Draft new section for the power tool FAQ - sanders

[John Rumm]

For peer review, typo spotting and general flame starting:

[david lang]

Very good overall. I would comment that, for the average DIY guy a belt sander can be very hard to control and get an even finish, wheras a ROS is almost as good at stock removal and fairly idiot proof - that's been the experience of this particular idiot anyway.

Dave

[Norman Billingham]

The best of all for fast removal and good finish is a belt sander with a sanding frame - fits round the base with the belt just protruding. Controls depth of cut and stops the sander tilting. My belt sander is a brute to control without the frame and a joy to use with it.

[Ian Stirling]

First cut. After rotary disc.

Drum sander

As above, few tools are available that are designed for this, howerver a visit to your local DIY shop will usually turn up at least one attachment for a drill that has a foam cylinder, onto which slips a sanding belt, usually fabric backed. Similar to the disk sander, but the drill body is in line with the surface to be sanded.

... Drum sander: Very fast Poor, surface may have visible lines from the drum, and it is difficult to achieve a level finish. Not possible to sand into corners.

Rough sanding of large flat areas, to remove paint, or smooth rough-cut lumber. However, smooth (though not very flat) results can be obtained if successively finer papers are used.

Drum sanding is a cheap and easy way to get fast results. It is more controllable than disc sanding, and large areas can be sanded with ease. However, dust extraction is at best very poor, generally non-existant, making use of dust masks or supplied air mandatory, and needing extensive clean-up of dust.

[John Rumm]

;-)

And I suppose they can be adapted to bench use as well this way...

[Andy Hall]

You can anyway with some. For example, some of the Bosch and Makita models have a flat top to allow you to do that.

[Phil Addison]

My experience of the "flat rubber disk with attached sandpaper" type is that when used on a flat surfaced job, they tend to snatch into the work, and rather than getting "visible swirl marks", I would get deep gouges.

I also have one with a ball joint between the disk and spindle. That one is much better at not digging gouges.

For stripping paint they clog almost instantly.

No experience of the "Special tungsten abrasive discs ...". Both of my discs languish at the bottom of a tool drawer in the 'practically useless' category.

I'm not sure if the write-up refers to hand held tools, eg a drill with a disc in the chuck, or a bench mounted disc. I suppose they have a use for rounding off, but for finishing - forget it.

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

Google uk.d-i-y archive is at NOSPAM from address to email me

[John Rumm]

Yup sounds like one typical result! They are a bit crude! (a flap disc on an angle grinder is actually better - but well aggressive!)

Their main claim to fame is they don't clog as easily, and they last well.

No, just hand held.

Bench mounted discs are a totally different proposition. Firstly the discs are completely flat and also typically larger. The addition of a fence/table to offer the work up on makes them *very* good at a number of tasks like shaping, or tidying up end grain. They also cut very quickly and can be used as a primary machining tool for small jobs like picture frames. With a a mitre guage on a bench disc sander, you can produce perfect picture frame mitres very easily.

I bought what I expected to be a fairly basic cheapie from Axminster, but actually found it was really very good for the money - well made and solid. It gets lots of use, especially as it just sits there and is always ready to go when you just want a quick "lick" on something to clean it up, or take and edge off etc.