Thread: Replacing a sander/linisher

Originally Posted by Arron

I've had one of these sanders (or is it accurately called a linisher) like the one on the left for a while now. Its done good service but I think its now needs replacement

I was wondering what advantage there is replacing it with one of the ones like on the right. I believe they are usually called something like 'Big Boy Sanders', but have never used one. Do they have any advantage over the above model ? Do they run faster, sand faster, work better in some way ??? Interested to know what the real difference is from someone who knows both.

I have been looking into this extensively for myself and some friends who purchased the, as you call it "Big Boy Sander" on Saturday.

The standard linisher is called a Combination Belt and Disc Sander obviously has the big circular disc which is very userful but you may not use it much.

The bigger sander is called a Horizontal/vertical Edge sander has several advantages. One is that the table and belt can be rotated 90º about the long axis which can make it easier to sand various parts of pieces by either using the weight of the piece or not. It is also easier to sand bevels with something like this as the table can be angled relative to the belt along the long axis.
A major advantage is that most of these oscillate the belt side to side meaning the same section of the belt is not used up and it helps keep the belt clean, cool and experience less wear. This means they do sand faster and better.
The other advantage is size of belt means you can sand bigger pieces.

Are they worth it? You bet they are, I would not have a workshop without one (big boy). I use mine all the time as a sander and jointer as I set it up at 90 degrees. Use 80 grit maximum on it, 60 grit is better for large wood removal. I use mine for shaping curves, face sanding, jointing and clean up. The most used machine next to my bandsaw.

SB

Originally Posted by Superbunny

Are they worth it? You bet they are, I would not have a workshop without one (big boy). I use mine all the time as a sander and jointer as I set it up at 90 degrees. Use 80 grit maximum on it, 60 grit is better for large wood removal.

Does this mean you would not bother with 120 and 80 gets things smooth enough?

Originally Posted by BobL

Does this mean you would not bother with 120 and 80 gets things smooth enough?

you can use up to 120 grit but it starts to clog and becomes a pain. It is a balance of getting things smooth and square then move on to final shaping and sanding to 400.

SB

Originally Posted by Superbunny

you can use up to 120 grit but it starts to clog and becomes a pain. It is a balance of getting things smooth and square then move on to final shaping and sanding to 400.

So if 120 clogs, what about 400?

Originally Posted by BobL

So if 120 clogs, what about 400?

I was meaning sanding the traditional way with a block or ROS from 120 to 400 grit, and using the big boy sander at 60 or 80 grit. It will be a pain to change belts all the time but you could do it if you want, I leave mine at 60 or 80 grit all the time.

SB

Originally Posted by Superbunny

I was meaning sanding the traditional way with a block or ROS from 120 to 400 grit, and using the big boy sander at 60 or 80 grit. It will be a pain to change belts all the time but you could do it if you want, I leave mine at 60 or 80 grit all the time.

SB

Thanks SB

Originally Posted by Superbunny

I was meaning sanding the traditional way with a block or ROS from 120 to 400 grit, and using the big boy sander at 60 or 80 grit. It will be a pain to change belts all the time but you could do it if you want, I leave mine at 60 or 80 grit all the time.

SB

I still dont quite get what you are saying. I mainly want to use it with 180 and 240 grit. It seems to me you are largely using it as a shaper and jointer, whereas I'm wanting to use it for near-finish sanding. Would I still find it useful at 240 if I'm prepared to do the work of changing belts and unclogging the belt with a rubber stick from time to time.

Due to pre-existing hand injuries I pretty much cant do hand sanding - and ROS is almost out of the question as well, so I'm coming from a different position then most people.

Arron

Originally Posted by Arron

I still dont quite get what you are saying. I mainly want to use it with 180 and 240 grit. It seems to me you are largely using it as a shaper and jointer, whereas I'm wanting to use it for near-finish sanding. Would I still find it useful at 240 if I'm prepared to do the work of changing belts and unclogging the belt with a rubber stick from time to time.

I've used one with a 240 grit belt and it sander much smoother than a hand held belt sander with a 400 belt. It seems to me that the bigger the belt sander the smoother the finish even using fairly coarse belts.

