Rick Christopherson
12-07-2007, 3:29 AM
I don't normally make tool gloat postings, but I am kind of psyched about trying this sander out, and I've never used anything like this before.
So has anyone used one of these mini detail belt sanders for woodworking? I know they are normally used in metal fabrication because the first time I ever saw one was on one of those car or motorcycle building TV shows. When I first saw the sander I thought it was kind of cool, but didn’t know where I could find one. It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that I discovered it was a Dynabrade sander. Heck, I’ve got 3 Dynabrade ROS sanders, but I never knew they made these sanders too.
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/tempgraphics/DynaFile-lo.jpg
Well, 2 days ago Philly Tools gave me one of these Dynabrade Mini DynaFile II Kits (http://phillytools.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=phillytools&Product_Code=15006&Category_Code=AAB) in exchange for some stuff I am doing for them (ya, it sucks to be me).
I haven’t had the chance to play with it yet, but the reason I asked them to send me one was so I could try it out on an old hollow spiral turning project that has been sitting in the corner of the workshop for close to 5 years now. I started these hollow spiral turned columns for my fireplace surround, but I never finished them because the sanding was killing me. I am hoping that the mini belt sander is going to work a lot better than the little drum sanders I was originally using (and eventually gave up on).
I’m thinking the belt sander is going to fly through this project, but if nothing else, it should give me a heck of a lot more control over where I sand compared to the round drums. The kit came with the standard 1/2" x 3/4" platen, but also includes the 1/2" x 1/4" platen, plus the curved wheel-thingy for doing inside corners. Oh, that little black thing in the corner is a 1/4" collet so I can also use this as a right-angle die grinder.
(This is an old picture of the spiral turning, but is the only one I have at the moment. That's an old drillpress I mounted to a rolling carriage on the lathe, and I used it to drive the forstner bits and sanding drums down the center of the spiral to shape it.)
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/tempgraphics/spiral-small.jpg
So has anyone used one of these mini detail belt sanders for woodworking? I know they are normally used in metal fabrication because the first time I ever saw one was on one of those car or motorcycle building TV shows. When I first saw the sander I thought it was kind of cool, but didn’t know where I could find one. It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that I discovered it was a Dynabrade sander. Heck, I’ve got 3 Dynabrade ROS sanders, but I never knew they made these sanders too.
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/tempgraphics/DynaFile-lo.jpg
Well, 2 days ago Philly Tools gave me one of these Dynabrade Mini DynaFile II Kits (http://phillytools.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=phillytools&Product_Code=15006&Category_Code=AAB) in exchange for some stuff I am doing for them (ya, it sucks to be me).
I haven’t had the chance to play with it yet, but the reason I asked them to send me one was so I could try it out on an old hollow spiral turning project that has been sitting in the corner of the workshop for close to 5 years now. I started these hollow spiral turned columns for my fireplace surround, but I never finished them because the sanding was killing me. I am hoping that the mini belt sander is going to work a lot better than the little drum sanders I was originally using (and eventually gave up on).
I’m thinking the belt sander is going to fly through this project, but if nothing else, it should give me a heck of a lot more control over where I sand compared to the round drums. The kit came with the standard 1/2" x 3/4" platen, but also includes the 1/2" x 1/4" platen, plus the curved wheel-thingy for doing inside corners. Oh, that little black thing in the corner is a 1/4" collet so I can also use this as a right-angle die grinder.
(This is an old picture of the spiral turning, but is the only one I have at the moment. That's an old drillpress I mounted to a rolling carriage on the lathe, and I used it to drive the forstner bits and sanding drums down the center of the spiral to shape it.)
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/tempgraphics/spiral-small.jpg