Vibration reducing gloves???

[Jason Scott]

Hey all,

So I am finish sanding my coffee table getting it ready for final assembly, and I am in the middle of the most dreaded part for me, finish sanding with the ROS. Anyway, if I sand for more than 15-20 minutes my hands tingle from the vibration and I just can't stand that...Is there any way to prevent this? Do anti-vibration gloves help? Any other tricks you all know of to prevent it. I currently only sand for a little bit then leave the shop b/c I don't want my hands tingling all day. Thanks!

Jason

[David DeCristoforo]

What sander do you have? Most good quality "palm" sanders should give you more than 15 minutes before your hands go numb....

YM

[Lee Schierer]

Don't grip your sander so hard. When operating a sander you shouldn't be pressing down hard or gripping it tight. Let the weight of the sander do the work. Use your hand to guide it around the piece.

[Greg Heppeard]

Fingerless motorcycle gloves with a padded palm work well

[Richard M. Wolfe]

What Lee said. For sanding jobs with ROS or belt sander using only the weight of the tool is designed to do the sanding. Belt sanders take a little more controlling, but many times I just use a couple fingers and/or swap hands while sanding. If sanding fairly large surfaces, that is. Smaller areas do require more control but a tight grip or pressure should not be needed in that circumstance either. For tools with a lot of vibration I do use a pair of fairly heavy (and cheap) work gloves. I also tend to get rid of tools with a lot of vibration if possible.

But do keep enough grip on a belt sander to keep it from running away. I can tell you a little known factoid of approximately how far a 4x24 sander will travel off the end of my bench before it hits the floor after getting about a five foot running start. :mad: :o

[Dave Dionne]

I have a pair of the vibration reducing gloves and they wro well, I have had 2 wrist surguries and for a while I coulsn't sand without them.

Give them a try they may be what you need.

JMOHO

Dave

[Matt Day]

Also, don't use that junk that the home centers pass as sandpaper. Get some real stuff like Norton, it works 10 times better!

[J. Z. Guest]

I've been doing more and more hand-sanding lately. It is good exercise and leaves a smoother finish than orbital or random orbit sanders. No vibration, but more dust.

Maybe not the answer you're after, but worth a mention anyhow.

[Ray Scheller]

I too use the anti-vibration gloves and they work very well for me. I have nerve damage from a spinal cord accident 9 years ago and my hands tingle all the time any way so any vibrations make it worse but the gloves have reduced the pain after sanding. My $.02 worth.

[Peter Quinn]

I use a festool ROS and vibration is minimal. Breaking it up into small chunks is a good idea. I can't work with gloves on when sanding because the experience is too tactile, I'm constantly touching things to gauge performance and guide my eyes.

Using card scrapers and smooth planes might cut down on all that sanding all together. My old boss said good finish work starts when your milling your stock...you don't have to take out marks you don't put in. Baby your parts the whole way, keep your blades/knives/bits sharp, saves time at the sanding station.

[Jason Scott]

Thanks guys, I don't use a cheap sander is is a Porter Cable, I am just really sensitive too, I had a motorcycle wreck and I just don't like any tingling, I'll get the gloves, thanks,

Jason

[Eddie Darby]

Quick fix is to cut a couple pieces off your router gripper mat, and tape it to the sander grip, or stuff it into some gloves.
If you find yourself wanting to lean on the sander, then you need to go down to a more aggressive grit.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=30214&cat=1,43000

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=30215&cat=1,43000

[Victor Stearns]

I have these and they are great!
http://www.youngstownequipment.com/store/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=26&PHPSESSID=43b7af5770a20ffc980227936efbf57447c54e6b
ALso they stand behind what they sell. The first pair I received had a seam fail after a month or so. They sent out a replacement pair. And told me to keep the others. Very Nice Indeed.
Victor

[Jason Scott]

Victor, those look nice!

[Wayne Cannon]

I use my cycling gloves. They have gel-padded palms and heel, and they have open finger tips that are nice for feeling the surface. I haven't tried "anti-vibration" gloves because I already had the others, but they look like the same thing.

[William Nimmo]

Porter cable is not a good sander. It was my least favorite when I owned one.

[Todd Bin]

I got a pair of these last weekend at woodcraft for 15% off during the sale. Have not had a chance to try them out yet. But notice the fingers are cut out so you can still feel where you have sanded. Assuming you finger tips aren't numb.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=632

[Wayne Cannon]

I have Porter-Cable sanders. I don't really do a tremendous amount of sanding, but have still worn out one. For what it's worth, a man from a local cable-car company that does a lot of sanding of their oak seats told me in the store that they had wear-out problems with Porter-Cable and had developed a preference for DeWalt's orbital palm sanders. He didn't say how significant a factor vibration was in their decision.

[Tim Thomas]

** EDIT: DOH! Wayne already has a post about using biking gloves. Sorry... **

One of my other hobbies is mountain biking, and these special vibration reducing gloves look just like biking gloves. Fingerless, mesh backing, gel and foam pads, I'm thinking they are exactly the same, except the biking gloves are probably cheaper. Check out www.nashbar.com (http://www.nashbar.com) for some good deals. They almost always have something on sale.

These are just $3.79 right now (but only in medium):
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?&sku=16917

You can check the sporting goods/biking section of your local megamart also. I've seen gloves like these at stores like Target and Wal-Mart.

[JayStPeter]

I have pretty bad carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve problems in my hands/arms. My old PC sander would aggrivate them to no end. Various gloves helped increase the time until I reached my pain threshold. The ultimate solution wound up being a Festool sander. Expensive, but totally worth it for me.