what kind of Sander would you recomend

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bobs pens 1

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Delta Power Equipment Corp 31-140 Disc Sander, 1/2 Horse Power, 12-Inch - Amazon.com

I was on Amazon looking at some sanders and thought if you had it over again what Sander would you recommend for beginner pen turners to purchase for their shop. I made a mistake and got one with a poor platform to place my blank on. It is doing a pretty good job but may only last six months and burn up. Its a low priced Skill and the ratings have not been good after I bought it.

Look forward to what you have and if you would upgrade what models would you consider to replace yours with. bob
 
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I have a craftsman disk sander that is never used at all. I took a face plate and made a 6" disk sander and use that on my lathe all the time. I use it for everything that I need to sand. It squares my blanks and everything. I never use a pen mill anymore it is just as easy and a lot cleaner to do it on my lathe. I have my dust collector all setup there anyway. The only other tool in my shop that gets lots of use is my bandsaw I could not do without it or my lathe they are definitely the staple of my shop.
 

jttheclockman

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You have to ask yourself a few questions when it comes to buying tools.


---How much room do I have in my shop?? Do I want a stand alone or do I want a benchtop???

---How much money do I have to spend on such tool or tools, am I buying other tools along with the sander???

---What other kind of woodworking do I do or plan to do????

---Do I plan to stay with the hobby or is this a whim???


Everyone will answer those questions differently including you. You put of few of those answers here and the responses will follow accordingly.

Just remember buy once and and buy quality you won't have the situation you are in now. Buy cheap, buy often.

I would also recommend a combo disc/belt sander if doing other woodworking work and even simple work.
 
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StephenM

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I have a Porter Cable disc/belt. The disc is great for exacting work (scalloped sections) and the belt is great for hogging off wood (making blanks square). One thing to look at is the disc cost - 12" are about double the cost of 8" (though the 12" have a greater surface area).
 

Russknan

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If you do buy a 12" disc or disc/belt combo sander, may I suggest an accessory? Shopsmith sells a conversion kit for their 12" disc which I mounted on my Grizzly disc/belt sander. The first part is an self-adhesive-backed velcro disc. The kit comes with a selection of loop-backed sandpaper discs. This makes grit changes and replacement of worn-out paper a snap! No heating, scraping, use of smelly rubber cement, etc. I looked for someplace else to buy the supplies as Shopsmith items - though usually quite good in my experience - are expensive. But this one is definitely worth the cost! Russ
 

bobs pens 1

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If you do buy a 12" disc or disc/belt combo sander, may I suggest an accessory? Shopsmith sells a conversion kit for their 12" disc which I mounted on my Grizzly disc/belt sander. The first part is an self-adhesive-backed velcro disc. The kit comes with a selection of loop-backed sandpaper discs. This makes grit changes and replacement of worn-out paper a snap! No heating, scraping, use of smelly rubber cement, etc. I looked for someplace else to buy the supplies as Shopsmith items - though usually quite good in my experience - are expensive. But this one is definitely worth the cost! Russ
Thank you for all your comments.

Could you show us this Shopsmith item or a direct link to it? Sounds like a good idea. I think for what we are doing a smaller disk is better than a larger 10 inch model.

You are right about is this a wim. Many people who get into a hobby are what I call here today gone tomorrow hobbyist. I have another hobby that I have been doing for over 20 years and considered by many of the beginners as the go to guy. Now I am taking on a hobby my son has been doing pen turning and finding it very rewarding. At least you guys are the best Forum posters I have ever seen on the internet.
 
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If you have a lathe chances are it came with a bowl turning plate. If you are not using it you can just cut a piece of 3/4" plywood in a circle a little larger than what you want it. Find the center and screw it to the face plate. Now make sure your lathe is turned down in speed. Mount the face plate and plywood to your lathe and turn it down to size. Now add velcro, I got mine at Home Depot. I already had boxes of 6" velcro disks so I chose to use that size. If you are starting at scratch get whatever size you want. It is so easy to just screw it on and off when you what it that it isn't funny.
 

