Sanding with an oscillating spindle sander?

[angboy]

Do I remember correctly that someone here told me about using an oscillating sander to sand pen blanks so that you didn't have to rough sand back and forth to get out the sanding lines? I think someone mentioned this once upon time.

 

[alamocdc]

Angela, I don't know about that, but I sand on the lathe and I don't get sanding lines. Contrary to what many do, I sand on high speed. But I never start lower 220 or 320 grit and sometimes I just start at MM.

 

[gerryr]

I'm with Billy on that and I know that Fangar also sands at a fairly high speed. I think an oscillating sander would wreck your blanks.

 

[stilgar]

Once I started using the Micromesh from woodturningz.com, I have not had that problem. I always and on MM. Also, don't tell Ryan, but there is a Shellawax EEE Ultra Shine Abrasive Paste Wax that I started to use last night that was great.

 

[Dario]

I know others use orbital sander on bowls...never heard about it being used on pens (but technically it should work too but may be too aggressive for pens).

Best advise I can give you is to just run the normal course of sandpaper (320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, etc.) or (320, 400, 600, micromesh 9 grits)...don't skip a grit.

Inspect before going to the next grit and make sure you erase any major lines the prior grit made before moving on. Else you will waste your time and may end up going back in grit anyway.

 

[TomServo]

I've used my random orbit sander before - works fine but use a light touch... you'll usually ding the bushings a tad but personally I don't care about bushings - they usually only get sanded down so far, then they're below the level of the pen barrel...

 

[Dario]

Originally posted by TomServo
<br />I've used my random orbit sander before - works fine but use a light touch... you'll usually ding the bushings a tad but personally I don't care about bushings - they usually only get sanded down so far, then they're below the level of the pen barrel...

While this may work...wouldn't sanding the bushing down defeats the purpose of the bushing itself...which is to be your guide? Now you will have to be always concious that you have to stop cutting before hitting the bushing.