I have had some trouble finding a good orbital sander that i could use for glassing purposes. I have found some pretty inexpensive angle grinders though. I was wondering if you could take the guard of off the grinder, and then convert it into a sander. I think this would work pretty good, but i might have to adapt the pads to fit the rotor. Also, i think i am going to get a hf planer, but they have a couple for sale. Which one have people found to be the best, and do you think they need some modifications. Any help would do, as this will be my first set of shaping tools i am going to get.
Everyone gives me sh*t for baggin on HF, but why start with junk? I’d want my first set to be good quality. It’s hard enough trying to overcome the challenges and difficulties of shaping and glassing for a begginer, why add the frustration of poor quality tools? Just my thought. Good luck though, I wish you success no matter what.
Not entirely sure what you mean by ‘angle grinder’, though I should warn you that the 10,000 rpm models typically swinging a 4", 4 1/2" or 5" wheel don’t work real well for surfboard work. Too fast, too small, you can do a great deal of damage in a very short time. Whici I am rather embarassed to admit I found out the hard way. A small repair became a larger one, fast.
As you are already acquainted with Harbor Freight, I’d suggest a look at some of the Archives that comment on their 7" variable speed polisher/sander. Far better tool for the purpose, and you will also find tips on making your own custom disc backing pads, discs and so forth.
Just to anticipate a little: These shop-made ( 'cos the term home-made is kinda perjorative- they are very good if ya follow the directions ) backing pads will work fine in the 0-3000 RPM range but I would be very leery about trying to make one work at 10,000 RPM. Were it to fail, things could get real ugly and real painful real fast.
Planers - I have one of their #32222 planers, an older one in green plastic, though I don’t use it for shaping. I’ve been surprised with how well it has held up in general woodworking and abuse, though it doesn’t really compare with a Rockwell 653. Then again, I can kinda abuse it just for that reason.
hope that’s of use
doc…
look for a grinder that has a removable gaurd, you can buy the adptors to allow the grinder to take a pad or g-mop, also check that the rpm does not exceed that of the pad you want to use
You can do it, but I’d add an inline variable speed plug. They sell them mainly for routers. 4000-4500 rpm is the fastest you’d want to sand surfboards.
Festools 5" Rotex combination Grinder Sander $300-$350 with Turbo 3 Switched Dust Vacuum $500-$600
Liek you said you won’t regret buying the best…
The Mercedes of sanding equipment zero dust… Sand in your bedroom…
One day I will have one too…
Howzit!
Basically you can convert a anglegrinder so you can use it flat to sand.
You can also convert it to operate at a variable speed (solder in a adjustable resistor or capacitor)
but what you wont get is a sander that will bring a lot of power at low speeds.
So what I’m telling you is: You can do whatever you want, but I’m sure you won’t get the result you are hoping for.
I once sanded a board with an anglegrinder… it worked but I had 2 spots to repair afterwords (leashplug area, fin area).
Keep in mind that nothing beats a good polisher!
geef
No no no please don’t take guards off of power tools. If you have to then its the wrong tool and could bite.
i use an angle grinder w/ the guard taken off works great and its varible speed as far as i know orbital sanders and grinders have the same threaded end
l8r on
brandon