Thread: Which Sander?

Jim, that is a pretty compelling review.

I am reluctant to buy Makita due to a poor customer experience.

Big fan of Bosch PT so also looking at their model

Thanks WoodPixel

After my last Festool purchase I swore only to buy Festool going forward. Then I see the bill for a simple tool lime a belt sander and change my mind. The sanding base alone costs as much as a quality sander.

Perhaps I will try and source a secondhand one

You can buy a sanding shoe for some of the Makita belt sanders to control the sanding depth

Bosche do a similar sanding frame to the festool jobbie. Works well, how do I know? I have one. I mostly love festool gear but when faced with twice or more retail price for no perceived benefit..... Meh!

I have the bosch blue belt sander and like it. I also like that one side is flush with the belt so you can get up close to a corner etc. The dust collection with a dust vac attached is also very good, but it occasionally gets clogged inside if sanding soft wood with really aggressive belts (like 40 grit) and you need to clean it out to ensure the dust collection works properly. I'm not saying I wouldn't wear a mask etc when belt sanding but visible dust is certainly not too evident.

Having said that, I would now use hand planes and maybe just do a light finish sand if I were doing something like a table-top.

What kind of tops are you trying to flatten? laminated tops made from several 4-6" wide boards, or bandsaw/chainsaw milled slabs? either way I would highly recommend looking for a different more appropriate method to flatten THEN smooth the tops. Belt sanders are good for floors, good for removing paint from flat surfaces, umm...that's about it really.

Nothing will beat this machine https://surcare.com/smf-series . I have one and have had it for near on 20 years. For levelling/finishing large flat surfaces its the ants pants. I also have a 22/44 drum sander several belt sanders and small orbitals and the Surcare beats em all including sanding back between coats of laquer/paint.

Originally Posted by Jeff Leslie

I now don't post often but this one got me. A commercial wide belt sander is no different to thicknessing boards. What you put in, you get out. That is, a banana in and a banana out. A commercial belt sander will not hide any jointing/gluing mistakes just because it's a commercial machine.

I frequently dress a slab or a jointed table top on my Woodwizz. Guaranteed perfect flat results. It will do what a drum or belt sander cannot.

Nice machine.
The wood wiz is only machining one side so the other side has to rest on a bed. What if that surface is like a banana as you said. Do you use shims underneath to stop it from wobbling/rocking as your cutter passes over the top?
If do, its no different to what we do in a thicknesser with a sled if we don't have a wide bed jointer but we do it on a smaller scale. I haven't used a large belt sander but I'd imagine the same could be done.
Cheers

Damienol, perhaps you could bodge up a sled for your router. It's two parallel bars, a "gantry" in which your router sits with a suitable flattening bit.

ive seen them used many times and it will get you easily to the point of needing to only finish with your ROS.

let me find a URL...

edit: lappa and I posted simultaneously! . Here is the idea: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J_l9kZdQu9E

to de-banana-erise I'd be treating it exactly in the same way as a whacky timber theough the thicknesser... With wedges

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

Bosche do a similar sanding frame to the festool jobbie. Works well, how do I know? I have one. I mostly love festool gear but when faced with twice or more retail price for no perceived benefit..... Meh!

Do you remember the cost of the sanding frame?

Also, what is the dust extraction like on the Bosch?

Originally Posted by rod1949

Nothing will beat this machine https://surcare.com/smf-series . I have one and have had it for near on 20 years. For levelling/finishing large flat surfaces its the ants pants. I also have a 22/44 drum sander several belt sanders and small orbitals and the Surcare beats em all including sanding back between coats of laquer/paint.

That is serious

In response to the woodwiz/router sled/banana/wedge posts...

If your tops are that bad, you really need to be looking at and fixing your joining process. There's absolutely no reason for properly square-dressed timber to be out by more than a mm after joining.

Obviously, slabs are a different story.

Maybe a local Lucas Mill operator has the planer and/or sander attachments?

Another vote for the festool in the cage. I've got a BS105 and it's amazing what that thing will do.