Ok, so its become painfully obvious i need a lot of help sander wise. I know a random orbital is the way to go, but does it matter if its the one that looks like a grinder, with the handle, or can it be the ones that have a round body, with a stubby kinda handle on the opposite side of the trigger switch. I hope i have not completely confused anyone. I have seen el cheapo’s and i have seen the fancy ones, but im not sure which way to go. At the moment i am using a sanding attachment on my power drill, but it just isnt working as good as by hand.
you want to get a disc sander/polisher. cheap ones are $35. good ones are $280+. this is one of those things where the more you spend, the more you get…so get the most expensive one you can afford. if you’re only making a couple boards a year, you can probably get away with a cheapo. but if board building is going to be either frequent or more long term, then make the investment and buy yourself a good sander.
I only make afew boards per year so I bought a full size polisher/sander from an auto parts place for about $40.00. Then you can get the power pads or make sanding pads for it. I also have an air powered random orbital that works well. If you have a compressor this is a tool that you can get fairly cheap from Harbor Freight or on ebay etc.
If you get a polisher/sander( the one with the big handle on the side ) make sure it is variable speed. Some of the inexpensive ones are not and this is an important feature.
Harbor freight is having a thankgiving sale and their variable speen sander/polisher will be/is 18.88…a steal in my opinion. I have one, things works great. I don’t have anything to compare it to but it does what it’s supposed to. You can buy a warrenty on it as well. But for about $20, i’d buy two. I’m not sure if the sale will be available at the online store as well, but at the store they are having the sale, and an after thankgiving day sale as well.
Thanks for the replies people. I think i will go with a cheaper one, i will definately not be doing this a lot, maybe one a year. Also, i plan to make sure that im only sanding to finish the board, like im gunna make 100% sure that the board is FULLY ready for the hot coat, instead of just thinking " Ah, no worries, the hotcoat will hide that bump, drip, dip ". I checked out harbour freight, but that sander is AU$50, plus shipping. I have seen the cheaper ones here for about the same, so i dont think i’ll go that way, if something goes wrong it will be a long drive to return it haha!. My workmate says a local shop has skil stuff, so im gunna check them out.
P.S does the wattage count?? i have seen the wattage vary between models from 200w to 1000w. Is more grunt better??
Rate your sander by the amps it draws, not the watts, watts are for blow dryers and light bulbs. The more amps the better in my book
Grinders pull about 4-5 amps, bigger sanders pull for 5-8 amps, and circular worm drive saws are about 11-15 amps
Shoot for a sander that is rated at about 8 amps. You can find all sorts of good looking sanders that have weak motors. The harbor freight sander looks substantial, but has a weak motor. If you have a variable speed sander with a weak motor, when you sand at a low rmp and apply heavy pressure you start to burn the motor out…You can smell it.
If your only going to do a board or so per year, then your ok, but if you use your tools for other things, then you’ll be sorry. Buy right and it will be the last sander you’ll even own, buy wrong and it will be the first of many sanders too come.
Look at a construction site and the names of the tools that guys use. You’ll find no Harbor Freight tools there. Want to know why?
I have used my makita sander polisher every day for the past ten years with only one rebuild and that was just brushes and switch.
It’ the 9227CB 1200w variable speed. Expensive but worth every cent. When it was out of action I bought a cheap ( at the time ) Ryobi, did the job for a few weeks but you could feel it was unbalanced and made weird noises.
The other machine I use is a Bosch proffessional series random orbital, beautiful machine perfectly balanced and quiet.
Good tools really do make the difference if you are using them regularly. But for amount of sanding you are going to do the cheaper machines should be fine.
I’ve seen them pretty cheap from GMC and they come with a two year home warranty so maybe worth a try.
I would suggest a variable speed machine as they are a pretty aggressive machine and remove a lot of material fast. Also if this is your first glassing job a random orbital may not be enough to get it to the level you would like.
I noticed you are on the south coast so if you are anywhere near Culburra or Passing through Nowra you can drop in and check out my machines if you like.
Thats why i like the cheap ones, they usually have a 2 year replacement warranty. It would only be used for sanding boards, so it should last a while. Im near shellharbour by the way. Gunna go to the shed this arvo and try to finish my board.
Cheers and thanks for all the replies once again fella’s, this place is so friendly when it comes to giving out advice to noobs!.
speaking of keeping costs down. local pawn shops usually have a wide array of sanders, etc… in good used condition. no warranties, but i’d rather have one of those than a $20 harbor freight special.
All my HF sanders will/have handled any pads that can be bought .Also I have a custom 9.5" pad I built as well.
My oldest HF sander is a two speeder and has out lived a few high end sanders.It’s still going to this date.The only thing that doesn’t work on it anymore is the consistant on button,that I could fix,but in it’s 5 or 6 year run, it has preformed beautifully.The newer HF variable job(the smaller amp one) comes with a hoop handle that I didn’t like, so I changed it out and adapted a side handle to it.I’ve had it for a year or so and it runs as well as any top end sanders I have used/owned.
The best sander/polisher in my opinion is the Makita.I have both the two speeder and the variable one.The thing that separates this sander from the rest is it’s head.The gearing is superior to any of the other sanders in production,because it has no button stop.Kinda like in fishing, the differences between a conventional reel and a spinning reel,better known as a coffee grinder…speaking of coffee,I need anothercup ! Herb
Howzit beerfan, If you know how many watts it uses you can figure out how many amps by dividing the watts by volts. It’s a formular electricians use every day. Say the sander uses 330 watts, divide that by 110 volts and you get 3 amps. If you had the amps and wanted to know the watts you’ld multiply the amps by the volts 3x110=330 watts. Aloha,Kokua
That equation works for purely resistive loads, but isn’t exactly true for inductive loads such as motors. The real equations use complex numbers to represent the phase difference caused by inductive or capacitive loads (i.e., reactive loads). It might be good enough for comparing tools though, I’m not really sure off-hand.
Ok, so its become painfully obvious i need a lot of help sander wise. I know a random orbital is the way to go, but does it matter if its the one that looks like a grinder, with the handle, or can it be the ones that have a round body, with a stubby kinda handle on the opposite side of the trigger switch. I hope i have not completely confused anyone.
First off, what are you intending to sand? And what do you want to do w/it?
Mainly for finishing the board mate. Hmm i’ll keep that formula in mind CEO Bodgy Brothers Boards inc
I was looking for more information to be specific about sanders. Wood, foam, fiberglass all could use different set ups. You can’t really get good results w/ one unless you are just doing rough sand - onlys. Right? You will need an orbital ( a good 1/2 sheet sander) as well as a disk.
Sorry mate, it will be for sanding down the hotcoat mainly. And i guess sanding down the laps before the hotcoat. I dont do gloss coats, and dont plan on doing them.
