Hey guys, I’m about to tackle my first shaping project and have been busy gathering info and collecting all the tools required for the job. Can someone please tell me if you can use an angle grinder fitted with a sanding disc or would the rpm be to great for the task? Any suggestions on the best option…variable speed polisher? Cheers, Brenden
For your first board dont even think about using any kind of electric sander to shape with
And for your second board don’t even think about using any kind of electric sander to shape with
And for your third board…
and so on …
Using a sander gives you no control over how much you remove. Better off using a surform.
Sander is not good for shaping for a lot of reasons…
I agree with SammyA: absolutely no control of depth, curvature and planarity,
and more, if you want try use only for polyuretane blanks, in high density EPS blank is impossible, High speed of disc melt EPS creating a great deal of effort.
The grinder will spin too fast
any electric sander leaves a large margin for error and should only be used by experienced shapers and even they do not use them for much besides maybe a light finish sand.
as you get better alot of your shaping can be done with a planer but until then just use the planner to skin the blank then use a surform and sanding block. atleast for your first few boards
Thanks for the feedback guys…I’ll steer away from using an electric sander. I started the board today using a planner, so far, so good! Will take my time and stick with the basics first time round. Appreciate your help…cheers.
“I Will take my time and stick with the basics first time round”
Learning the “basics” will take you a long way…I use a “sander”. It is a shaping tool but not until you have really grasp the “basics”. It is a “shaping” tool NOT a light finishing tool…Not everyone agrees on the use of the sander. I was introduced to it a long time ago and it is the next step after the planer in my process…Learn the basics tool wise shape wise…
Plenty of Guys who do a lot of machine shapes use variable speed machine with a soft pad …
I don’t know much about this subject, at all, but I am under the impression there is a significant difference between a right-angle grinder with a sanding disc, and a polisher with a pad and sanding disc. In the videos they look very different to me.
I’m like someone mentioned above: most my boards are spaced so far apart in time I don’t really make much progress mastering the planer on foam, so I use it to skin the blank then shape slowly with a surform. I know some pros hate to hear that, but it works for me. I really try to slow the shaping part down, because I don’t have a quota or a deadline, I just want to make sure I get what’s in my head, and I was told it is easier to take foam off than add it back, so that’s how I proceed.
I use a planer to do the heavy cutting, then go to large sanding blocks. I tried using a sander/polisher once. I didn’t like the way it will bite the foam and mess things up real fast.
You need to learn how to use that tool on foam. It can be very unforgiving.
I have a compsand bonzer board I made back in 2005 or so that had a glassed on side fin break and cause a delam. I tried to use that sander with a grinding pad to knock down the build up and fix the board and I really messed it up. That was the first time I used that sander. The board’s been sitting on a rack for a very long time waiting for me to figure out how to make it look right again.