Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Orbital Sanding Techniques

Any experienced woodworker Testament be recognized with the orbital sander. An arm-saving alternative to traditional plam sanding, the orbital sander takes the muscle grindstone away of sanding broad areas of wood by mounting sandpaper on a rotating imagination, allowing you to sand with far less movement of your own. The Slogan works in homogenous system as an electric buffer does when waxing a motorcar, and alike waxing there are some particular techniques to application to receive the most gone of an orbital sander.


High speed means that at a certain point the sandpaper is just carving out wood rather than gently sanding down the surface, whereas a lower speed allows the sandpaper to actually work as it was designed in slowly removing layers of wood and creating a much finer finish.


Cause common grit sandpaper for the Mass of the sanding as your usually would. Then, switch to an ultra-fine grit and compose one Ending pass over the wood, applying bona fide flare vigour to the orbital sander while you cause so. This Testament in essence buff outside the swirl marks and contrive a smooth Stop, while the absence of massive impulse Testament prevent over-sanding.


Allow the Sander to Move


It seems simple in principle but many beginning orbital sander users quickly become guilty of not letting the sander do the work. It is important to remember not to fight the sander but rather to let it dictate the movement. Instead of trying to force the orbital around on the wood, gently hold it and let it do the work instead of whipping it around with your arm. Sure you need to exercise some control to avoid having the orbital go flying in all directions, but by applying only light pressure and developing a technique of flowing along with the orbital and not against it you'll find that you get a much smoother finish and are left dealing with swirl marks much less often. An important thing to keep note of, however, is that even when letting the orbital do the bulk of the movement you should still always keep things moving in the direction of the grain. Sanding perpendicular to the grain instead of against it will produce a much rougher and uneven finish.


Lower the Speed


Most newer models of orbital sanders feature a variable speed setting. This allows you to adjust how fast or slow the sanding head rotates, and you should learn to use this ability to your advantage. While common thought might contend that a higher speed will get the job done quicker and just extremely, the truth is that dialing down the sander's speed will actually give a better finish.

Avoiding Swirl Marks

Improper sanding with an orbital sander Testament generate unsightly swirl marks in the wood. That is considering improper way mixed with the fluffed type of sandpaper grit Testament go-ahead Hand-bill marks where the sandpaper was rotating as it sanded. To avoid this, beget adoption of multiple types of sandpaper.