1/4 sheet sanders are great but all the glass shop pros will be using a 1/2 sheet sander. It allows the person to control more surface area and a better outcome.
As easternpacific says, quarter sheet sanders are nice, but if you want to do large areas the half-sheet model is the way to go. For me, the question of which sander to use is governed by how large an area it is I have to sand, and if the area is something like a surfboard I’d go with the half sheet. A small ding repair, that’d be the quarter sheet.
I will also advise against the small, cheap and cheezy half and quarter sheet sanders. Bear in mind that this is a tool used to do finish, and a bad tool can bugger that up mighty quick. Looking at better sanders, used, might be a good economy move; that’s what I did.
The random orbit sanders (Both random orbit and orbital sanders can be classed as finishing sanders. ) like the Porter Cable #7335 are another alternative. Or the very inexpensive air-powered equivalents that are around $40 US. You do need a fairly healthy compressor to run one, however.
Wet sanding with power sanders is almost exclusively done with air power. And even then you kinda want to ask yourself ‘why’. If you need to take off enough to justify a power sander, well, that’s not wet sanding anyhow. Better to use a coarser paper, dry, than be there forever with fine grit wet sanding. Then, quickly attack that with some wet sanding by hand and finish up with a reasonably aggresive polishing compound and an electric polisher.
Lastly - if you’re not doing production work, you can do quite a lot by hand sanding if you’re willing to throw a very little money at sandpaper and take a litttle time. It also forces you to do everything else quite well in order to limit how much sanding you have to do.
This is a plus, I think; one time I was doing dings for a while in a place with no electricity and it forced me to really get my technique down so I wouldn’t be there all day with coarse paper, hand sanding.
Howzit doc, I was talking with a friend who is a wood craftsman and he was telling me about a tool that is a combo orbital sander and grinder. I am going to ask him for more info on the tool since it sounds like a nice one to add to my tool chest. HAve you ever seen such a tool.Aloha,Kokua
hey, Kokua -
what he might be talking about is a pneumatic item that’s both a random orbital sander and disc sander, like http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2629
I have a very similar item that was made for the NAPA auto parts chain. Mine has a 6" PSA type pad, not terribly soft ( although it’s kinda getting old ) . Give or take that it uses a lot of air, I like it, does an okay job of sanding on stuff like heavy fiberglass or metal/bondo assemblies that you wouldn’t want to attack with a full-on 8" disc grinder.
Noisy little devil, like most air tools. The adjustable valve that governs overall airflow will get you down to a pretty low speed, though not really slow 'cos beyond a certain point you don’t get enough torque to keep it running and it stalls. But you can set it a little higher and blip the paddle like a trigger.
I have thought about using it for wet sanding with spray-on pad adhesive and wet sandpaper but never got around to it, plus I was very disappointed by the results I got with a truly teensy 1/6 or 1/8 pneumatic jitterbug-type sander and wet sandpaper. That was a very silly tool.
On the other hand, putting a polishing bonnet on it and using it as a polisher either random orbital or rotary, that seems like it’d have some real possibilities.
This is not an oil-less tool, by the way, you want to give it a few drops of air tool oil through the inlet before using it. I haven’t had any oil droplet problems on the work the few times I used it but I run it for a few seconds before going near the work, just to get the feel for this particular tool back and I’d guess that it blows most excess through in that interval.
Anyhow- the things are quite cheap, and while I haven’t used mine much I think there’s some potential there.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
Howzit doc, I'll talk to my friend and show him the picture to see if it's the one he's talking about. Kinda wonder though since he buys nothing but top quality tools.Thanks for the info. Aloha,Kokua
Kokua
if he only buys the best I bet it’s a Festools Rotex 150 or 125
They’re becoming popular with the woodcraftsmen crew here… low dust emissions
Expensive as hell though especially if you buy the vacuum or go with the airpowered versions of their tools.
Howzit oneula, He just got a Festools power saw that was about $600. And he loves it.Aloha,Kokua
This one is pretty good for a lot less
6?? Dual-Mode Random Orbit Sander/Polisher
Model 1250DEVS
Multiple-purpose sander with two sanding modes: Random Orbit mode for normal stock removal or fine finishing and “Turbo” driven eccentric orbit mode for aggressive stock removal.
Simple sanding mode selector switch - Quickly change between random orbit mode and “Turbo” mode.
Howzit E-pacman, How big is the disc on that sander and is turbo like a grinder, how many RPM’s in turbo. Aloha, Kokua
Anyone use their (festool) planers?
This tool will change your thinking about handheld planers (or rather, handheld jointers)! It�s light, significantly more quiet than most other planers I have used, and virtually vibration free. Best of all, the glass-smooth finish is astounding. The quick-change single knife spiral carbide cutter head spins at 10,000 rpm for glass smooth cuts and it cuts right to the edge of the housing so rabbets can be as deep or shallow as needed. When connected to a Festool dust extractor, virtually no debris escapes.
Features:
� Power consumption: 850 watts/7amp,120v AC
� Drive shaft speed: 10000 rpm.
� Cutting depth: 0-9/64" (0-3.5mm)
� Rebating depth: unlimited
� Head width: 3-15/64" (82mm)
� Noise level at idle: 79 dB(A)
� Weight: 8.6lbs. (3.9kg)
� Long infeed and out feed sole plates
� Planer head is mounted on one side for unlimited rebate depth and planing up to an edge
� V-groove in shoe allows for corner beveling
� Lockable depth adjuster
� Fast blade changes, takes only 6o seconds
� Single spiral blade requires no adjustment of cutting circle diameter and planer head
� Smooth start up and constant cutting speed under load
� Thermal overload protection
� Left or right side mounting of pivoted chip deflector and dust extraction port
Includes:
� Parallel guide
� Rabate depth guide
� #4 sustainer (12" x 11-5/8" x 15-5/8")
$420 though . . .
http://www.festools.com nice selection . . . you could spend a large fortune up in here. . .