Help needed - 10mm - 15mm belt sander?

[asanoha]

Hi there,

This is my first post - so hello!

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me with some advice about small belt sanders. I need to be able sand within 15mm square profiles cut in to strips of hardwood. I have seen a Proxxon (with mount and vice) 10mm sander but it is only 100w and I'm intending to use it for up to 2 hours at a time and I'm wondering whether it can take this sort of usage. I've also seen hobby combined belt and disc sanders though they have a belt of 25mm - but these look terrible and would need to be modified if they could.

A whole collection of furniture I'm designing is at stake, as hand sanding is really not an option! Please - any help will be really appreciated.

Cheers
Laz

 

[Chris Knight]

Welcome to the forum Laz!

You can get narrow belt sanders electric or air powered, like the one in this link and you will find that carvers use them. However, there is one big drawback to the idea in my view.

That is that on two sides of your square cut-out you will be sanding across the grain rather than with it and this tends to leave a rough looking surface when linear motion is involved (hence the desirability of a random orbit sander, which I have never heard if in such a small size).

How will the squares be cut? A very sharp chisel working carefully could leave a finish that doesn't need sanding but from the sound of it such an approach would not suit you if making lots of these cuts.

 

[asanoha]

Hi Chris and thanks!

Well you are absolutely right about sanding across the grain - this is far from ideal. I am cutting 30 strips each with 65 profiles cut out, with 17 different possible depths ranging from 1mm to 17mm, having been done on a bench saw using a varying blade height to remove the wood. A sharp chisel would be fine to finish a few - but I have hundreds to do. A perfect finish will have to balanced between actually completing the components of this sculptural panel. keeping the belt square to the original profile depth is really important too. Any idea about the cost of compressors needed to power air sanders?

thanks again
Laz

 

[chunkolini]

What about the Black and Decker Powerfile, a 12mm if I remember belt sander, not the best quality but they work, or there is the Makita version which would do the job. Re orbital sanders, I have a Bosch detail sander with a small finger attachment for sanding in nooks and crannies. Revision, I have just been on The Axminster site and found the right thing.



http://www.axminster.co.uk/recno/1/prod ... -21068.htm

And probably become an essential item after this job.

Buying a compressor to power a belt sander would be a bit extravagant unless you are in the market for a compressor anyway.

Chunko'.

 

[Chris Knight]

Laz,

The electric sander shown by chunkolini will be more useful to you than the air powered if you don't already use a compressor. Be aware that it is all too easy to round over edges whilst using such a thing!

From your mention of cutting the squares on a bench saw, it suggests that one side of the square is open (I had assumed it was closed) - a drawing would help to visualise it.

It's possible that a router with a template would do the job better than a table saw. Routers leave pretty clean cuts.

 

[Inspector]

Hi Laz

Maybe your best bet is to locate someone with a CNC router to cut all the strips. The finish will be good off the machine and you won't need to clean the bottoms.

The metal finishers where I work use Dynabrade belt sanders and they do take a great deal of skill developed through lots of practice to use correctly.

http://www.dynabrade.com/regions/5/ind/index.html

 

[asanoha]

Thanks for all the advice, you lot are great

Here are some pics of my test panel straight of the bench saw - hope this sheds some light on the context of the help needed.

Cheers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12811418@N00/3027446079/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12811418@N00/3028280374/

 

[asanoha]

The Makita looks like what I'm after - though I really need some sort of stand to hold it in, as proxxon offers with their belt sander. May be best to custom make something - any good off the shelf supports out there?

 

[Shultzy]

Thinking "outside the box", a jigsaw inverted in a table. Make a "blade" the correct width to fit the jigsaw. Glue abrasive on one side of the "blade". Provide support on the other side of the blade. Set the jigsaw to the lowest speed and sand away.

 

[Chris Knight]

Laz,

Trying to sand it will be nightmare indeed. If you have to make more (you say it is a test panel), you might wish to consider an alternative way of making it.

For example, I would make up some square section stock, accurate and nicely finished with a very fine smoothing plane, then simply cut a bunch of pieces of differing lengths and assemble them on a baseboard - probably with temporary fences to form the outer perimeter of the panel. A sharp saw blade will leave the tops nice and smooth.

This would of course put end grain on top of the blocks which may not be to your liking? In this case, I'd do similarly but then make up several sticks of differing widths, corresponding to the differing heights of your blocks and saw off pieces.

I don't know if this is a decorative panel you are making but my alternative assembly method would in that case allow for the use of different woods to add a degree of creative freedom.

 

[asanoha]

Hi Chris,

I'm getting the same test section cnc routed at the moment, though obviously this will include a radius in every corner so it may not work with my designs. I'm sure this will be too expensive too as the cut time will be ages.

I have considered end grain, but I want the panel design to appear to grow out from a solid piece of wood. These panels will be drawer fronts and also the sides of a cabinet carcass, either cladding them or actually part of the prepared side timber.

I realise what a huge job this is, but I'm hoping that cutting and sanding multiple parts at the same time for up to 4 cabinets will offset this a bit.
Thanks for all your suggestions