I run a small one man operation and I am looking to cut my sanding time/displeasure. I fear that I could purchase a contraption that does not save much time, compared to my current method.
I work alone, and have no real woodworking community in my life, so may I describe what I do now? and perhaps someone could offer there advise.
I build chests and coffee tables out of solid red alder, I have been making these designs for over eight years. I make batches of 10 to 15 units at a time. I currently plane the alder to dimension and sand the planer marks off with a 6x48" belt sander at 150 grit then touch that up with a random orbit sander at 220. Most of my stock is sanded while it is a flat part no wider than 3.5 inches and an inch thick. One exception is the alder edge glued panels that I purchase (15" x 36") - they come sort of sanded to 150 grit - I touch them up with random orbit 150, then 220.
My 6x48 belt sander is near death and in need of replacing. I currently spend about 15% of the job sanding. It goes along ok but holding pieces of wood up to the vertical belt sander is exhasting. So is sanding if there is some way to sand a little bit faster.
I frequently stain the alder and really desire an even sanding, as it gets quite blotchy if the sanding is uneven. I have also noticed that
150 grit is really not fine enough for alder. Some people claim it is, but it has a terrible look if finished with a darker stain. (a whole other topic I am sure)Perhaps my planer leaves too crappy of a finish. I have found that alders knots are very hard and have proven to repeatedly nick my blades. I now just live with a few lines on the surface. Are my blades too soft? Maybe I run the blades too hot? (old crappy delta 12 inch steel blades) Maybe if that was fixed, I could get by with only the random orbit 220 clean-up.
I am looking at machines like the woodmaster 18" planer/sander , or the grizzly 16" dual drum sander. My shop is somewhat small, and only has
220.I spend a few weeks of my life sanding. Is there a way I can lessen it?
Thanks for the time
Tor