which sander to get

Chris:

I don't know how it will work for your specific product mix, but my choices are
as follows:
- 6x48" vertical belt sander (can also sand some curves on the top roller
without too much effort)
- Oscillating vertical drum sander (next best for dealing with curves)
- wide belt sander (24" open end, can do 48" in alternate passes)
- 6x80 edge sander (as you might guess, I don't do a lot of long, flat edges,
and can take care of the few table top edges I do work on with hand operated
power sanders).

Note that the first two take a very small amount of relative floor space. The
wide belt sander takes more, because it takes the place of a large drum sander
(for table tops, I would really rather have a multiple drum, 60" wide drum
sander, but I don't do enough tables to warrant the thousands of dollars one of
these costs). Given the cost of sanding belts these days, you could easily
substitute an equivalent width drum sander (24" to 30" open end drum sander) and
still be able to sand a 48" wide tabletop. No matter what any salesman will try
to tell you, there will be some manual sanding necessary with any double pass
sander like this, but it's still better than doing it all "by hand" or with a
hand operated belt sander...

I use the 6x48 vertical belt sander for typical sanding tasks, plus sharpening
lathe tools, and even use the top roller for curved items (less now, given the
oscillating drum sander), still, a really coarse belt on the 6x48 allows one to
hog off a lot of unwanted wood before going to the oscillating drum... (of
course, a decently close cut with the bandsaw would help just as much, but
depending on whether you already have one, it might make a difference in your
thought processes). THe oscillating drum sander typically runs a 2" drum, so
you can't hog off a lot of wood, but it's good for medium cuts and pre-finishing
processes.

Of course, wide belt sanders and wide drum sanders are typically used for tables
and such, and have limited utility beyond that, unless you use them for
surfacing boards for other projects (a decent planer can get things close enough
that a wide drum or belt of 150 or finer can be used), but if you don't have a
planer, coarse belts/drums can be used in place of a planer if you don't have
one, and are patient. Feeding too fast is the biggest problem of most belt/drum
sanders, leading to premature loading of the "paper" and subsequent burn marks
in the project.

Thanks
--Rick

"[email protected]" wrote:

> I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
> which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm most
> frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander. All my
> other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a multipurpose
> sander.
>
> For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
> which sander would you guys recommend?
>
> The Grizzly G1531 6" x 80" Edge Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/106.cfm
> This lets me do some serious edge sanding for table legs and such. The
> contour part should do most of what I want, but not everything. The radius
> looks to be between 2-3".
>
> The Grizzly G0529 Oscillating Spindle / 12" Disc Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/104.cfm?
> It be a better choice for contour sanding since it oscillates and would do
> multiple radii. Not sure how well the disk would work for longer pieces
> though.
>
> Or I could go cheap and get the Grizzly G9922 Oscillating Spindle Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9922 and get a edge
> sander later on.
>
> If you can't tell, I like Grizzly. My shop is mostly green and it's worked
> out pretty well.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris Corbett

The OSS and Disc get the use in my shop. Don't even keep a belt on the JET
12/6x48 any more, just add when I need it. Tuned planes are really great.

Makes the 0529 the choice, if you're a Grizz lover.

"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
> which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm
most
> frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander. All
my
> other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a
multipurpose
> sander.
>
> For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
> which sander would you guys recommend?

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 02:55:37 GMT, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

I have both a 12" and 9" disk sander, and they take material off REAL
quick... usually quicker than people want it off and in uneven
chunks..
they work great for a drill press or on the Shopsmith as poor boy's
thickness planers, though...

>I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
>which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm most
>frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander. All my
>other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a multipurpose
>sander.
>
>For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
>which sander would you guys recommend?
>
>The Grizzly G1531 6" x 80" Edge Sander
>http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/106.cfm
>This lets me do some serious edge sanding for table legs and such. The
>contour part should do most of what I want, but not everything. The radius
>looks to be between 2-3".
>
>The Grizzly G0529 Oscillating Spindle / 12" Disc Sander
>http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/104.cfm?
>It be a better choice for contour sanding since it oscillates and would do
>multiple radii. Not sure how well the disk would work for longer pieces
>though.
>
>Or I could go cheap and get the Grizzly G9922 Oscillating Spindle Sander
>http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9922 and get a edge
>sander later on.
>
>If you can't tell, I like Grizzly. My shop is mostly green and it's worked
>out pretty well.
>
>Thanks!
>Chris Corbett
>
>

Chris,

The problem is that these sanders are all for different types of work.

