EQGuitars
Member
Ah good get. I've been using a Porter Cable for awhile now. When you say round-over dance do you mean the way that the sander wants to move or that it's rounding over the edge of the wood?
Obital sander advice
- Thread starter OfArtAndArsenal
- Start date
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There's a limit to how flat an orbital sander can sand, especially on edges or on a surface that is small (like a headstock or something)
The thing to do is just keep that in mind and employ a flat-block. My suggestion is to use the orbital for the first grit (probably 120 or 180) then flat-block the next step, then if you want you can either finish with a very light pass on the orbital with your final grit (320, 400, whatever) or continue flat-blocking all the way to the end, preferably going with the grain of the wood.
By the time you reach 400 grit, if you have uniformly removed all other scratches, the 400 grit scratches themselves will all but disappear when a finish is applied.
There are of course numerous variables and considerations that I couldn't possibly go into here, but these would be my basic suggestions. Ultimately you will find techniques that work best for you and for your intended goals, so I'd suggest experimentation on scrap woods just to see what does and doesn't work for you personally.
AwDeOh
Well-Known Member
^ Both of my Ryobi sanders are similar, the square non-velcro one in particular (the type that holds paper with wire bars front and back). It's the soft foam on the sander's bottom, it allows the paper to conform a little. I'm thinking about removing that foam and replacing it with something like an acrylic plate.. will post pics if I do.
OfArtAndArsenal
Well-Known Member
That one.
Flat block like a cork block or like a piece of scrap wood?
If you can get a very very flat piece of Maple, Oak, or some other very hard wood, then wood will work very well. Any sort of synthetic material like phenolic or acrylic, anything you can get really flat, of proper size, and can be easily cleaned (if you use the self-adhesive paper, it can sometimes leave a residue or bits of the paper backing stuck on the block)
Or, you could buy a really hard rubber block at the hardware store. I think they're usually like $5, and sometimes they have little tabs with nails in them so you can attach non-adhesive paper
Whatever you do, get something fairly rigid or you'll just keep rounding over edges. Foam and soft rubber blocks work really well for sanding urethane or lacquer, but they're total crap for trying to get wood really flat.
I've seen some people also use blocks of glass for sanding blocks -- nice and flat, and very hard. I've had OK luck with a cork sanding block that is chamfered on one face. You can find that kind of thing easily from a woodworking shop. I agree with the comment about the foam blocks -- a couple came with my set of Micromesh papers and for leveling and polishing finish they're great -- not for heavy sanding, though.
ALthough the OP already bought a ROS, I'd add Bosch to the list of good quality tools that are usually reasonably priced. I like my Bosch ROS, and I also have a jigsaw of theirs. The Colt palm router is a phenomenal tool -- I use it for many more parts of my builds than my larger, Rigid router. So far it's been a real champ. The workshop at my job has Festool tools (routers, sanders, Kapex miter saw). They are excellent, and well-integrated as a system (although other companies, like Bosch, have started doing this to, particularly with dust collection/tool combos). I've heard from other woodworkers that Festool equipment tends to both last longer (one cabinet maker told me, speaking of ROS's, that he was going through about one every 6 months until he bought a Festool, which was still rocking after a couple of years), and be more precise than other tools, particularly routing operations. Their routers are also well-designed ergonomically -- having that longer handle is good for control. But yeah: $$$. For now I will stick with Bosch.
ALthough the OP already bought a ROS, I'd add Bosch to the list of good quality tools that are usually reasonably priced. I like my Bosch ROS, and I also have a jigsaw of theirs. The Colt palm router is a phenomenal tool -- I use it for many more parts of my builds than my larger, Rigid router. So far it's been a real champ. The workshop at my job has Festool tools (routers, sanders, Kapex miter saw). They are excellent, and well-integrated as a system (although other companies, like Bosch, have started doing this to, particularly with dust collection/tool combos). I've heard from other woodworkers that Festool equipment tends to both last longer (one cabinet maker told me, speaking of ROS's, that he was going through about one every 6 months until he bought a Festool, which was still rocking after a couple of years), and be more precise than other tools, particularly routing operations. Their routers are also well-designed ergonomically -- having that longer handle is good for control. But yeah: $$$. For now I will stick with Bosch.
I've heard there are some orbital sanders that can mold to the shape of the body and preserve an arch-top shape and accurately preserve curves and contour for a refinishing job. I do a lot of refinishing of old guitars and I do it by hand most of the time, but an orbital sander has really been appealing lately. I just want to confirm if there are any out there that can do this.
OfArtAndArsenal
Well-Known Member
I've got one of these:
Works quite well. I was just hoping to be able to use the ROS as it seems (could very well be false preception caused by new-toy-itis) to do a better job.
Works quite well. I was just hoping to be able to use the ROS as it seems (could very well be false preception caused by new-toy-itis) to do a better job.
neotronic
Well-Known Member
I have this festool circular saw Circular saw TS 55 R - TS 55 RQ-Plus . There is absolutely nothing to complain about it. It's extremely precise, I once cut a 0.1mm (that would be 0.004 inch) thin lamella off a plywood board - I was quite shocked so I had to measure it ;-) The engine is very strong, I almost can't feel any force when plunging the saw. The dust collection works extremely well too.
I love the saws clever design, I could not find anything on i it, that would not be well thought out. Well I am sparing money for a new router now ;-)
I have no experience with the mentioned sander, but if it is as good as my saw, than it would be money well spent.
I would try some practicing with both. I find my ROS to be great when trying to smooth out something that's a bit uneven (was using it for precisely this purpose today to work on a somewhat oddly-shaped belly carve). But I also find that it tends to leave little circular scratch marks that are hard to get rid of. I'm sure my technique is not great, but I've found that for some projects, I've used the ROS to do some of the heavy lifting, but followed it with a sanding block and paper, sanding with the grain, to remove any lingering scratches and bring things up to the point of being ready for finish. I'm sure it depends on a lot of things, like the paper (I have only used Norton ROS papers so far) and, again, perfecting technique is always the ultimate key to success, but I'd work over some scrap before hitting anything you care about. And that rubber block will take you quite far -- you may not need the ROS too often.
OfArtAndArsenal
Well-Known Member
I think you may be refering to a bowl sander. They actually attach to a drill (or drill press I suppose) and are much more flexible than a normal palm sander.
Yeah, something like this, but I've seen these attached to what appear to be orbital sanders and I've seen YouTube vids where they're used for the purpose of preserving the shape they're working on.
