Sanding plywood

[Joe Chritz]

This may be an old question but after searching 6 pages of search results I did not find anything specifically about this topic.

I have been sanding all my plywood panels with a 5" ROS. Any suggestions on a unit to speed this process up. I have looked at some of the 6" ROS units but am not sure how much faster they would be.

Anyone with any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Joe

[tod evans]

joe, in theory the 6" is faster due to more surface area in contact with the work, in practice i`ve found the extra size to be somewhat unwieldly and haven`t noticed any real increase in output.... why are you giving veneered plywood any more than a light buzzing with 220? you`re just flirting with disaster in my opinion......02 tod

[Steve Clardy]

6" festool 150/5 with 180 or 220. Very carefully.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Yah 60 Grit on a 4" wide track sander is about right for veneer ply.

The larger 6" sander isn't ever my friend when I have to ensure I don't go through that skimpy little bit of veneer they put on plywood. I prefer my PC speed blok and some fine paper finer than 100 preferably 220. I've used 100 plenty but it's really too aggressive.

[Michael Adelong]

I was using my PC 333 5" ROS last week on a sheet of Sandeply (sp?) that got a little rough handling over the past few months in my shop. It was going a little slow, so I switched to my Rigid 6" ROS (made by Metabo, I think).

It was definitely faster, but it's hard to quantify the difference since I had done the worst scratches with the 333 and all I had were a lot of little ones left when I switched sanders. This sander has a "quick stock removal" mode that increases the orbit or something when you flip a switch. I used it on an old door to remove some paint, and this mode did a heck of a job with some 100 grit. It's much faster than the 333 but I'm not sure if the speed difference can be attributed to the 1" larger size or not. I might be due to differences in how the pad is moved.

Never used either on veneer, though...

Michael

[Joe Chritz]

I guess I never tried just sanding with 220 and finishing. I have always done the panels with 150 then 220.

Once again I think I answered my own question. I'll just sand with 220 once, finish a test panel and move on. I suspect I won't be able to tell the difference.

Once my PC 333 pukes I will look hard at the Festool. I think I lucked into one of the unbreakable models.

Joe

[Dev Emch]

I have a 30 inch kindt collins disc sander. I use a 40 grit synthetic cloth Al-Oxide abrasive on this bad boy. Why? Simple! This sander is a shape'n tool and not a finish tool. Great for cutting unique mitre angles and putting draft on items, etc.

But for finish work on plywood based items.... I am looking for finish out of the box. I will use a 100 grit on say baltic birch or home brew veneer to final shape joinery imperfections, etc. Then onto 220 for final finish. On true veneer stock, go with 220. Modern veneer ply is so thin that if you sneeze, you can abrade a hole in the top layer. So becareful!

And for some real work, I use a 30 grit belt on my porter cable belt sander. This allows me to get excellent hole shots in the belt sander nationals.:D Other than drag racing belt sanders, I have not found that much use for them of late.