Originally Posted by Arron

I still dont quite get what you are saying. I mainly want to use it with 180 and 240 grit. It seems to me you are largely using it as a shaper and jointer, whereas I'm wanting to use it for near-finish sanding. Would I still find it useful at 240 if I'm prepared to do the work of changing belts and unclogging the belt with a rubber stick from time to time.

Due to pre-existing hand injuries I pretty much cant do hand sanding - and ROS is almost out of the question as well, so I'm coming from a different position then most people.

Arron

I have not tried up to 240 grit, as I don't go that far on this sander. Yes it's reasonable to assume I use it as a jointer and shaper but I did try 120 grit once and no good for me. As most of my woodwork is started from the slab it's a good starting point at 80 grit. Anyhow I just can't see myself trying to put a completed Rocking chair or Queen Anne dresser on this sander to do finishing sanding as I do most of my finishing after what I'm making is completed. Many of us build our project first then sand to get all joints to blend in etc.

SB

OK, I bought myself an edge sander so for the record this is what I've found after owning it for a couple of weeks. The machine I bought is the Jet Oscillating Edge Sander ($1200 at Carbatec).

What a wonderful machine !

Here's the pros and cons. When you read this keep in mind that due to pre-existing hand damage I cant hand-sand, and using an ROS isnt much better either, so I probably squeeze more out of a machine then most people will find necessary.

1. Its fast. At three times the belt speed and twice the horsepower as my previous linisher it gets the job done very fast. I think having a much longer belt makes it run cooler and cleaner too.
2. Its noisier then I expected. I think its mainly the oscillating function that makes it so noisy as I heard the non-oscillating version running and it seemed a lot quieter.
3. Dust extraction is poor, as I expected. I'm going to need to modify it somehow. Quite a bit of dust escapes the dust hood.
4. Its easy on the hands. Due to the large cast iron table you are not actually holding the workpiece - just using light pressure to keep it against the belt, with the table and stop doing the hard work.
5. It performs very well with fine grits. I use it mainly with 240 grit, at which it excells. As someone pointed out above, 240 on this machine gives a result that feels like 400 - which I think is because the oscillations prevent longitutinal scratches. 320 belts are available but I'm not motivated to buy one because at 240 its already better then you need for a lacquer finish.
6. You cant dimension with it, as you'd expect. By this I mean if you take a piece of timber to it that is absolutely square all round, then you will end up with a piece with one end thinner then the other, or maybe one side thinner, or maybe even two corners. Obviously you're still freehand sanding in a conceptual sense (unlike say a drum sander, which will keep things square but just make things thinner).

Perhaps most importantly, purchasing it has allowed me to return my drum sander to what its meant to do. I now use the drum sander with coarse grits only, say 120 or 180 (coarse for me). At these grits the drum sander works well, but it was always a pig at 240 grit - due to its high rotation speed and narrow drum diameter. Now I can leave the drum sander at 120 where it excells and the edge sander at 240 where it works well. The drum sander does the grunt work but leaves the timber neatly dimensioned, while it takes just a touch on the edge sander to bring up the finish. Of course I still put an 80 grit belt on the edge sander when I need to do some shaping from time to time, but mostly it stays at 240 and concentrates on finish work. Perhaps not the way these machines are meant to be used but works for me.

cheers
Arron

Well done, I told you, you got to have one. Mine is just a straight belt sander and not the oscillating type so it might perform better at 240 than mine does. Yep dust is a problem but a good dusty and some mods will take care of that, it needs larger shields to catch all the dust. I always ware a mask and respirator when I use mine.

SB

I have the Hafco L612A set up with 120 grit and a Scheppach KMS-2500 oscillating unit with 240 grit belts. I use both daily in making small boxes and find they give excellent results. The only issue I have found with the Scheppach is the tendency to readily leave black marks from the pressure pad material that is fitted under the belts. I am looking to get some wider belts made to solve this problem. As I use this unit only in the horizontal position and slide my work across this does add to this issue. With smaller units at 120mm belt with it is not an issue. I also have a Carbatec 15" wide belt sander and can report that is a very difficult machine to get to run without chewing up belts. I have also found local custom made belts are much better than the cheap imports.
Cheers,
paintman

Hi Paintman, Can you clarify which machine you mean by wide belt sqnder. Are you meaning the 400mm drum sander ? If so, what are you meaning by local custom made belts?
Cheers
Arron