When I here tables and cabinets, I would say the edge sander is by far
the most important of these three. Table top edges, rail edges,
straight legs, etc. Basicially, the ability to remove all the marks
made by ripping. This is a tedious and hard process with anything but
an edge sander.

If you have lots of curved stuff, like chair legs and parts, then the
dildo sander, erh... the oscillating sander is more important,
however, you can do some of these on the end roller of the edge
sander.

If you have lots of small parts like for toys or jewelry boxes, small
rounds, etc. then the disc/belt combination is bes, but... you can use
the edge sander for most of not all of this too.

BW


"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
> which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm most
> frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander. All my
> other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a multipurpose
> sander.
>
> For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
> which sander would you guys recommend?
>
> The Grizzly G1531 6" x 80" Edge Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/106.cfm
> This lets me do some serious edge sanding for table legs and such. The
> contour part should do most of what I want, but not everything. The radius
> looks to be between 2-3".
>
> The Grizzly G0529 Oscillating Spindle / 12" Disc Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/104.cfm?
> It be a better choice for contour sanding since it oscillates and would do
> multiple radii. Not sure how well the disk would work for longer pieces
> though.
>
> Or I could go cheap and get the Grizzly G9922 Oscillating Spindle Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9922 and get a edge
> sander later on.
>
> If you can't tell, I like Grizzly. My shop is mostly green and it's worked
> out pretty well.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris Corbett

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 02:55:37 GMT, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> calmly ranted:

>I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
>which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm most
>frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander. All my
>other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a multipurpose
>sander.
>
>For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
>which sander would you guys recommend?
>
>The Grizzly G0529 Oscillating Spindle / 12" Disc Sander
>http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/104.cfm?
>It be a better choice for contour sanding since it oscillates and would do
>multiple radii. Not sure how well the disk would work for longer pieces
>though.

Buy a set of scrapers from Lee Valley or get the H5568 set from Griz.
Long pieces don't need sanding as often as curves/end grain do, so
some scrapers and maybe a ROS should do ya.

I've been working with rasps and files more this week and find them to
be quick and suitable for many rounding and smoothing operations.


>If you can't tell, I like Grizzly. My shop is mostly green and it's worked
>out pretty well.

I have 4 Griz products and am very happy with them.


--
Strong like ox, smart like tractor.
----------------------------------
www.diversify.com Oxen-free Website Design

Thanks for the responses. I'm including in my list a 6 x 48 / disk
combination sander. I'm still not sold on anything yet so I'm going to take
a tour around my local Woodcraft and checkout their machines.

Thanks,
Chris Corbett
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> I'm trying to decide what to ask Santa for Christmas this year. Or really
> which web page to get SWMBO to order from. The method of work that I'm
> most frustrated with is using my bench top drill press as a drum sander.
> All my other powered sanders are the hand held type, so I'm thinking a
> multipurpose sander.
>
> For a hobbyist wooddorker who makes mostly chairs, tables, cabinets, etc
> which sander would you guys recommend?
>
> The Grizzly G1531 6" x 80" Edge Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/106.cfm
> This lets me do some serious edge sanding for table legs and such. The
> contour part should do most of what I want, but not everything. The
> radius looks to be between 2-3".
>
> The Grizzly G0529 Oscillating Spindle / 12" Disc Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2004/104.cfm?
> It be a better choice for contour sanding since it oscillates and would do
> multiple radii. Not sure how well the disk would work for longer pieces
> though.
>
> Or I could go cheap and get the Grizzly G9922 Oscillating Spindle Sander
> http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9922 and get a edge
> sander later on.
>
> If you can't tell, I like Grizzly. My shop is mostly green and it's
> worked out pretty well.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris Corbett
>
>
>