Whats the difference other than the extra cash for the powerpads? Is one better quality than the other?
Also, if you only had the cash to buy one sanding pad which would it be? A soft or a medium? I only have enough cash to get one sanding pad and I want to use it for both finishing a shaped blank and for sanding a glassed board.
Flexpads have a foam backing pad. Powerpads have a metal backing pad. Both are good brands are good. If you take care of them they will both last you a long time. If you want to sand a board I like using a 8" hard or medium for initial hotcoat sanding. As for sanding a shaped blank a flexpas softie is the softest in my opinion. Even the flexpads soft is softer than the powerpad supersoft. If you want one to finish a shaped blank and sand a hotcoat I guess a soft flexpad would be best. Hope this helps.
Drop one and the metal backer bends rendering the pad so wobbly it is unusable. Drop the other and the plastic backer cracks or shatters. It's all in how you care for them.
i use both and ho-maders too !..............
................. but in my book flex-pads win hands down !
herb
Why the Fuck would anyone sand a pre shaped computer pop board with an electric sander?
Are you kidding! I thought surfboards were about true lines.
And then you want to throw an electric sander on it… And then call yourself a shaper.
Ok, thats a step up from a monkey! but only one little step!!!
Sander to finish a pre shape Lazy, lazy, lazy! You may as well be making toys in china!
Shaper NO factory worker YES!..Sander On a fucking Blank! FUCK me!
50 yrs of using sanders never eva put one on foam
cant even see why i would need to?
fking e p s &machines gone and stuffed up the whole thing
fking good to be old and laugh at this shit
** cheers huie
**
I’m probably not qualified to comment, but I have one of each. I prefer my flexpad because it’s flatter. I don’t like the crown on my powerpad.
Dwight, There is a reason for the crown my friend.When the machine exceeds 2000 RPM’s the crown on a POWER PAD goes flat and you don’t get build up at the edge of your sandpaper that will put swirls ito the surface of your board especially in wet sanding. When a pad starts flat then runs, it gets a concave and build up starts at the edge putting swirls into the surface.
Mahalo,Larry
Yorky--------- I don't think he's referring to a CNC'ed blank, but rather a handshaped blank that's power sanded. Some guys use a sander after the planer to get rid of planer tails and to flip the nose, instead of using a Surform or heavy blocking with sand paper. Some pretty notable shapers have been doing that for years. Alot of guys make up their own "squishy" pads by adding/gluing soft upholstery foam to an existing pad. Very effecient on harder/denser foams such as Bennet, Midget's etc After Clark alot of guys who would have never used a sander on a soft Clark started power sanding here in the US .. Theres really no need to do that on a US blank as they shape easily. Surfblanks America is denser and harder so power sanding speeds up the process. Denser and harder is a good thing just takes a little more elbow grease. Having said that; I have seen a certain shaper take a sander to a CNC'ed blank. He had the ridges gone and screened in about five minutes total both sides. Gotta be pretty damned good with a sander to even attempt such a thing. Just another production method.
i shape eps entirely with a sander.
herb
Why?
[quote="$1"]
[quote="$1"]
i shape eps entirely with a sander.
herb
[/quote]
Why?
[/quote]
because it fast and very accurate.
i have great control over my sanders.
the flipside to that coin...............
...............i've seen guys destroy a blank in seconds with a saw or planer.
herb
[quote="$1"]
50 yrs of using sanders never eva put one on foam
cant even see why i would need to?
fking e p s &machines gone and stuffed up the whole thing
fking good to be old and laugh at this shit
cheers huie
[/quote]
well, after 50 years i'd say no too !
think of it this way huie, w/o guys like us........here............the land of the surftech would take over.
herb
After Clark; I started using Midget's blanks and a few King-Mac's on Maui. My time spent on a average longboard blank increased forty-five minutes to an hour and my shoulder and hands were alot sorer. With a little trepidation I broke out the Milwaukee. Cleaned things up a lot quicker. I was told by a well known Aussie shaper and blank manufacturer that he has been power sanding for years. A lot of guys use 'em over here and have for years. They just won't admit it. To each his own.
