Wood Sanders Professional Tip
Wood sander: types, purpose, choice
The farm often has to grind something, clean off the old paintwork. Most work with wood. Few manufacturers sell ideal products. Is that a joiner. And if there are perfectly crafted boards, then their price is such that inevitably you want to polish them yourself. Even taking into account the fact that the work is tedious and uninteresting. Therefore, a wood grinding machine is one of the tools that should be in the home arsenal.
Types, purpose, features of work
There are different types of grinders that perform one type of work, but with different results. There is a tool for rough (preliminary), medium (intermediate) and fine (finish) grinding. Part of the tool can even perform polishing.
Wood polishing machine can be of different pitch, size, performance
To choose a sanding machine for wood, you first need to decide what type of work you need it for. For coarse sanding. leveling irregularities, differences in height. one type is suitable, for finishing sanding. bringing to the ideal. another type. over, both tasks can be solved using different types of equipment.
angle grinder. angle grinder
The well-known angle grinder can also be used for sanding wood. She copes well with the rough grinding function. Of all the possible tools, this is the most productive. If it is necessary to quickly smooth out large wooden surfaces. grinding the floor, walls, log houses. this is the job for an angle grinder. Minus. the surface is very uneven, it takes a long time to align all the holes and humps. If it still “passes” on the log house, then for any carpentry work the result is unsatisfactory. If only there is an opportunity to purchase another tool, you should not use an angle grinder to polish a tree.
Red emery circles are used for wood. this is a special abrasive
For the angle grinder there are special nozzles for polishing wood. The best option. petal or disk circles with sandpaper of different grain sizes. When installing them, the working plane is below the protective cover, it is safe to work, and you can move in any direction. Carefully handle places with protruding hats of nails and screws. We lower the tool from above, we carefully move. A sharp movement easily breaks the grinding wheel, so be careful.
By changing the granularity of the grinding wheels used, it is possible to carry out coarse and medium (intermediate) grinding. Work takes less time than if any other wood sander is used. But on bringing to a flat surface it may take more time, since, with a lack of experience, there will be more flaws.
When sanding wood, sandpaper clogs, the speed decreases. In addition to reducing speed, there is another sign. the smell of burnt wood. It is not necessary to change the drive immediately; you can restore its performance. To do this, we grind the metal for several seconds. Everything adhering. resin, wood fibers, dust. burns out, the surface is cleaned, the processing speed increases again. This focus, by the way, can be used with other grinders.
If you often have to clean and change circles, a Velcro nozzle is installed on the angle grinder. Replacing sandpaper is much simpler and faster. unfastened / stuck. second thing. But working with the nozzle is more dangerous. Due to its height, the grinding area is above the level of the protective casing; it does not fulfill its functions. During the start, it happens that an unreliably fixed circle flies off, or even the nozzle itself. They have a small weight, injuries are not serious, but it is an injury anyway. An angle grinder with a smooth start helps to reduce risks, but, anyway, you need to work with gloves, protective clothing with tightly buttoned sleeves, boots that cover your legs, and safety glasses.
Belt sander
It is called this because sandpaper has the shape of a tape that continuously moves with the help of rollers. Therefore, such a sander for wood is also called "endless".
The wood belt sander is designed for roughing and intermediate surface leveling. By installing sandpaper with finer grain, medium-purity treatments can be achieved. This is enough for carpentry that does not go with painting. To bring to perfect condition you need a grinder on a tree of a different type. over, to eliminate long longitudinal scratches, it will be necessary to carry out stepwise grinding, changing the grain size several times. the scratches remain deep.
Belt sander is good if you need to remove the old coating. paint varnish
What makes a wood belt sander good? She has a good performance. The tape on it is installed in such a way that one side can be polished close to the wall. What are its flaws? Due to the design, not at all points you can "get it." For example, corners, shaped grooves, grooves and other small parts. It is not always possible to "crawl" between two parts (when processing a railing, for example). Another drawback is that most of the belt grinders have a solid mass, it is difficult to work with them on weight, sanding vertical surfaces. But on the horizontal plane. they are the most productive.
The following disadvantages are the high noise level, not the biggest grinding spot. It makes so much noise that working without headphones is extremely uncomfortable. Why is there a small spot of grinding, because in appearance it is quite large? Even with a large width of the tape, it polishes only in the center. the part in front and back is not used due to the fact that it is raised for feeding on the rollers.
It can be turned into a grinding machine
There is a belt sander for wood features in the work. To reduce the depth of the furrows that it leaves, you need to drive it along the fibers. Finishing then takes less time. And yet. if during the work you gape and leave the machine for a long time in one place, a solid "hole" is formed. Despite this, it is the most efficient wood grinding machine that is often used.
Orbital (eccentric)
The wood orbital sander has a round sole with Velcro, on which sandpaper discs are attached. The discs are the same as for the angle grinder, so they are interchangeable. There are holes in the sole of the machine to remove dust. Dust is collected in a bag, a cassette-type container, almost all models allow you to connect a construction vacuum cleaner.
Eccentric grinding allows you to process curved surfaces
The work of an eccentric sander on wood is based on the simultaneous rotation and movement back and forth (reciprocating movements). This achieves a fairly good speed for intermediate and finishing wood processing. During the work of AL-KOI grindings of this type, the platform moves in a spiral or orbit. Therefore, this tool is also called orbital sander.
