Mother of all Profile Sanders

[JetStream]

I have had a pet peave about profile sanders. Every time I wanted to sand an inside radius, the only tools available were Dremel, Porter Cable and Multimaster profile sanders. They are all pathetically small and make the task like bailing out a sinking sailboat with a teaspoon.

I have an Ingersoll Rand, model 315, long board air sander. It is available from Northern Tool or a lot of other sources for just over a hundred dollars. It is really a nice tool for keeping large surfaces fair when using some heavy fairing compound.

The aluminum sanding pad comes off with two bolts like this photo:

I made a new base from a piece of spruce 2 x 4 to match a profile I wanted to sand. I then attached it with 2 - 1/4" x 1-1/2" carriage bolts and large fender washers to prevent the wood from distorting the slide plate. That came out like this:

To attach the sandpaper, I used 3M spray Disc Adhesive.

It does an awesome job!! I am about to make some more special profiles after I make a gizmo to mount my router on the cross slide of my lathe. In the absence of that, profiles can be made by attaching a blank to the sander and gluing some sandpaper to a surface profile that you want to copy. Then run the sander with the blank attached until it matches the copy, then reverse the deal and put the sandpaper on the blank.

[Tim]

Nice solution to a complex problem!

Man, I SO need air tools in my shop. I've begun to promise myself that I'll invest in a good compressor and some tools when I sell the Daysailor. It's time...but I can't do it until then!

[Dan]

I was surprised that you want to use air tools. I personnaly hate them. They are noisy. The compressor runs all the time and they get cold as ice while I'm using them. You have to oil your tools or they won't last and then when you get that oil on the surface, bad things happen. Nothing like sanding oil into the fairing compound.
The only air tool I have that I love is my impact wrench. It is very strong and will twist off 1/2 bolts with the greatest of ease if your not carefull.
However, I can wet sand with the jitterbug pnuematic sander but not with the one plugged into the wall.
Do you love or hate you air tools?

[heartofgold]

I have recently transitioned from hobbyist to professional boat refinisher (courtesy of Hurricane Ivan, but that's another story). Much of the work with which I am currently involved is structural and cosmetic repair of serious hurricane damage (ask me some other time and I'll tell you more about it).

The yard where I work has a dizzying assortment of pnuematic tools. My first day on the job, I was exposed to a 6" DA sander. I can only compare this to my Porter Cable 5" random orbit electric, as I had no DA of my own. I was completely blown away by the versitility, power, and control of this tool. Later in the week, I began using a longboard air sander--the same one Bruce pictured on this thread. This tool opened doors I never knew existed! About a week later, I was introduced to an 8" pnuematic disk sander, and I am considering leaving my wife. Much of the benefit of this tool is reflective of the nature of the extremely violent damage we are repairing; many of you would likely find this tool mundane and of limited use. All these tools are great, but I really like that 8" sander.

I find that the pnuematic tools are much smoother operating than their power counterparts, but what I appreciate most about our air tools is the significant weight reduction (the lack of hefting a motor). It is not unusual for me to spend 3-4 hours a day hefting these tools at shoulder height, and the 1-2 pounds makes a big difference.

I had the displeasure, this week of having to rebuild a disfunctional 8" sander. The process took nearly 2 hours, but I was paid for my time, so it didn't really matter too much to me. We use our tools so much, that they end up being rebuilt every few months or so. Our rule is to use 2-3 drops of oil every time you pick up a tool for the first time it is used each day. Only before I rebuild the above mentioned 8" sander did I have a problem with oil getting on the surface, but that was remedied after the tool was rebuilt.

Prior to my working at the yard, I had zero interest in getting a compressor. Now it is at the top of my list; I believe there are only 1 or 2 tools which I would like to replace before I invest in a compressor and air tools, in spite of my tiny shop. Did I mention how much I love that 8" disk sander?