I need to do some sanding....FAST!

[Dee Dee Martin]

I've got hundreds of linear feet of maple, walnut, and oak, from 1/8" up to 3/4" thick. Widths vary. Surfaces are rough (bandsawn with carbide blade....so not all that rough).

All Needs to be sanded on both sides to 120 grit.

I've been doing this on a drum sander, and I need to make a couple of passes for each board, to really get the surface true and smooth. So, I can tell this is gonna take some time......a loooong time

Is that just the nature of power sanding, or is there a faster solution?

I've been using a Performax 22-44.

[John Miliunas]

Dee Dee, yes, that is the nature of most home shop sanders. If you're looking for something closer to planer speeds, you'll need to go to one of the bigger, more expensive wide belt sanders.

[Dee Dee Martin]

Are the wide belts that much faster? And, can they typically clean up a board to 1/8" in one pass?

[Gary Breckenridge]

I'd find somebody with a planer with sharp and square blades. Its a lot less work and the boards will end up true and square.

[Dee Dee Martin]

Gary, first of all, a planer doesn't leave a finish the same as 120 grit sandpaper, or am I mistaken?

2nd, My planer tends to chip out the end of a 1/8" thick board.

Are there planers out there that'll plane 1/8" thick stock, and not eat the board, along with leaving a surface similar to 120 grit?

[Brad Olson]

If you are doing a lot of sanding, put on a 80 grit belt and then you can take a bigger bite. If you need a bigger bit start with 36 grit.

Second pass with a 120 grit and you should be done especially if the bandsawn surface was well done.

[Rob Russell]

Depending on how rough the surface is to start with, there are widebelt sanders that could take it to 120 in a single pass. That's because they are dual head sanders, so you'd probably start with something like a 60 grit belt, skip the 80 and put the 120 grit belt on the second head. Those aren't typical home shop machines - Grizzly makes a 24" dual head model for just under $10K. Naturally it's 3-phase - 15HP main motor.

The open-end widebelts that run in the $3-4K range will do a lot better than the Performax, but they wouldn't go to 120 in a single pass.

Brad's comment about using multiple grits is right on - use a coarser grit to level the surface and take out the bandsaw marks. Then the 120 to sand down the scratches left by the coarser grit.

[Joseph N. Myers]

What I do is use the planer to get the wood down to the even thickness (i.e., get rid of the band saw marks) and then use the drum sander. It should save you a few passes on the sander and yes, a drum sander is slow.

Unless you're taking off a lot of wood, 60 grit might be a little too rough. Test it first.

And make sure your drum sander is set up correctly. I have a 16/32 Performax that has been out of alignment for years but no big deal as my pieces were usually under 4". Now doing wider pieces and finally figured out what was wrong --- works great now and eliminate need to turn wood around and run it through again (to get the other side even).

With all sanders, especially the drum sander, make sure your using one of those rubber erasures, they keep the belt a lot cleaner and hence, take off wood at a faster rate.

If the wood is somewhat dirty and planer is not an options, i.e., not enough wood to play with, I will take a 1/4 sander with 80 grit and get most of the junk off. This makes it a lot easier on the drum sander but of course, adds time to the project. (A ROS would also work but I've never had much luck with them, but I'm sure it is me).

Regards, Joe

[tod evans]

horse power = fast sanding but even with horsepower a drum sander does not have the surface area to be an efficient stock removal tool. use your planer and if you`re worried about snipe run a caul with your piece. home shop sanders, regardless of brand or price are still home shop equipment. industrial/production equipment ain`t for the garage. .02 tod

[Scott Parks]

2nd, My planer tends to chip out the end of a 1/8" thick board.

Are there planers out there that'll plane 1/8" thick stock, and not eat the board, along with leaving a surface similar to 120 grit?

I have the Delta 13" dual speed planer. The most you really want to take off at a time is still 1/32. You can go to 1/16th depending on material density/width, but it really bogs down.

I've run 1/8" material through the planer after resawing on the bandsaw. I only had one or two peices blow out the end (1-2"max), but it was due to the grain orientation of the wood. If the grain was straight, there was no blow out. Just plan on a couple inches of waste on some of the bad peices. My planer runs at 90 cuts per inch and leaves a great finish. I wouldn't be surprised if it were smootehr than 120. But then a quick pass with a RO sander, and it's perfect.

[Dee Dee Martin]

My 12.5" Delata planer doesn't go to 1/8". Won't go that low. I know I could build up the bed on the planer, but didn't want to mess with that. I tried that once with some melomine, and the white started rubbing off onto my stock material, and messed it up.

I do get some snipe, even tho I lock the head down good, so I'm thinking about getting a new planer, since I've had this one forever. And, hopefully the new ones are better with the snipe issue.

Never thougth about running another 1/8" scrap piece right behind my production stock. Hopefully that'll eliminate the snipe.

I see Dewalt has a real nice looking portable planer. Anyone know if it'll go as low as 1/8". Plus I think it's dual speed, which should smooth things up nicely. But the key is 1/8" thickness.

[Dee Dee Martin]

I just went out, and bought a new Dewalt planer (735). It's got a auto depth stop at 1/8". The dual speed knives should give me a super smooth finish, too, I hope. With 3 knives, I'm also hoping there'll be less chance of tearing up the wood.

I'll fire up that bad boy, tomorrow.

-DD

[Frank Hagan]

I like my DW 735 very much, and have planed some thin red oak stock down to 1/8". You can still get snipe and blow out the end of your stock if the piece isn't supported well. My stock tended to bend a bit, and that would cause some snipe. I'm also using roller stands instead of an outfeed table; I'll be the outfeed table would work better, but I just haven't built it yet.

At the "finishing speed" the surface of the wood was very smooth without any knife marks.

[Dee Dee Martin]

Thanks for the info, Frank. Anything special I should know about that thing before I fire it up?
Oh, and if i'm after a 120 grit finish, do you think the finishing speed is about that?
Knives are kinda expensve, too, aren't they?

[Scott Parks]

I'm also using roller stands instead of an outfeed table; I'll be the outfeed table would work better, but I just haven't built it yet.

You definately need outfeed support to eliminate the snipe or blowout at the end of the cut. The wieght of the unsupported board will cause the end to lever up into the knives after it passes out from the first infeed roller. The other day, I was planing using outfeed rollers. I wasn't paying attention, and a bowed peice got hung up on the roller and knocked it over. The result was the board tipping off the outfeed table, and it popped off the dust chute. It really bent it up. Had to take an hour break to straighten it out..