Oscillating Edge Sanders

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Hi all.

Does anyone use an oscillating edge sander?

I have a non-oscillating model and I'm wondering if the burning I get on end grain of oak would be eliminated with a oscillating belt?

I'm having to replace belts long before their time for all other sanding...and on this powermatic, it is a pain to change em.

Doug

[martyphee]

The oscillating will help keep the heat down on the belt and helps make sure you use all the belt. Also don't keep the wood against the belt too long. It will heat up fast. I've burt more than a few pieces on my 6x48.

Do you periodicly adjust the height of the table so your using new belt and not the same area all the time? Do you use a cleaner on the belt?

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Yes to all of your questions and points. I regularly have to edge sand 500-1000 blocks at a time so it does not take long for a 6X89 belt to become end grain useless despite all efforts.

Doug

[Richard Wolf]

Keep in mind that most oscillating belt sanders only oscillate between 3/8 and 3/4 of an inch. If you are sanding blocks I would think you would not see a big improvement in preformance of belts.

Richard

[Rob Russell]

Doug,

Since you're a pro, do you have a wide belt sander? If so, couldn't you make a sled that you could clamp a whole bunch of same-size blocks into and run them through that? The widebelts don't heat up the way the edge-sanders do because of the amount of belt you have.

Run a batch of blocks through, flip the blocks to another side, run 'em through again ... repeat ... you get the idea.

Just a thought.

Rob

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Rob, that could possible work. The sled would have to be made in such a way that the outside edges were the same height so as to work with the infeed and outfeed pressure bars...shortest I can run is about 9" on mine...otherwise it could be a mess.

Would be a challange, the blocks are comprised of 7 different lengths so 7 different sleds...and to date, due to the nature of the product....+/- a 1/8" is not an issue....would have to learn how to read one of them ruler thingy's.

Doug

[Dave Mcintire]

I have a small oscillating sander and it will burn ends very nicely. The only way I know to prevent this is a new sanding belt every now and then.

[Perry Holbrook]

My Bridgewood 6 x 108 oscillating edge sander is probably the most used tool in my shop. I wouldn't have an edge sander that doesn't oscillate for the kind of work that I do.

I also have some issues with short stock lengths, it's the main reason that I have chosen to continue using the Performax products over a wide belt. Mininum stock length with their machines is around 3". However, I still use the edge sander for sanding the end grain on my small boxes that are about 2"x2"x2".

[Rob Russell]

Rob, that could possible work. The sled would have to be made in such a way that the outside edges were the same height so as to work with the infeed and outfeed pressure bars...shortest I can run is about 9" on mine...otherwise it could be a mess.

Would be a challange, the blocks are comprised of 7 different lengths so 7 different sleds...and to date, due to the nature of the product....+/- a 1/8" is not an issue....would have to learn how to read one of them ruler thingy's.

Doug

Seems to me that making the block sizes more consistent (if possible) would help. Still, sanding "500 to 1000" blocks at a time would sure get me thinking about ways to batch them. Even if you can do a block in 30 seconds, 500 blocks is 4 straight hours of sanding. Ugggg - but I'd guess you already know that!:D

Rob

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Yes, I know how long I sit at the sander, every week!

I guess I'll go to my alternative. I have a verticle belt sander, 6X48 that I will use for the ends. Seems to not burn like the edge sander. Just means moving stock from machine to machine and having to handle the blocks a second time. :-(

Sometimes when I'm doing them, I just stack 3-4 and hit em with the OS...all 4 sides in moments...it is just that my hand gets very tired gripping the blocks after a couple hundred.

As for Performax...I had one...hated it. After I got rid of it though, I found out that one of my pet peeves (seriously underpowered) had been corrected with later product. Compared to replacing sleeves though over the strips...don't miss that at all!

Doug