Guys, what is the best way to and cured resin so an not to inhale the stuff or have dust everywhere. I currently wet sand my ding repairs and even hate that, after the slurry dries the dust seems to be even finer. I am thinking my best bet is to wet sand and collect all the runnoff in a bucket and tip it in the loo. Any other suggestions other than using less resin and cutting the excess off once its cured, before its hard so I dont need to sand as much? is the dust Toxic, Andy
Andy, the cleaner you put it on, the less you’ll have to sand off! Get a good respirator,and park a fan blowing the dust away from you. I’ve known sanders who coat their arms with vaseline to avoid the itch factor! Fiberglass dust is basically minute particles of glass. It goes in the skin and lungs.
I love to sand! Cover yourself with baby powder before you put on your sanding clothes. A respirator is a must. Have lots of fresh sand paper on hand-don’t waste time with worn out sandpaper.
Howzit Rick, I’m with you when it comes to sanding. It used to be my weak point,but I kept at it and now I actually look forward to sanding. I think it brings out my sadistic side. Aloha, Kokua
If I can add my two-cents, I always set up my shop fan to suck away the dust not blow it. I have a big 36" fan (+/- $150 @ Home-Depot)that I set up on a stand at board height across from where I stand and it blows out the door. If you set it up to blow, the air currents and vortex will put that crap down your shirt, up your sleeves and all over the shop. You shouldn’t have glass in your dust unless you’re hitting the weave.
What is a good type of electric sander, My orbital burned right through;it was too powerfull
You know, I was just searching the archives for this actually. Is there a prefernce by people over a grinder compared to an orbital sander? The reason I ask is because sanding is to really be an extension of your arm, this fluid movement that should bring your board together. Is there a reason to use a grinder over an orbital? Is it bad to use an orbital? Just cuirous. P.S. I recently had the pleasure of testing some Metabo powertools, mainly the orbital sander, grinder and planer, and holy christ are they smooth. They are by far, the smoothest machines I’v ever held in my hand. They are also incredibly well made as most of the parts are metal as opposed to plastic, and god, I can’t say enough about how user friendly they are. Definitely sweet tools. Going to probably buy their planer soon. http://www.metabo.com/com/english/
Howzit Christian, I would say sanding with a grinder would do a faster job. I’ve used orbitals for blending a glossed repairs and they work really good for that. But I think sanding a whole board with one would take a long time and since sanders are paid by the board it only makes sense to go with the grinder. On the other hand an inexperienced person could totally ruin a sand job with a grinder. For a casual board builder I guess an orbital works,but being one who does about 100 boards a year I’ll take my Makita any day.Aloha, Kokua
Most sanders ive seen prefer the Milwaukee grinder…cant remember what model right now. Ive tried it and the thing is pretty heavy though, you can develop some pretty killer forearms using that thing.
Howzit Jason, The Makita weighs about 4lbs less than a Milwaukee so you might not develop those big forearms but you’ll last longer at the sanding racks. I’ve talked to a few people who use or used to use Milwaukees and there is an issue with their variable speeds rheostat. One glasser over here sent his milwaukee back to be repaired ( trigger ) it broke again after only 2 months. 1 of my Makitas is 8 yrs. old and the other is 5 yrs old and they just keep purring along. They did a short story about Skip Engblom in Surfers Journal a few years back. They talked about his sanding skills and in the picture he had a Makita next to him. In fact I’m thinking about trying a Hitachi, they’re supposed to be a good machine. Aloha, Kokua
for my first 30 boards i used a metabo orbital, ive had a grinder for a while now and use that for the large areas as i can sand a board in around 15mins with it compared to an hour with the orbital, but when it comes to anything crutial and fine sinding the orbital is the tool of choice!! If anyone were to get an orbital the metabo is the best there is only one problem ive had with it is the variable switch which is plastic and sticks occasionally last time it did this i just popped the whole thing out it doesnt have the variable option now, but i never used that anyways. paul
