How To Work With A Wood Sander
How to make a sander Making a sander with your own hands can be quite simple, and sometimes it costs nothing at all. How to do it correctly and what types of machines exist is described in this article.
Making a grinder from a drill
To turn an ordinary, household electric drill into a grinder, you need to equip it with a special attachment. A working drum or a special support plate, depending on the task.
The backing or sanding pad is a plastic or rubber base with sandpaper glued on and a shank for clamping into a drill chuck. Trays with a flexible shaft are suitable for work with a loose drill, and with a rigid one it is better to use only for a well-fixed drill.
Grinding drums for household drills are structurally a conventional cylinder, a shank and sandpaper glued to the cylinder. When using drums, the working surface of the grinder is parallel to the axis of rotation.
How to make a sander
When work with a wooden surface comes to an end, the stage of finishing sanding begins. To perform grinding without burrs, scratches, and nicely round off sharp corners of any part, you need to use a wood sander. This tool will help to perform professional grinding, even for a beginner who first took the device in hand. If you wish, you can make a grinding machine yourself, using only available tools.
Existing types of grinders
The industry produces several types of machines that differ both structurally and in purpose. Here are the main ones:
- Eccentric or orbital, in this case the sole of the instrument simultaneously rotates around its axis and in a certain orbit. It turns out that each time it passes in a slightly different place, so scratches and burrs are overwritten with each pass more and more.
- Vibration model. Here the work sole performs reciprocating movements with a frequency of about 20,000 movements per minute. It is due to these movements that grinding occurs.
- Angle grinder, which is popularly called “angle grinder”. This tool is used for rough processing of parts, large logs, etc. For processing, abrasive wheels of the required grain size are used.
- A belt sander that is usually used for working on large surfaces. Structurally, it consists of rollers driven by an electric motor, on which an emery tape is put on.
Small front roller for close approach to the wall.
If this unit is made as on a Ryobi EBS800 belt sander, then when grinding a horizontal surface and bringing the nose of the case to a vertical obstacle, the dead zone (the area of the untreated area) will be minimal, equal to the radius of the front roller. The larger the diameter, the larger the distance.
This makes it possible to exclude grinding across the fibers, when it is possible to get closer due to the flat side part, but the number and depth of scratches increases.
Belt sander Sturm BS8585
The tool is quite large, especially with a 610×100 mm tape. One side opposite to the one where the belt drive guard is installed is flat. Then, moving it along the wall, no untreated strip remains.
The front handle is wide, does not protrude beyond the overall dimensions, the rear handle is located along the axis. The layout allows both right-handers and left-handers to work comfortably.
On the body there may be attachment points for devices, for example, for fixing an angle stop. It is needed in order not to fill up the edge; for beginners, it is not always possible for beginners to keep the tool parallel to the plane.
Advantages of wood sanders
The wood sander is ideal for fitting
The main area of application of the belt sander is in trimming. You will be able to gradually remove layer by layer of wood and perfectly adjust the cut line to the required size.
Belt Sanders. The tools are quite versatile. The list of the main types of work for which they are used include precise trimming for line marking, sanding of very rough surfaces, leveling surfaces, as well as shaping and rounding various elements. Because of their high power and ability to handle particularly coarse sanding belts, these tools are especially good at quickly removing layers of wood.
In addition, unlike centrifugal and vibrating machines, belt machines have a linear action, which can provide a very neat finish even when working with large grain. And although this machine is far from the most obligatory in the arsenal of a home craftsman, you are unlikely to find many amateur carpenters who do not have one.
Both types are good enough, however many prefer the more aggressive zirconia.
The best of the machines are designed for use with 7.6 cm wide belts. There are examples on the market that work with both wider and narrower belts, but they are all more narrowly specialized. In the class of machines 7.6 cm, there are smaller ones. With ribbons 7.6×45.7 cm, medium ones. For ribbons 7.6×53.3 cm and large ones. Using 7.6×61 cm.
Smaller machines are lighter and easier to operate, and are best for smoothing and shaping. Large grinders have a wide working surface and a greater weight, they are used for grinding serious areas. Medium caliber cars are a compromise solution and are more versatile. The choice of a grinder should begin with the formulation of the tasks to be solved with its help.
Safe working with a sander
Belt Sanders. Relatively safe tools, but it will not be superfluous to follow certain rules. Working safely with your sander begins with safety.
- Always wear ear muffs. The cars are very loud!
- Watch out for dust. Inhaling it is not only unpleasant. It is hazardous to health. Wear a protective mask and do not remove it until you have removed the dust from the bag.
- De-energize the tool before changing the belt or cleaning the dust bag.
- Using a sander on metal can generate sparks. Watch for flammable substances and materials in the work area.
- Make sure the power button of the grinder is in the “off” position before plugging it in. All grinders have a locking mechanism for the power button in the working position.