Brush Sanding Is The Latest Trend In Woodworking

Sanding in woodworking shops has gone from hard contour wheels that had to be shaped to the reverse profile of the piece being sanded. The process is very time consuming as a custom woodworking shop has a few of each sharp and size and changing would have to change sanding wheel all the time.

In 1990 a new sanding system was developed where sandpaper where back up by a Tampico brush, this system game the sandpaper for force and when flex around a profile the brush would support the sand paper down in the profile. This style of sanding called brush sanding or brush back sanding would gain popularity for the next 10 year and in 2000 a new system again would make the brush system obsolete.

A smart system came along where the brush could be reused many times over as only the sandpaper should be changed when needed. As the replacement cost of the brush sanding systems fell the popularity of brush sanding grew in the woodworking community and in some cases in the metal fabricating shops. Brush sanding abrasives have the following advantages over hard wheel or sanding belts. A brush sanding heads will contour or change to any profile, it will only sand the top surface of the profile and just slightly break any sharp edges on the profile. This sanding is often referred to as profile sanding or finishing sanding.

Small knife marks in the moulding can be removed with brush sanding as long as the knife marks are not too deep. Removal of loose fibers on the molded piece will help on the overall look of the stain color when the work piece is being stained and sealed.

The different between brush sanding and hand sanding is the uniformity of the stain color. If you hand sand something different pressure is use to sand in different spots this will give the wood a different stain color because of over sanding in some spots. Brush sanding will use its flexibility to sand the same in every spot and with more pressure by the operator the brush sander will not sand much more and there by leaving an even stain color.

Brush sanding will however not be as aggressive as a contoured wheel and will not be able to remove the very deep scratches and other imperfections on your contoured piece. In the sealer sanding or scuff sanding brush sanding is also very easy to use as gentle sanding can be achieved by using the slower RPM (Rounds per Minute) on the brush head. Grit 220 or 320 is normally used for sealer sanding with a brush sanding head. Brush sanding is a very cost effective way of sanding contoured work pieces where a flexible medium is needed for sanding of an uneven piece.

Brush Sanding of Mouldings Made Easy

Brush Sanding of Mouldings Made Easy by Jacob MalherbeSanding mouldings has always been a long and slow job in the small shop but now a new machine on the market are ready to set a stop to that.The QuickWood moulding sander will do brush sanding on linier mouldings at up to 50 feet per min.

The machine will remove light knife marks and prep the wood for staining and sealing.The prep is very important to the moulding as uniformity in the stain color comes from this prep. The prep is a uniform sanding of the top surface of the whole moulding. The top and the bottom of the moulding will get the same sanding and by doing this the same uniform stain color is achieved. Brush sanding mouldings in this way prepares the moulding not just for the staining but also for the next step, namely the sealer coat.

When the sealer coat is applied to the moulding the pre sanding with the Quickwood moulding sander has made sure that no sharp edges are on the moulding. This does not mean that the brush sanding distorts the profile it only means that knife sharp edges are slightly broken. The rules are that a sharp edge will not be able to absorb very much stain or sealer and thereby be very weak and a possible point where the homeowner would breach the sealer coats and expose raw wood. To make the edges as strong as possible a light break is perform in the raw wood sanding so the stain and sealer coats sits better on the edges.After stain and sealer has be applied and the moulding has dried the Quickwood brush sander is now ready to do sealer sanding on the moulding.

The speed of the spindles are reduce for a softer sanding and again speed of up to 50 feet per min can be reached for sealer sanding on the mouldings.The machine can be setup with 150 grit for pre sanding and 220 grit for sealer sanding. Any grit from 80 to 320 is available for the machine. Special sanding applications like Rustic look, Antic look or South West look can also be achieved by using steel brushes or stiff tynex brushes.The moulding sanding machine comes with 2 top heads, made with variable speed to change the aggressiveness of the sanding on the moulding. One sander on the left side and one sander on the right side also with variable speed control. Driven rollers conveys the product though the machine at a variable speed from 10 to 50 feet per min.Pressure rollers are adjustable in height together by a hand wheel crank, minimum length is 14 inch.This machine will take care of bottlenecks in the production of moulding as finish sanding and sealer sanding is now an easy task to do.

For more information please contact the US distributor of QuickWood finishing sanders, Sand-Tech Inc 805 Marathon Parkway, suite 160 Lawrenceville GA 30045 USA Phone: 770-682-8863 Fax: 770-682-3960 http://www.quickwood.com