sanding

[jusaf]

What speed do you have the lathe set during sanding? In addition to pens, I recently made some chess pieces. I was wondering if I should have been at a higher speed for sanding. I did use cheaper wood since my customer wanted the set painted in college themes. I plan to make another set out of some really nice wood and just put a nice finish on it but let the natural grain show through. I'll post some pictures later once I get home.

Jim

 

[Wheaties]

As slow as my lathe will go, which I believe is 480. Once I get into the micro-mesh I will speed it up to somewhere around 1500 and for the last few grits of MM I crank it all the way.

I have no idea if this is right, wrong, or indifferent but it works well for me!

 

[JimB]

I sand at the slowest speed my lathe will go. That's for sandpaper and MM.

 

[Crashmph]

I sand from 150 to 12K at 1800. May not be right but my wood pens and acrylic pens come out rather nice.

 

[arjudy]

I differ from the other responses. I sand as fast as my lathe will go. Never had a problem with this method.

 

[thewishman]

I sand at 1800.

 

[1080Wayne]

Jim
If you don`t have a good dust collecting setup , sanding a pen barrel at about 500 rpm will prevent most of the dust from becoming airborne . Doubling the speed will put most of the dust in the air .
Wayne

 

[Justin_F]

I think the speed is less important than what you are trying to avoid. These are heat, clogging and scarring the piece by using too much pressure.