Wanted Wanted - spindle (bobbin) sander

[julianf]

I need to sand the internal radius of a load of wood parts, so have been eyeing up spindle sanders.

What I'd most like is a jet jbos-5 but theyre way more than I want to spend new and there are no used about at present, so I might end up buying a cheap Triton from Toolstation.

But -

Worth asking here first I think, just in case anyone has anything knocking about?

Thank you.

 

[mikej460]

I would challenge yourself on how often you would use one after this job. If the answer is not much then, as long as you have a drill press you might be better off with something like this Rubber Drum Sanding Kit 25 Pcs | Bobbin Sanding Sleeves | Screwfix.com I have a set of these and also some bigger ones I picked up at a woodworking show (remember those?). They work very well but you don't have the oscillating motion of a bobbin sander but you may be able to copy this using your hands anyway, depending on the size of the piece being sanded. The only thing you may have to do to be able to sand to the bottom is to make a table with a cut-out wide enough for the largest drum so that the drum can fall below the level of the piece being sanded. The benefit of these is that you can also put them into a hand drill.

hope that's useful to you

 

[TRITON]

would challenge yourself on how often you would use one after this job

you break the mould for the average woodworker, most I know and myself have tons of extra stuff that seemed a perfect answer at the time.

OP. Buy it.
Even if its only used occasionally, its there and makes the job way easier. I struggled for years using things like the pillar drill attachments, but found though handy to have some sort of drum, its biggest failing was it doesn't oscillate, so quickly builds up resin and burns or make a poor job of cutting. This happens and you then start to think, Microplane drums,or some other rotary cutter/sander but then its more and more money being spent.
Try getting burn marks off endgrain - Nightmare

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

I just bought a Draper version from Amazon. It’s a great bit of kit for the money. I was looking at the cheaper end and anything second hand wasn’t a lot cheaper than new and you then have to collect or pay crazy postage.
+ 1 for buy it.

 

[julianf]

The stuff I want to do is all curves, and it has a 45 degree fillet on the edges.

I looked at the Triton combination belt and spindle thing, which has the sloping table that everyone says is not square...

...but the problem that I saw was that, when running in spindle mode, the spindle is offset to the side, and I'm not convinced the tilting table will then be that convenient to reach all aspects of the job.

That's why I was looking at the jet one, as the spindle is central then.

I'm not sure I'd ever have call to use the belt aspect of the sander.

The cheap Triton bobbin only one has no sloping table.

...but, as I say, I kind of need to get some stuff done now, so I may just throw £120 or whatever they cost at the spindle only Triton (or one of the other identical machines with different names!) and go with that now, simply as I'm not prepared to put down £450 or whatever on the jet, when they seem to sell (when they do sell, which, irritatingly is not today!) for more like £150 used.

To anyone reading, I don't have a used price in mind specifically. I just don't really want to buy a Triton (etc) new when I know it's not what I actually want and I'm reluctant to buy the machine I do want new, when I'm not bothered buying used, and they seem to drop much further from new price than other tools.

 

[stuart little]

I've recently bought the Triton. I found FFX had the best price with free next day delivery.