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Thread: Angle Drill for Sanding Failure

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Thomas Wilson80 View Post
    And another quick question: Do most of you sand with the drill while running low speed on the lathe or off the lathe? It seems like I've read several posts over the last few months where people mention only sanding off the lathe and I wonder why as it seems like it would be more challenging/time consuming. Thoughts?
    Most of us? I'm certainly in the minority which doesn't bother me the least.

    I do most of my bowl/platter sanding with the lathe off, rotating by hand and either sanding by hand or power sanding at a slow speed. This is easier with controlled cuts that don't need much sanding, using hand scrapers if needed to remove tool marks. Sanding by hand lets me sand with the grain, or sometimes with the figure. (As woodworkers we are taught the mantra "Sand with the grain, sand with the grain" then as turners we are taught "Grind hard across the grain with 80 grit paper and leave huge scratches." Hello?!) For me it is quicker to sand only where needed instead of all over then have to remove all those scratches. Sanding by hand and/or at a slow speed also minimizes the clouds of dust.

    For many turnings it may not be practical to sand with the lathe running - some natural edged pieces, things that have warped, things with "wings" such as squarish platters/bowls, multi-axis turnings.

    Also, I wet sand by hand quite a bit.

    When hand sanding, I often sand across the last sanding direction just before I switch to a finer paper, especially on end grain and always on spindles. My theory is if I can't get 320 scratches out with the 320 paper, I'll never get them out with 400 paper.

    But as mentioned, these days I never use a rotating disk from a drill for power sanding but use the little pneumatic Grex random orbital sander. This is much gentler and more controllable than the rotating disk. Run at slow speed it is VERY gentle and even more controllable. Almost always with the lathe turned off. The ROS never leaves scratches in big arcs.

    One important sanding accessory not always mentioned is a good task light positioned at a glancing angle. Too much diffuse light from high overhead can hide the scratches by flooding the "valleys" with light.

    Another useful accessory is a squeeze bottle of naptha. Wiped on it can reveal scratches nearly invisible otherwise. Dries extremely fast.

    JKJ

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Chicago Heights, Il.
    Posts
    2,136
    Quote Originally Posted by Reed Gray View Post
    I used to keep a loose count of bowls sanded before the drill failed. First of all, they are drills, not grinders, and we use them as grinders. I can't tell that the dust does any thing serious for wear, especially if the bearings are 'double shielded' rather than 'shielded'. I used to get 300 plus bowls per rebuild. I started sanding at low speeds, never more than half a trigger pull, and with very light pressure, which lets the abrasives cut far better than they do if you are sanding at high speeds. I almost always use 3 inch discs. The bowl count went up to 450 or so. I have replaced the cases on all of them at least once. I had one cheap knock off brand, and it didn't last a month before the case failed. Looking for some thing better, but thinking a flex shaft would be the way to go. The Fordham set up can take 3 inch discs, but don't think they would be pushing the limits with 3 inch discs, even with their larger motor, and it would be good to be able to run 5 or so inch discs... One like Olaf has would be a bit of overkill, but I don't think I could wear that one out before my birth certificate expires...

    robo hippy
    i too have thought about the flex shaft. For not much more than a Milwaukee drill one could get a 3 phase with controller. The flex shaft isn't cheap so total will be over $200. The three phase would give variable speed. Perhaps a foot switch to turn off and on.
    Member Illiana Woodturners

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Reed Gray View Post
    ...before my birth certificate expires...
    I might steal that line!

    JKJ

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Toronto, CA
    Posts
    320
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Bergstrom View Post
    i too have thought about the flex shaft. For not much more than a Milwaukee drill one could get a 3 phase with controller. The flex shaft isn't cheap so total will be over $200. The three phase would give variable speed. Perhaps a foot switch to turn off and on.
    Yup - 3ph motor, especially small ones, are really cheap when used.

    VFDs - I get them off eBay, used, from China. The Delta ones are good, cheap and most importantly, have excellent instructions manuals. Never had an issue on any of my 5 units. >= 1hp should be <$100.

    Thats a huge pet peeve of mine: supposedly premium makers, have manuals that are completely unintelligible. Then they change model numbers constantly, and provide only "authorized parts". Like a "remote cable" for $90, plus $50 shipping, which is really just a $5 LAN cable....

    </rant>

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