Sanders

On this site I give my advice on the features ad functions of various sanders and shaping tools, and offer advice on choosing a sander for those who intend to buy one. Most of what you see here is my personal opinion based on my own experiance, and what I have learned from others.

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That's a good queston, but an easy one. Because there's so many diferent ways to sand. It may sound silly when you first start out, but the truth is they will all have a place in your workshop.

• The palm sander is nice for fine work. it just vibrates and generally has a square, or rectangular sanding surface. It gets into corners where RO and Belt Sanders cannot, and it's vibrating action leaves almost no scratch marks. A good one will also have holes in the bottom for dust collection. if it does, it usually comes with a plate with some spikes to poke holes in your sand paper, no need to buy expensive pre cut sheets.
• The RO (Random Orbital) sander is a little beefier. It will generaly cut more material in less time then a palm sander. The sanding sheets, or disks, are generally pre cut with various numbers of holes, specific to different sanders, to allow for dust collection.  The disks attach TO THE SANDER with either Velcro, or adhesive. It's largely a matter of preference which you like, but mine is velcro. Mostly because I'm cheep and like to reuse the sheets as long as possible. Adhesive pads can sometimes be taken off and put back on a couple of times if you're careful, and don't get any sawdust on the adhesive surface, but the Velcro pads are much more forgiving. Before you buy a RO, check to see wich type it uses, and think about whether it is what you want to use. Also make sure sanding disks are readily available in the grits you want to use.
• The belt sander, and the belt sander? no I'm not repeating myself, The belt sander comes in 2 flavors; bench top, and handheld. With a bench mount, you pot the wood on the sander, with the hand held of course, you put the sander on the wood. they both have specific advantages, a bench mount is great for rounding off the corners of a small box, or the end of a dowel, while the handheld Belt sander is master of taking down uneven edges in joined boards, and making uneven surfaces uniform and flat.
• Detail sanders are not used as much, but when you need one, nothing else will do. When you need to get into a tiny crevice, or irregular shaped corner this tiny titan does the job
• Drum sander "Huh" Yes drum sander is ideal for shaping insides of round or bowed workpieces. You can often do it with the edge of the belt sander too, but a drum can usualy get into tighter spots, and is more consistent. you don't have to have the $700 occilating one they use on TV either, in fact you can even get drum sanding bits to put in your drill press, ao you don't have to have a seporate machine at all

Budget Woodworking