best tool for this job?

[John Rumm]

Well you should...

ok, and here are the results:

[Steve Walker]

I'll second that - especially the pre-mixed type.

SteveW

[Robin]

Yes, with that much ceiling and such wide holes I'd assumed something easier to sand - and also cheaper. My last buy was 5kg Gyproc Easi-Fill 20 for about £13.

[tabbypurr]

So you accept (on the wiki) it's not suitable for the OP to sand his ceilings with, even after you improved the design by using a flat sanding pad. I'm done on this.

NT

[John Rumm]

I was not actually suggesting that it was a solution for the OP - just exploring a possibility. I was responding to Robin's reposting of Bill's original comment, about using sandpaper fixed to a multimaster blade.

I said: "Actually that gives me an idea for a poor man's festool style linear action sander....".

Having now tried that idea and proved that it does work, I would maintain that it does indeed give you a poor man's[1] linear sander.

[1] Now for the avoidance of doubt, by "poor man's" I mean a hack that is austere in nature - it will do a similar job but with less finesse, effectiveness, comfort and all that.

As a champion of the cheap tool, and hacked solution I would have thought that would be right up your street?

The flat sanding pad is not an improvement - it would be better with a slight curve so that it could maintain contact with the surface better and not put excessive wear on the paper on the ends of the block like a flat one does. However it was more than adequate to establish if the idea works, how controllable it was, what the material removal rate was like, and how bad the vibration was going to be.

We can live in hope...

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tried that. Harder to sand than polyfilla, and a similar price

>

[michael adams]

So she gained custody of the parrot then, by the looks of things.

michael adams

...

[invalid]

8<

Scary. You might suggest grinding the teeth off or some fool will have their hand off.

For the OP I can't see what's wrong with a normal random orbital sander and putting a metal rule along the beam to stop it doing any damage. Maybe cutting a strip of metal/plastic and wrapping it around the pad.

[Richard]

Kudos for bothering to prove your point. Diddums to tabby.

[fred]

On Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 5:44:28 PM UTC, The Natural Philosopher wr ote:

Forgive a stupid question but why not insert fresh plaster board ?

[John Rumm]

The last one I used was IIRC:

That sanded very easily and quickly.

[John Rumm]

As it turns out the tool with actually take the blade either way up, so you could point them in a less aggressive looking direction. (using a hacksaw blade might also be better!)

I would be content with my RoS[1], and just staying slightly shy of the beam... although if you do hit it, its not going to do it any particular damage. If you are left with a unsanded edge, then either a bead of caulk over it, or a quick touch up with a multimaster style tool.

[1] Mirka CEROS 5" - I bought it mainly for woodwork, but its the sander of choice for many pro decorators because its small, light, and very easy to use in any orientation, and when combined with their Abranet sanding sheets and a decent extractor does an almost totally effective job collecting the dust:

[The Natural Philosopher]

Because it would take even longer and STILL need skimming