Power Sanding

[Mike Turner]

Wonder who makes the PROS sanders?

[Mike Turner]

My air compressors may not be good enough for the air needed for a pneumatic sander.....My newest one is a Makita MAC700 2HP 2.6 gal rated at 3.3 CFM at 90PSI....I have an old.....real old 1 HP 7 1/2 gal Craftsman....It is still working (about 30 yrs old)...I use either one for the gun drills when I bore my flutes....I bought the Makita feeling like the Craftsman could quit anytime.

[John K Jordan]

Wonder who makes the PROS sanders?

Play detective and zoom in on the photo. I loaded a screen capture into Photoshop and applied an Unsharp Mask sharpening filter to read the label. It's a WellPneu, model PS-3372, made in Taiwan. From the manufacturer: 12000 rpm, it does have an adjustable valve to limit the free speed. The average air consumption is 2.5 cfm. Import: carton, 10 pieces. https://www.wellpneumatic.com/produc...?Key=443&cID=5

Doesn't look bad. I still want to get one to try.

[Mike Turner]

John don't know how to do some of that stuff.I went to their site .I was wanting to see the PROS Mini and some more info on it..I The PROS Mini is further down the page ...a smaller black one....I dont see it on their Taiwan website. I was thinking it might suit me better with the flutes....Maybe fit my hands easier.....not require as much air....Im on uncharted ground for me with air tools! Thanks for your help!

[John K Jordan]

John don't know how to do some of that stuff.I went to their site .I was wanting to see the PROS Mini and some more info on it..I The PROS Mini is further down the page ...a smaller black one....I dont see it on their Taiwan website. I was thinking it might suit me better with the flutes....Maybe fit my hands easier.....not require as much air....Im on uncharted ground for me with air tools! Thanks for your help!

The Mini from Woodturners Wonders appears to also be a "palm" sander, held like the larger one, not like the Grex pistol-grip. That may affect control, hard to tell without trying.

I see nothing in the photo that indicates it's from the same company as the larger one. And I don't see any good comparison of the specs between the two, such as the speed, orbit size, or minimum/maximum air usage. Might be best to call and ask.

JKJ

[Tom Hamilton D'ville, GA]

Mike, jumping in late with your sanding issue but here’s another option: drill press with a flexible shaft from Garrett Wade

35N06.01

Flex. Shaft With Chuck

In stock

$48.80 $39.50

The drill press is quiet, unlike the hand held right angle drills ( I went through two from amazon) and you can adjust the speed of the drill press and the lathe to achieve your desired results. A inexpensive bench top drill press works fine and they had be had for short money on C-List or garage sales. The flex shaft gets the hook and loop disc exactly where you want it with no weight on your hands.

Your hands and ears will be grateful! And your finished pieces will be beautiful. Enjoy, Tom

[Mike Goetzke]

I have a question about small air powered ROS's. I have one (PROS mini) but the sanding disk doesn't seem to rotate much if at all especially on the inside of a bowl. Is this normal or a defect in the sander (maybe this is why they are only good with higher grit paper)?

Thanks

[Dwight Rutherford]

What is the air pressure at the ROS? Are you pressing the sander against the wood with much pressure?

[Mike Goetzke]

What is the air pressure at the ROS? Are you pressing the sander against the wood with much pressure?

Good questions - I'm not in the shop but usually have the pressure set between 80-90psi - I'll check tonight. Did not apply a lot of pressure. My only other experience with ROS is with my much larger 6" sanders and although they don't spin fast there is always some noticeable rotary motion (unless too much pressure applied). I was told by the seller that there is not supposed to be much rotation in that the eccentric/orbital motion does the sanding. This little palm sander is very comfortable in the hand and easy to maneuver. I've only really tried it on one bowl. Maybe I should give it a few more chances or try it on a flat board.


Edited: Maybe the PROS-mini is not supposed to rotate much. I found this description for a ROS: "In random orbital mode themain pattern is an eccentricpattern. In addition the centripetalforce resultant from the crankshaftoffset causes the pad to spin. Thisis a weak force and pad rotationcan be stopped if too much handpressures is exerted on the sander."

Mike

[John K Jordan]

I have a question about small air powered ROS's. I have one (PROS mini) but the sanding disk doesn't seem to rotate much if at all especially on the inside of a bowl. Is this normal or a defect in the sander (maybe this is why they are only good with higher grit paper)?

Thanks

The three pneumatic random orbital sanders don't rotate the disk significantly unless you turn them on in free air away from the wood. (Rudy Lopez says don't do this.) But even if rotating in the air they stop as soon as you put them against the wood. The sanding action is in small orbits.

I think I mentioned before I rarely use these with coarse paper, almost always 320 and finer, more 400 than any. To use the fine grits the surface has to already be smooth with large tool marks removed (which I do with the hand scrapers.) I have no idea how they work with coarse grits but it would be interesting to experiment.

JKJ