Video: Wood Sanders Professional Tip
Eccentric grinders are good at processing curved or shaped surfaces. the machine is small in weight, makes little noise, it is easy to control, the angle of the disk allows you to reach recesses, cuts, etc. With all this, she also processes large planes at a good pace. When installing sandpaper with coarse grain can be used for coarse and intermediate grinding. The speed is less than that of the tape, but also quite acceptable. There are such machines with different radius of movement (eccentricity). from 3 to 8 mm. Selecting this parameter and determine the main purpose (more on this below).
There are small and compact, there are powerful, decent dimensions
The disadvantages of this type of machine are the inability to process in the corners. The round platform simply does not enter there. Still. at the edges there is a zone of uncertain grinding. close to a wall or a vertical surface, it will not be possible to grind.
Vibrating
The sole of the vibratory sander can be rectangular or triangular. When working, it makes circular motions with a small amplitude. it vibrates, which gave the name to this type of equipment. This wood sanding machine is used for finishing. for varnishing or painting, but has a low productivity.
A vibrating grinding machine for wood with a rectangular surface allows you to process large areas, but with its help it is not possible to polish the wood near vertical planes and walls. it begins to beat against the obstacle. Triangular in this regard is more suitable for working in corners and inaccessible places, but you still can’t bring it tight to the wall.
Vibrating machine used for finishing
Another disadvantage of vibrations is the so-called “lamb”. If a grain of sand or another solid fragment gets under the surface, it leaves small circles on the wood. “lamb”. Removing these traces is difficult. It is necessary to use sandpaper of an increasingly smaller grain size, gradually removing scratches. But if in the process something falls under the sole again, the process repeats again. Therefore, before work, the surface is thoroughly cleaned and a vacuum cleaner is usually connected. for quick and timely removal of extraneous fragments.
Oscillation
Strictly speaking, this is not a grinder, but it can be grinded. over, those places that are not available for other types of machines. corners (even sharp), places directly at the vertical walls. For grinding, a triangular platform of a special form is mounted on the tool, on which sandpaper is fixed on a self-adhesive base.
It looks like a multifunctional renovator, in which there is a grinding function
During operation, the platform moves in a horizontal plane with a very small amplitude. the vertices of the triangle deviate by about 1.7 ° (this is an average of 2.5 mm). Due to this small movement, grinding takes place. Such a machine can be sanded in corners and close to vertical surfaces. over, it is possible to remove not only wood, but also smeared and dried glue. In general, the oscillation machine is used for finishing grinding in hard-to-reach places. due to low productivity and grinding spot, it is unrealistic to process with it more or less large surfaces for a long time.
What type of grinder to choose
Summing up, we can say that ideally, two grinding machines are needed for housework and construction. for rough and fine finishing. Most often, a pair is used. tape-eccentric. If you plan to make furniture, then you can’t do without oscillation.
If you do not like the result of the work of belt grinding, you can purchase two orbital with different eccentricities. For rough grinding, a tool with an eccentricity of 6-8 mm is suitable, for finishing grinding and even polishing. 2-4 mm. The only disadvantage of this solution is that good eccentric grinders are expensive.
If the budget is limited, and the farm has an angle grinder (angle grinder), rough grinding can be done using it, and for intermediate or finishing use orbital or vibration. Just keep in mind that vibration is the least efficient, albeit the cheapest. If possible, buy an orbital one. it is more universal and gives better results.
Technical Selection Criteria
Any tool is divided into classes that differ in their working resource (and price). So a wood grinding machine can be domestic or professional. Households are designed for short continuous work with breaks. Basically, they recommend working no more than 3 hours a day, periodically taking breaks of 15 minutes.
Professional models are designed to work for 8-12 hours, breaks are rarely needed or not needed at all. The working resource of such a tool is many times more. For this, durable and reliable (read. expensive) materials are used. In addition, the performance of such equipment is much higher, as a rule, there are more adjustments.
To choose a machine for polishing wood, you need to pay attention to the technical parameters
When choosing, the first thing you have to decide is what class your car should be. I must say that some manufacturers and household class can be quite good, and some also have semi-professional lines. This is an intermediate class, as a rule, for private use it is optimal in terms of price / quality combination. Some models are even used by professionals.
General selection options
Although wood grinders are different, there are common points to pay attention to when choosing. Here they are:
- Power consumption. This is a proxy performance indicator. The smallest wood sander has a power of 120 W, the most powerful. about 1.2 kW. But the power also depends on the type, so the tape is usually more powerful, because it requires more effort to stretch the tape, and also the energy is spent on the compressor, which removes dust from the working area. So the power of the grinder must be compared for the same type of models, but not for different ones.
- Cord length. Everything is simple here. The longer the cord, the more mobile the tool.
- The presence of rubber pads on the handles. They contribute to a more comfortable grip of equipment. The pens should fit well in the hand.
Vacuum cleaner connection pipe
The speed controller is located on the handle
These are common points to pay attention to. Now about what is important for different types of grinders.
Tape
When choosing a belt grinding, you need to look at the following parameters:
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The length and width of the tape. The width of the tape is from 6 mm to 100 mm. A narrow web can handle small parts; a wide one increases productivity. The length of the tape depends on the model. Of course, the longer the tape, the longer it works without replacement. When buying a second belt-type grinder, try to find a model with the same length. less consumables are required.
The width of the tape may be different
Extra grip for tighter control
You also need to pay attention to how convenient it is to change the tape. There are also models that allow you to quickly change brushes. Sometimes replacement brushes are even included.