Walt, I have
4 of the Sioux angle drills that I use for most of my bowl sanding. I
prefer the high speed ones, but know some who prefer the slow speed
ones. I like the angle drill better than a right angled drill because
they allow easier access to the bottom of the bowls. This tool is a
drill and not a grinder or sander, which means that with heavy use, the
bearings will wear out. I go through 2 or so sets a year. Don't use a
lot of pressure when sanding, and blow them out often. Replacing both
sets of bearings costs me about $90. For sanding discs, I like the
aluminum oxide (red) discs. With the use of one of the eraser stick,
they last longer than any ofher discs I have used. I also punch my own
discs. I special order 12 inch wide by 10 yard long rolls from
Klingspoor (rolls can be 60 plus in. wide). For a cutter, I use a piece
of 3 inch inside diameter pipe that has 1/16 inch reamed off so that
the discs are actually 3 1/8 inch wide. The cutter needs to be
hardened. The hooks on the velcro pads can leave scratches and the
overhang helps get rid of that. To cut them out, place sand side down
on a 1/2 inch thick piece of plastic, place the I cutter, put a wood
block on the cutter, strike soundly with a 2 pound hammer, or use a big
arbor press, or find a clicker press (benchtop punch press). This needs
to be done on a sufrace that is solid and doesn't bounce.
I power sand with the coarser grits up to 150, and
then hand sand with 150. The straight line scratch marks will show up
any of the coarser power sanding marks that I may have missed.When
sanding, I hand turn and/or have the lathe at its slowest speed. Most
of my turnings are green, then dried, then sanded which means they are
warped, and difficult to hand sand at all but the slowest speeds. I
then power sand up to 220 or 320, and finish hand sanding at 320 or
400. Finish is then applied. Always keep the sander moving because it
can leave divots. The plus of power
sanding is that it is faster and uses less effort. You can also stop
the lathe and work on trouble spots. The down side is that they throw
and blow dust everywhere. A dust collecter, an air scrubber, and a dust
mask are necessary. I took a white plastic 55 gal. drum, cut it in
half, fit the bottom half up against the head stock, and put a plastic
sheet on the tailstock end. The only open area is where I stand, and
the dust collecter is hooked to the back. When hand sanding, zero dust
gets out. When power sanding, almost none gets out.
Sanding is a necessary evil. The best things to reduce
the amount of sanding you do is to keep your tools sharp, practice,
work to perfect your tecnique, and did I say keep your tools sharp.
Tecnique means learning how to get smooth even cuts, with no bumps,
lumps, humps,and dips. Don't force the tool.
I will consider myself a master woodturner
when I can turn a bowl without using calipers, and the finish procuct
doesn't need sanding. I expect to accomplish this some day, and I also
expect to win the lottery. The odds of doing both are about the same,
but I am making progress, I use almost no 80 grit paper, and can even
start at 180 grit once in a while. I hope this helps a little.
robo hippy