Thread: Willy's take on the Arbortech Contour Sander

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen
Well, I received my Contour Sander in the mail some time ago and after some initial issues (I will explain as I go) it finally saw some action this rainy weekend here in Perth.
Firstly, as soon as I saw this tool, I thought it might be perfect for me for the sanding of burls and carved objects. The sander arrived with the following grits 60, 80 and 120. Assembly (check the photos), well the assembly was that easy that I won't even bother covering it here. A good set of comprehensive instructions accompanied the tool. I have been a big fan of anything Arbortech for many years now and these tools scream QUALITY.


I have a huge chunk of Wandoo Burl, with Birdseye which I had recently cut from a farm. This is super hard and would be a true test of the tool. I was all excited to try out my new toy, errrr Tool. The sanding pads are held onto the pad through an adhesive. I i thought later on, that I might convert mine to velcro as I am set up for that sort of work and can cut all my own disks, but once I understood the operation of the tool, I think velcro would fail. This tool is a Random Orbit tool, which essentially oscillates. If velcro is used, then the oscillations would be reduced due to the slippage in the velcro. The 50mm adhesive pads are direct drive, no loss. So don't be tempted to change to velcro. I am sure the design engineers also tried and failed with velcro.
Anyhoo.
I carved the burl out with the industrial carver, one of my favourite tools and then brought the contour sander out to play after a couple of photos. The sander was okay, but didn't remove a lot of material. It was great in the fiddly parts around detail, but didn't remove the masses of material I expected. I wasn't happy with this and had a chat with Kevin Inkster. Simultaneously, I believe Arbortech discovered the courser grits are not where this tool excels. They have subsequently re-released the tool, but with the finer grits up to 400 (or . NOW we are talking. I did some smaller burls, and previously where my sanding arbors would catch, the contour sander DID not. usually when my arbors catch, I have to repair them. The Contour sander really excelled in the hard to get to, pad bending, disc heating, detail areas. The sander did not generate the heat that I would have expected. The sanding grits also last quite well. I finished the Wandoo Burl and also did some Small, deep York Gum Burls. This is the domain of the sander. Great little tool which has now earned a spot in the shed.