Thoughts on Sanding Machine Options???

[ondablade]

Please pardon my taking a second bite of the cherry on one evening!

I'm just starting (with the possibility if having a decent dust system soon) to think about the next stage in upgrading my sanding capability, but in absence of experience with some of the kit about now am not so sure what direction to take and would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

My interest is hardwood furniture, leaning towards 3D shapes band sawn out of the solid and hand finished. e.g. curvy legs

I have a disc sander (which actually sees little use), a Bosch hand held belt sander (used mostly as a coarse tool grinder) with a fence and frame, and a Bosch 5 in random orbital for finishing - and am well set up with a variety of spoke shaves and curved scrapers.

I'm actually not that wild about power sanding as a process, and prefer the look of a planed and scraped finish. That said my thought is that an oscillating bobbin sander with a tilting table could open up all sorts of shaping possibilities. e.g http://www.brimarc.com/products/Jet-JOV ... -21607.htm

When i go looking though i trip over all sorts of drum sanders for flat surfaces, not to mention belt sanders.

Then there's the option of using Felder sanding bobbins on my tilting spindle Hammer F3 moulder which gets down to around 3,000 rpm at low speed.

My current thought is that a bobbin sander with a straight fence for straight edge finishing and a tilting table for fancy angled and curved shaping options would do most of what i need - i'm not that bothered about sanding large flat surfaces.

Then i wonder why spend gazillions on a tilting bobbin sander, and not just instead buy some 30mm bore bobbins for the F3 https://shop.felder-gruppe.at/hammer/sh ... p_cuid=221 - all that would be missing would be the vertical oscillation, and the capacity is maybe a bit limited at 105mm height.

But then i think of the bobbin working on mostly one area only, and wonder if it's really a professional solution...

Experience anybody? What am i missing?

ian

 

[Chris Knight]

Experience anybody? What am i missing?

To be frank Ian, It sounds as if you are missing a clear need and hence a clear idea of what is required. However, from your mention of 3D shapes by which I take it you mean more organic, flowing shapes than the flatter, straighter 3D shapes that most of us deal with, then a bobbin sander would probably be of most use to you. Otherwise, a hand held sand like the Kirjes system - seen below at Cressing Temple Barns this summer might well suit. I wish I had had one of these when I made my rocking chairs. I wouldn't dream of using a bobbin sander for normal straight edge finishing, although I have used one with a fence for thicknessing very thin strips.

Don't overlook however, just how much you can get done with spokeshaves and scrapers (of the gunstock variety - like spokeshaves but designed to scrape rather than plane). Often you will only need a bit of handheld Abralon abrasive to finish up.

 

[Steve Maskery]

The other simple and low-cost solution you might like to consider is a set of good quality sanding drums for the drill press. You don't get the oscillation motion, but you can adjust the table height to maximise the use of the abrasive. The Carrol ones are excellent and you don't have to buy expensive sleeves, just ordinary abrasive on a roll.

PM me if you would like a second-hand set!

Cheers
Steve

 

[ondablade]

You've got it in one Chris, i'm very much in set-up mode at the moment. Most of what started me thinking about sanders is machine positioning and ductwork layout.

As in space is pretty tight, i'm trying to sort a ducting layout for a dust system and consequently i'm trying to think ahead.

No question the shaves will go a very long way on curvy shapes too, i've done quite a lot of shaping of wooden plugs that way (and with razor planes) for fibre glass moulds over the years (albeit mostly in jelutong), and never needed more than sanding blocks and papers.

That said i figure a bobbin sander may add an option so far as working concave curves is concerned, and for cleaning up e.g. a curved band sawn edge on a flat board.

As it happens Steve I have a set of three Carroll drums stashed away somewhere for use on my drill press, so thanks for the reminder of that method. Up to this my need to use them was a bit limited as the bits i was doing were mostly square - they had got off my radar. Tunnel vision, getting carried away with mind exercises

Think i'll figure on the possibility of a bobbin sander at some stage, and leave provision for a branch duct for it. Sounds like a proper duct to the drill press to leave the way free for sanding there would be wise too....

ian

 

[FatFreddysCat]

Ian

The point about oscillating sanders, be they bobbins or vertical belt is that you get much more sanding out of the belt before it "loads up". That's why they're commonly used in productionm woodworking. But at the end of the day these cannot accommodate a 3D curve. To sand that you'll need something like an Engis head sander (which is brish-backed takes a slashed abrasive loading) or a pneumatic bobbin sander - both production tools and generally only available in 3-phase. As Chris rightly points out much can be achieved with spokeshaves and cabinet scrapers and for one of a kind pieces they are probably preferable as in machine sanding it is easy to inadvertently over sand