I beg to differ!
How can something spinning round cut truer then a planer. With each step you take you would have to change the angle of the cutting disc to some degree. Run your planer down the side with your eyes closed and it will cut a true line…???
You can NOT see a true line (curve) , over the length of a surfboard using a Sander, No matter how good anyone says they are.
Shaping bays have lights on the sides for a reason. To create shadows on flats to get a visual of the linear aspects of the blank while shaping it to get the whole board balanced then roll everything into a curved form.
How? Why? would any one use a rounded machine to Shape with??
I mean no disrespect and I couldn’t really give a stuff, But do you know what I mean?
Shaping EPS is like a hot knife through butter when using a planer anyway.
yorkie,
by no means is this a new cutting edge technique.
randy lewis was the first person i saw shaping with a sander back in the mid 70's.
and i use both routary and belt sanders.
to put it to you a different way.............
those who can.............do.
those who can't..........don't.
herb
in a word…VELZY
basa told me that a kid from newport that was his helper
for awhile in wainiha,could shape a whole board
in 20 minutes with a sander I take for granted it was a disc,
amd not an-hook looped gerbel with mittens-
the most early random orbit sander
… ppopular before humane society scrutiny
Then in my velzy studies I came accross some info
that velzy was useing a sander instead of a planer to shape.
BALSA
The sander is not a grain ripper when you get a reversal.
the TRAINING as a sander can make one completely
competent with a sander moreso than starting out
with the planer cool ,shapers dont sand? some never do
and because of it the confidence/competence proportion
is lacking.I other words hebology 101 the can and do
are aquired skills.
walking a clean line with a mini grinder is entirely possible
and,for what it is worth the cut on one pass done slowly
can remove more than the 1/8’’ common maximum removal
of a power planer. Now as to cleaning up the bands
of a planer with an orbital palm sander… just try it at a very low speed
oh yes a variable speed sander is highly recomended
foam goes away real quick at 10,000 rpms and
a slow speed random orbit sander is way cool.
It also helps to adapt to the saannnnder technique
to practice every morning getting up and writing
a real big run on sentence.
…ambrose…
problems writing run-on sentences
go with the difficulty using a sander
for everything…good for shaping
soft pads and UDT fins,crust on cars
sharpening cane knives, shovels,chisels
cleaning fishing floats
lets call shaping with a sander
a christmas gift from under the fishing float xmas tree.
Hey Ambrose! Where's your handheld radiation detector? Heard those japanese balls are radio active.
Keep in mind; I am NOT talking about shaping a whole blank with a sander. I don't advise that for the reasons mentioned above by yorky. I am only talking about clean up of a planed blank to remove tails, high spots etc. Basically doing what some folks would do with a Surform. Velzy used a planer. He shaped a lot of wood so he probably used a sander more than most on all those balsas etc. Guys that have a history of shaping wood can do stuff that a shaper who grew up on foam can't. Some block with the sander and then finish off by hand. But certainly not every body. Stay away from foam with an Orbital. Some guys use them to finish sanding a hotcoat, but they wouldn't have to if they had better command of their Milwaukee and a pad. The only thing I ever used an Orbital for in a glass shop was burnishing a wiped on finish with a 3M pad.
As a teenager, all I had to work with was a Sears Craftsman orbital sander, I shaped and glassed several entire PU blanks/boards with it. Worked fine without leaving cut lines in the foam and was good for even hotcoat sanding. Not the fastest way to shape but, I wasn’t in a hurry.
Drawback, the dust built up quick in the sander, overheat, and burned it up. Fortunately Craftsman had a lifetime guarantee in the late 60s-early 70s, so I just took it back and got another. Seems like the modern vacuum attachments that are common now would solve that problem.