I am either going crazy or Google Groups has decided that it doesn't
like the word "sand" or "sander" in the wreck. I get about 15 results
for either term. Trying to research edge sanders, and previously I
was getting results but now I get... 2. Other words seem to be
returning normal results. Does google not think I should get one?

I am mainly curious about what kind of surface do they leave? Will a
150 grit belt get me close to a finished surface and last a reasonable
amount of time? I don't have a lot of experience with belt sanders.

I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:

I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

If by edge sander you mean a stationary belt sander, I have trouble
controlling one. Just a tiny amount more pressure with one hand than
the other and I get tapered sides.

I find I spend less time sanding if I use more than 3 grits. I usually
run boards through my thickness sander at 60 grit after planing and then
do 80, 100, 120, 150, 180 and sometimes even 220 with an ROS. Only takes
a couple of passes with each grit. I seem to spend more time changing
sandpaper and workpieces than I do sanding :-). Of course, with 20 boxes
you wouldn't run into that as much/

Also, if possible I sand before I cut and assemble. Lots easier. In fact
I often finish before assembly as well.

On Aug 28, 11:23 pm, Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:
I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

If by edge sander you mean a stationary belt sander, I have trouble
controlling one. Just a tiny amount more pressure with one hand than
the other and I get tapered sides.

That's good info. I'm not looking to remove a lot of material, just
to clean things up. I think people usually have around 100 grit on
them, I don't know how they behave with 150-180 on them. I can always
set up a jig to hold the box square to the belt if need be.

I find I spend less time sanding if I use more than 3 grits. I usually
run boards through my thickness sander at 60 grit after planing and then
do 80, 100, 120, 150, 180 and sometimes even 220 with an ROS. Only takes
a couple of passes with each grit. I seem to spend more time changing
sandpaper and workpieces than I do sanding :-). Of course, with 20 boxes
you wouldn't run into that as much/

Also, if possible I sand before I cut and assemble. Lots easier. In fact
I often finish before assembly as well.

I start with 4/4 rough cedar which I resaw in half, then it goes
through the drum sander with 60 grit. It takes quite a few passes but
I can be fairly aggressive with each pass with the soft cedar and I
don't get any tearout around the knots. Then I do 2 light passes each
side with 120 grit. Then I do all the machining and assembly. Then
it's 80, 100, 150 with the ROS. Then I search for swirlies and hit
any of those with 100 and 120 by hand, then everything with 150 and
180 by hand. I also put a slight chamfer on the top edge of the base
of the box with 80 grit on a sanding block.

So my two avenues to explore to make this go better is a different
sanding technique and a different dovetail jig that might give me more
repeatable results. I currently have the small Leigh Super.
Sometimes I get it set up better than others, but it's never quite
perfect. I've been looking at the Akeda. But there's no way I could
even think about doing the final sanding before assembly with the
results I get from the Leigh.

I have seen the kind of surface you can get from a wide belt sander -
a lot better than what I get from my shop built drum sander - so I am
wondering if the edge sander with a fine belt can do the same thing.
I can't see why it wouldn't, it's the same thing happening just
sideways, but I don't like to be wrong when there's 250 lbs of cast
iron and steel down the basement stairs and a big hit on the credit
card involved.

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:

I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

I clean up the dovetails on my boxes with a sharp low-angle jack plane
followed by a hand scraper. Just a touch of sanding required after that.

scott

On Aug 29, 1:01*pm, wrote:

That's good info. *I'm not looking to remove a lot of material, just
to clean things up. *I think people usually have around 100 grit on
them, I don't know how they behave with 150-180 on them. *I can always
set up a jig to hold the box square to the belt if need be.

I use an edge sander quite a bit, and find it puts an excellent finish
on things with a 180 grit belt. We don't often make our own drawers,
but when we do we always hit the sides on the edge sander. You can
put a fence on it to hold the box square, but I find it's easier just
to ease it into the belt and maybe put a hair more pressure on the
back than the front. If you've not used one before I'd practice with
a few boards before sticking a drawer box up there. And if you're
sanding anything shorter than say 12" you should put up the fence for
sure until you're real confident about not losing control of it. That
belt can give a violent manicure right quick.

An edge sander's a real timesaver and the quality can't be beat for
keeping things straight and square (ie. not rounded over).

JP

JP

On Aug 29, 3:47*pm, (Scott Lurndal) wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:
I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. *Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. *If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

Oh man - I didn't read this part of your post. If you're doing even
small production runs than I would run - not walk - RUN to your
nearest dealer to get yourself an edge sander. It's a HUGE timesaver,
and the quality improves too. It's a win-win by far.

JP

On Aug 29, 3:47 pm, (Scott Lurndal) wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:
I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

I clean up the dovetails on my boxes with a sharp low-angle jack plane
followed by a hand scraper. Just a touch of sanding required after that.

I do use a plane to flatten the bottoms of the boxes where I can, but
I'm dealing with knotty cedar. While I cut around knots to not have
any in the actual dovetails sometimes I have to take a bit off a side
and I can't get anywhere near it with anything with a blade. There
are probably people out there good enough with their hand tools to do
it, but I'm not one of them.

On Aug 29, 5:39 pm, Jay Pique wrote:
On Aug 29, 3:47 pm, (Scott Lurndal) wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:11:10 -0700, LEGEND65 wrote:
I am doing more small production runs of small dovetailed boxes,
between 6-9" length of sides and 3-5" high. Currently I do all the
sanding after assembly with a ROS (the small Festool) and then a bit
of hand sanding and with a stack of 20 boxes to go through 3 grits
it's not the least bit fun. If I could totally eliminate the ROS and
go straight to hand sanding that would be fantastic.

Oh man - I didn't read this part of your post. If you're doing even
small production runs than I would run - not walk - RUN to your
nearest dealer to get yourself an edge sander. It's a HUGE timesaver,
and the quality improves too. It's a win-win by far.

Thanks for the info, that's what I wanted to hear. I only do this
once a month usually, though I am trying to get ahead of their orders
and build up an inventory so I can just send them out immediately when
they need something, and I won't have time to make any during November-
December. So at some point I'm going to have to crank out a slew of
them which I have been dreading for months.

There's a used Grizzly on craigslist I may need to take a look at.
Looks like only the Grizzly and Jet are in my price range new.