i love sanding…pays ok too!!! i use the milwaukee 0-2700rpm. use 120 deck then bottom with same sheet. make sure just to let the weight of the sander. otherwise youll get scratch marks. then hit the deck and the rails with 180. hand sand rails with 180 sheet from the deck you just used. hit bottom with new 180. deck with 320 and botom with new 320. hand sand rails with 320 and your done. takes about 30 mins per board. hope this helps. use the milwaukee though. i love them
Howzit Pauluk, Every time I use my grinders I give them a good blast with my air hose. Don’t do this when they’re running since you might damage the armature. Milwaukee told Bobby Allen (BASA Surfboards) they would not honor their guaranty if he didn’t clean his grinder with an air compressor. Aloha, Kokua
I have both the Milwaukee and the Makita.I like the weight of the Milwaukee but then again I am used to it.The same argument can be made for Skil 100’s versus the Clark Hitachi Planer.I have both of those also.Its a personal choice I guess.One option you have is to buy a separate speed control (around 30 bucks)this will make any power tool into a variable speed by use of a dial.Like the boys said it is really important to blow em out with an air compressor.The real secret is in the pads (power pads) that flex along the curves of a board.I use medium,soft, and a super soft.Sanding is kinda fun,if you are getting the itch it usually means a bad hotcoat and hitting weave.Keep on grinding. R. Brucker
Howzit Mr. Clean, I like the idea of using a Milwaukee for bottoms and a Makita for decks and rails. It would be like using the Skil for taking deep cuts or doing bottoms and using the Hitachi for rails and in the nose area. I do believe the Makita is as good and maybe even a better made tool than the Milwaukee (it seems they are all made in Japan these days). But when it comes to planers I don’t think Hitachis ars even in the same ballpark as Skils when it comes to being a quality made tool. The Hitachi seems more like a toy.As for pads I got every pad except a super hard power pad. I especially like the way the Ferro pads work on decks and rails. Aloha and take care Mr. Clean , Kokua
Right on.I love the Ferro pad in the supersoft mode…just never can remember the name.As for the Skil I couldn’t shape without it,I agree that the Hitachi is somewhat of a toy.Bosch makes a better tool if you dont have the skil 100 and it has a reversible dust chute for us left handers. R.B.
I really like the Hitachi sander SP18v Its variable speed 5 settings up to 2600 i think I was bought one for a side job i was doing and the guy gave it to me as he had no use, its light but powerful and ive had no problems, I got rid of the 2 milwaukees I had and now have 4 of the hitachis each with its own pad and one with a bonnet, great setup http://hardinsurf.com
Howzit Surflab the Hitachi I looked into had a top variable speed of around 3300 rpms. Might be a different model, Aloha, Kokua
Do you keep both sizes of the Power Pad too? I grabbed the medium size, mainly because I ran a couple calculations (ok, that’s a lie, I sketched it out on Illustrator) and found that I could cut two circles for the small pad out of a single 9 x 11 sheet of sand paper. I like the medium, fits between fins well, and seems suffient for sanding shortboards… of course anything is faster than my previous method - i.e. the sanding block. Do you find the large that much better for doing decks and bottoms?
We actually make out on “power pads” go to an upholstery shop and get 2 inch thick foam the most dense they have, epoxy glue, and backing pads from harbor freight or some other cheap tool place and a piece of denim fabric store or old jeans, 1. glue the spindle to the backing pad with epoxy, 2. cut bigger than desired size circle of the foam 3: sand backing pad with 40 grit slather with more epoxy 4:epoxy foam to backing pad, using a weight to keep pressure let dry 5:cut perfect 7{or desired whatever matches backing pads} inch circle of denim use backing pad to trace outline 6[tongue]ut backing pad on your sander and use surform against side to “sand” it to the exact shape/diameter of your pad. 7:glue onto foam with a regular type glue or heavy duty adhesive DO NOT USE EPOXY you want something that will flex spray 77 is decent. these will work just as good as a power pad but they only cost about 9.00 each I also make one for the rails the EXACT same way except i use a 4 inch thick piece of the SOFTEST foam. it wraps those babies so nice it will even curve up a glassed on fin. If you cannot find the backing pads, you can use the grinding wheels that have the threads bult in and assemble the same way. Same price i just prefer the backing pads.