Haynie

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This is what I have
6" x 48" Belt and 9" Disc Combination Sander

Love it. It has seen some serious work over the years. It was used heavily with metal so was covered in lubricant and shavings. One day the switch shorted and the petroleum products caught fire. I put it out. Cleaned it off, replaced the switch and it started right up.
 

jbswearingen

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I'd head over to Old Woodworking Machines • Index page and learn about the old, cast iron, American made stuff.

It's a hobby all by itself, though, and is quite addicting. You've been warned. ;)

My sander is a 1955 Craftsman 6x48 belt/9" disc (back when they were a GOOD tool brand) that I revived with an '80's era motor. I paid $50 for it.

Here's the same model, but not mine:

140-A.jpg


140-B.jpg
 

Dan Masshardt

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I'd head over to Old Woodworking Machines • Index page and learn about the old, cast iron, American made stuff.

It's a hobby all by itself, though, and is quite addicting. You've been warned. ;)

My sander is a 1955 Craftsman 6x48 belt/9" disc (back when they were a GOOD tool brand) that I revived with an '80's era motor. I paid $50 for it.

Here's the same model, but not mine:

That's the older version of what I have. I don't have the cast iron table on the disc sander though. That is nice.
 

bobs pens 1

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The report from Harbor Freight has good comments. Many sanders have poor reports from the people that bought them. Thanks so much for your replies.
 

Bugmerc

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Hey Brad, does that site have a classified section? I don't see one and I'm in the market and love old tools.
 

PaulDoug

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I have the HF 12" disk sander, and it is serving me well! I was looking at buy a disk/belt combo but was talked into using the belt sander on my old Craftsman combo and using the HF as my disk sander. So far I am pretty happy with the setup. Now this HF disk sander is a little louder than a much more expensive one, and it takes it a while to quite turning after I shut it off and I have to be sure everything on the table it is on is fastened down so it doesn't vibrate off, but the beast has done better than I expected. The table on the sander stays where I put it, but of course you can't rely on the gauge on the sander. The miter gauge that comes with it isn't much but it also seems to stay where I put it. the dust collection, hooked to my shop vacuum works very well. It is what it is, a cheap but good for the cost 12" disk sander. Some day when I have a bigger shop, I will have a better one, or maybe not, this one is doing what I want it to.

I kind of like the sound, reminds me of one of these Rolls Royce rotating cylinder airplane engines.....:biggrin:
 
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jbswearingen

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Hey Brad, does that site have a classified section? I don't see one and I'm in the market and love old tools.


Yup, and it's a VERY active section. You have to be a member, I believe, to see it and post in it, though. And you have to have I *think* one active posting that has to be approved by the moderators. It's a pretty strictly moderated forum, but I like it that way--it keeps the discussion on topic. There is an IMMENSE collection of knowledge there. They helped me get my 1971 Delta lathe running, a 1992 PM66 running, my 1955 sander running (bought it from a member there), along with a bunch of other old tools.

Great place.



I have the HF 12" disk sander, and it is serving me well! I was looking at buy a disk/belt combo but was talked into using the belt sander on my old Craftsman combo and using the HF as my disk sander. So far I am pretty happy with the setup. Now this HF disk sander is a little louder than a much more expensive one, and it takes it a while to quite turning after I shut it off and I have to be sure everything on the table it is on is fastened down so it doesn't vibrate off, but the beast has done better than I expected. The table on the sander stays where I put it, but of course you can't rely on the gauge on the sander. The miter gauge that comes with it isn't much but it also seems to stay where I put it. the dust collection, hooked to my shop vacuum works very well. It is what it is, a cheap but good for the cost 12" disk sander. Some day when I have a bigger shop, I will have a better one, or maybe not, this one is doing what I want it to.

I kind of like the sound, reminds me of one of these Rolls Royce rotating cylinder airplane engines.....:biggrin:


That's not a bad thing AT ALL! It's a sign of good, smooth running bearings. My HF 8" grinder will spin longer than it takes me to turn a pen at times...the bearings on it are that good.
 
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