Air Sander Good for Boxes?

[Steve H Graham]

I would like to try my hand at making boxes; I got the Doug Stowe video and book. What's a good tool for finish sanding? He uses an inverted electric sander, which seems like a hard way to do it. Delta used to make a bench orbital sander, like a little table, but they discontinued it.

I was thinking I might get a Dynabrade disk sander (air). Supposedly, they have a model which collects its own dust. Would this be suitable for humidors and other little boxes? Also, do I have to have an air dryer to run an air sander?

[Paul Steiner]

I have an IR random orbit disk sander and I love it, before that I had a HF brand and it was good too. Just like a regular random orbit disk sander you can use it on anything. But what kind of compressor do you have to run this air sander? It takes a serious compressor to run an air sander, 100+ gallons. Anything less would burn out your compressor motor quickly.

[Steve H Graham]

Air will not be a problem. I have taken a lot of crap over the compressor I bought; I thought buying big was better than buying twice.

[Paul Steiner]

Well then go for air! It is so much faster than electric.

[Bill Huber]

I just bought a Bosch PS50-2 Max Multi-X and it is really great for small items like boxes and things of that type.
I had a Ryobi detail sander and it was a real joke, it was given to me so I had no money in it, thank goodness.

The Bosch really works great for sanding and you can get into some very small places. I have not done any cutting with it but the main reason I got it was for the sanding and that is working out very well.

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=PS50-2B

[Thomas Bennett]

I use several of the 5 " Dynabrade disk sanders in my shop. If you have the air they are great. After several years of use I thought I might need a rebuild kit and tune up. I found an excellent step by step how-to pictorial on the net. I never bought the rebuild kit($80 bucks plus). Instead I just disassembled the sanders, totaly cleaned them and put them back together . They work like new. I use the models with the 3/16 orbit

[Sonny Edmonds]

I use almost exclusively air driven sanders in my shop.
They are light for the HP they can develop (Typically .6 HP in the ROS).
Mine is a C-P, it came as a 6" ROS with a PSA disk. The first night it tore the PSA disk on a toy box I was trying to finish for Christmas and smeared that PSA gook onto the wood. :mad: OH! was I ever P.O.'d :mad:
Next morning I went back to the tool store and we found a 5" Hook & Loop PC pad that fit it. The rest is history!
It has its discharge into the 1" vacuum adapted hose so the noise and dust get drawn away into the shop vac system.
I have a lot of other sanders up to a twin piston 3" X 16" monster stroke sander.
I feed them with an 80 gallon, 16.7 CFM PC vertical compressor (7 HP).
Air driven tools are so much nicer to use because they never get hot in your hands.
You should use a filter/regulator ahead of it to protect it from moisture droplets. I also run an oiler with mine. Very light, very little air oil in the air stream.
1. More air tools die from over oiling than any other cause.
2. You don't want blobs of oil on your woodwork.
I use my ROS more than anything else for sanding around the shop. But also have disk and die grinders hooked up for use. :)

[Joe Chritz]

Compared to electric there is nearly nothing in an air sander or any air powered tool.

They are generally used in industrial settings because they last forever and are cheaper in the long run. Even though a big compressor takes a fair amount of juice to run an air sander is a good choice.

Dynabrade is supposed to be the "name" in air sanders from what I have read. I used to do repair (many years ago) on IR tools and all the ones I used seemed very nice.

Joe

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a tiny 3" RA pistol grip air sander that I bought from SnapOn years ago that is my favorite for small things. Light and easy to control speed. Check with auto body supply houses, they are cheaper and have more selection, and parts.

[Jim Becker]

If you have the air to drive them, they are reported to be great. The one question in my mind is how available units are that also support dust collection? I know there are some, but are they may not be on shelves at places like auto body suppliers. I'd not use a sander that was devoid of dust collection at this point. (Personal preference)

[Steve H Graham]

I would really rather have the Delta bench sander, especially if I could find a cheap used one, but I realize it's not very versatile.

Once again I am thankful because I went crazy and installed 220 circuits and bought a big compressor. I guess stuff like that eventually pays off. Hey, Noah started working on the ark 120 years before it rained.