parts to clean any oily residue off first.

 

[Richard Trownsell]

In doing larger hollow forms the opening is large enough to see a good bit into the form. I need to do more cleanup and sanding to make it look nicer, to a point. I made this little tool recently and so far working well. It's a DeWalt 90 deg drill adapter, a 10" flex drill extender and a piece of 3/4" angle. I can hold on to the angle, hold my small sanding drill motor on the end of the flex extender and with a sanding disc on the 90 deg adapter do a good job of sanding up to about 9-10 inches, depending on the opening. Not doing a fine finish sanding but can get it looking a lot nicer than just doing my best holding paper inside or paper on the end of a stick while the piece spins. The tie wraps work OK for now but hose clamps or even some epoxy will end up better I think. The tie wraps can slip or get loose. The low profile of the DeWalt 90 deg head fits into some fairly small openings.

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This is a creative solution, to what for me as a beginner is a difficult problem. Nice to have this information. I am planning a segmented turning where this may come in handy if the dowel and sandpaper do not work.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Russ, I keep a thick foam pad on my sanding mandrels (see pic) and with the pad it's about 2 1/2" tall at the head but, I've used in openings a bit smaller by tilting it on the way in. You could use a thinner foam pad on a smaller opening. I'm usually using it farther inside than right at the opening and if your piece flares out wider from the top down then you will have more room. I still do the top 1-2" inches of the opening by hand since I want those to be as nice a finish as the outside. The sanding jig really helps for those stubborn tool marks down inside where folks will always run their fingers to feel it or will show when the finish is on.

Also, I recently picked up a very long 1" scraper at an estate sale and ground the end as a NR scraper with a round shape that tapers far back on both sides. I use it to clean up way down into the neck of the piece. Not hard and really does a nice job cleaning up down about 4-5" inside, depending on the shape and curve of your opening.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Richard, I've used sandpaper on the end of dowel or stick, foam pad under the paper, etc and while it works to some degree it can be tedious. My long NR scraper and this jig make it a lot easier for me to hit just the trouble areas without spinning the piece and working the dowel around. I can get a very nice surface well down into the piece. Farther than my fingers can hold onto a piece of sandpaper.

It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of holding the jig and the pressure/angle inside the piece. It's not hard but standing in front of the lathe I find sanding at the 4pm to 6pm area works best for me. Moving around in and out with light pressure. You'll need to lock your spindle since it will want to rotate as you sand.

 

[Tom Rasmussen]

In doing larger hollow forms the opening is large enough to see a good bit into the form. I need to do more cleanup and sanding to make it look nicer, to a point. I made this little tool recently and so far working well. It's a DeWalt 90 deg drill adapter, a 10" flex drill extender and a piece of 3/4" angle. I can hold on to the angle, hold my small sanding drill motor on the end of the flex extender and with a sanding disc on the 90 deg adapter do a good job of sanding up to about 9-10 inches, depending on the opening. Not doing a fine finish sanding but can get it looking a lot nicer than just doing my best holding paper inside or paper on the end of a stick while the piece spins. The tie wraps work OK for now but hose clamps or even some epoxy will end up better I think. The tie wraps can slip or get loose. The low profile of the DeWalt 90 deg head fits into some fairly small openings.

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That looks like a handy tool. I purchased a 1" diamond sphere with shaft on ebay (different sizes and grit are available) to see if it would work for sanding. It works great for some internal sanding applications and could work with the 90* DeWALT elbow. An adaptor may be needed to attach it to the elbow. It may take a little getting use to because it will bounce at first so don't give up.

 

[Timothy White]

They didn't come from your days of being a hippie Gerald?? Mine all have burn marks at the end, haha!!

Well I never smoked that stuff.

It burned my throat

 

[Tom Rasmussen]

Would not recommend you put your fingers in the finger holes of the forceps. That's a big ouch if the forceps get tangled-up, or twist, in the hollowform...........

I use shrink tube from H. F. to cover the finger holds. Works find to keep fingers out of holes.

 

[Larry Mercier]

They didn't come from your days of being a hippie Gerald?? Mine all have burn marks at the end, haha!!

Well I never smoked that stuff.

It burned my throat

This is a very good thread. How do your posts add to it?

 

[Jim Holcombe]

Well, this thread came to a screeching halt—

 

[Neil McWilliams]

What you're looking at here are two lengths of twisted armature wire with a piece of lambswool buff wrapped around one end and secured with HVAC tape. Velcro strips adhere readily to the HVAC tape's metallic surface. Hook and loop sandpaper strips are secured by the velcro. The sanding ends are 1-1 1/2" in diameter. I can't hollow through a smaller hole than these will fit. Nobody but another woodturner is going to judge the interior surface of a hollowform anyway!

 

[Larry Mercier]

What you're looking at here are two lengths of twisted armature wire

Hi Neil, what gauge is that wire. How did you get such a nice twist on your tool?