A few months ago, Woodturning Design had an article about high speed sanding where the turner was sanding with a Makita (I think) grinder which ran at 10,000 rpm, and he slowed it down to 6,000. Well, I had to experiment. I have a couple of the Sioux/Milwaukee high speed angle drills which run at about 3,200 rpm. I had abandoned them for all but sanding the insides of a recess because the older discs would fly off, and go zinging past my ears. Not because of the heat melting the glue, but because the early adhesives just didn't hold very well.
My observations after 100 or so bowls:
It does throw the dust out a lot farther than the slow speeds.
It doesn't work well on my warped bowls. I have to use my hands/arms as a spring tensioned bar to keep the pressure constant, which is difficult enough to do at slow speeds. I am able to get my lathe speeds down to 10 to 15 rpm.
One key to having the high speed sanding work is keeping a constant pressure which is feather light. Mostly I use the weight of the sander for the proper sanding pressure.
It works okay on more open and flatter forms than it does on one that are deeper and have more of a transition in the bottom. Almost impossible to get it into the transition area without it skipping all over the place.
At first it seemed to remove the tool marks faster than the slower speed sanding, but I don't really think there is much or any time savings. You can use high speed and a very light touch, which will take a few more passes over the same area, or use slightly more pressure and slow speed, which cuts more effectively, and progresses at a slower rate. Six of one, half dozen of the other.
I think it could be more effective on non warped forms, especially if you can rest the grinder on a tool rest while sanding.
Summary is it can work, but I find the slower speeds to be better all around for me. I keep the drill at 600 to 800 (I am guessing here, but full throttle is 1200 rpm). for all grits.
robo hippy