Advice on sander for shaping?

[Brent Beelby]

Brent, here's my .02.

I have a 9" disc, 6x48 combination sander. I'm less than pleased with it. It's the Craftsman professional model, for what it's worth. I use the disc, mostly, and usually leave 80 grit paper on it. The disc turns at 3450 rpm and the aluminum table and disc have way too much vibration for a smooth job. I've put a link belt on it and tried to do my best to balance things. I rarely use the belt.

I'm only mentioning this because this is one of the few machines I bought that I've really been sorry about. I've had it for almost 7 years, and have been pretty unhappy all that time.

If you want a combination sander, even though it's much more money, I'd recommend a 12" disc, 1720 rpm machine. I think they run much smoother. I really wish I would have known this when I bought mine.

Personallysander and the Jet bench top spindle sander, I'm going to get the Jet 12" disc . I use the disc and spindle much more than the belt portion of my current sander. It will be a lot more money, but will be worth it in the long run.

I was planing on buying one of those combination 6"x48" and 9" disk sanders, and started a thread asking what grit of sandpaper everyone gets the most use out of,, but after reading Alan's comment on that thread, I'm not sure what kind of sander I should buy. I was wondering what kind of sander everyone likes to use for shaping?

Thanks, Brent

[Steve Cox]

Just a thought, why would you use a sander for shaping? I use spokeshaves and rasps when shaping (sculpting?) wood.

[Keith Outten]

I tried disk sanders and belt sanders over the years and recently purchased an edge sander which I am now absolutely sold on. I wish that I had known how usefull edge sanders were years ago I would not have made so many mistakes buying sanders. Now I own a spindle sander and the edge sander and they cover every job in my shop.

Look at edge sanders if you are shopping, even the cheap ones like I bought are worth more than the 500 dollar disk/belt combo machines.

[Brent Beelby]

Oh, right Steve, I never even thought of using a rasp.
Keith, I like the look of those edge sanders. My only problem is shop space, for the momment my shop is pretty small. I'm making a boomerang for my six year old boy. I cut it out of 1/2" baltic birch and need to round the edges, and...well...you know... before every project a shop gets a new tool

Thanks, Brent

[Keith Outten]

Brent,

Believe me I understand the shop space problem. My new router has taken almost 25% of my shops floor plan. I also had to remove a couple of tools and shift almost every tool in my shop to accomodate my latest acquisition but edge sanders don't really take that much space. They are elongated tools and can be tucked into a tight spot if necessary. I had to place mine in a bit of an odd space in my shop but it works and the machine is a real joy to use. You can pick up a cheap edge sander for about $250.00 and they work just as well as the more expensive models. More importantly an edge sander will out perform a belt/disk combo machine in my opinion. Shaping and rounding corners are a breeze, a tilting table and an adjustable angle stop makes sanding compound angles a snap plus the nose of the edge sander will sand an inside radius. Surface speed on the belt is perfect unlike disks which are generally too fast on the outside or too slow on the inside of the disk. The traditional belt sander doesn't have much of a table and it isn't situated to provide enough access to the entire belt surface. Financially edge sanders will win hands down, the adjustable table allows you to use the entire belt by raising the height of the table to suit the project. Most sanding is done on the edge of 3/4" material so you just raise the table that amount as the abrasive wears. Even dust collection works better than a disk sander.

Visit someone who owns an edge sander and try it for yourself, you will be an instant fan.

[Doug Shepard]

I was fortunate enough to find a good deal on a used Delta Sanding Center - 6x48 Belt and 12" Disc with lots of cast iron. No vibration issue like Alan. Mine's on a mobile base so I can tuck it out of the way when not needed. It's also got a power-takeoff setup for attaching accessory sanding gizmos like drum and flap sanders. I got mine from a guy selling off all his dad's tools after he died and got almost every add-on made for it as part of the package. I do little if any shaping on the belt so it's usually got finer grits for edge/face sanding shorter pieces. The disc mostly has 80 on it. It's good for shaping, but O/S curves only. It sometimes gets used for fine tuning miters and is really nice for doing small diameter circles. If you do end up going with a combo unit, unless you're strictly doing small scale work, I'd recommend you get a 12" rather than 9" disc. You can really only use the downward spinning side, so what you've really got is a 6" vs 4.5". It's not all that hard to stall the disc either, and I suspect the motor on a 9" unit would be even lighter duty than what's on my unit.

I've also got a oscillating spindle sander for inside curve work and really get a lot of use from it. Haven't tried the edge sanders and don't have any place to put one. Given a larger shop I might be tempted to go that direction.