Die Grinder, Dynabrade sanders, experience users input needed

[Brian Holcombe]

I've been detailing chair arms, typically by hand via rasp and so forth. I plan to continue doing that but I want to finish them with a decent sanding routine that will help me blend tight radius with a quality result. I currently do this is very impractical fashion of just using my ROS, which is very harsh on both the pad and the disks.

I've been looking through Dynabrade's offerings and they look pretty nice but I can't settle on wether or not I should get a Die grinder and use various cartridge and flap wheels or if I should use a finger sander, mini hand held belt sander or I should use a Dynapoint which is like a cartridge roll but better (and more expensive of course) but it's a dedicated machine which cannot be used with anything except the dynabrade product and they're only available to 80 grit.

I'd very much appreciate your thoughts and experience here, thank you.

[Mark Hennebury]

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[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work, Mark! I size the column heads roughly by Bridgeport with router bits and they have a very nice radius right off the machine. I trim that following the identical profile by rasp to bring it right to size then I need something which can detail that without removing a lot of material aggressively.

[Mark Hennebury]

Freeform shaping you can use many tools, files and rasps , die grinders,sanding cylinders and flap wheels. The disk sander can be used for some reasonable fine detail as well as rough hogging. You can use chainsaw wheels on them, sanding discs from 36 grit to 120 grit, flap sanding wheels etc. years ago a made a bunch of Variations of the Maloof rocker, and i use a Makita disc sander for a lot of the work, but i also had die grinders and files etc. to use.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Mark, appreciate your insights.

I did some contemplating on this and decided that since I used to use a dynafile at a previous job (building stainless tanks) so I would order one with a vacuum attachment and a few different sized wheels and see how that goes. It takes a 3/4" x 18" belt.

If it's an utter failure I can switch to another approach later, I'm thinking something where I can collect the dust produced will be nice and these also offer scotchbrite belts which are nice for cleaning up end grain.

[Richard Coers]

Die grinders are usually too high of speed for effective sanding. I'd suggest the Metabo SXE400 3 1/8" random orbit sander with different densities of interface pads.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Dick, I like that and very likely will buy one since it is not expensive.

The other sander should be here in a few days.

[Larry Frank]

I used a DeWalt die grinder with a fine Kutzall burr for shaping.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Larry, how fine of work are you doing with the burr before you move into sanding?

[Larry Frank]

I did rough shaping with the die grinder and then a 1" drum sander in a electric drill. I had drum grits from 40 to 220 grit.

I did use a Kutzall rasp for somethings but it was hard on my wrists. It was just not possible for me to do with Rasps.

I also used an angle grinder with a donut Kutzall disk for shaping areas like the seat and then a progression of sanding disks with it.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you, Larry.