Portable Electric Disc Sander

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

I have a inline Craftsman from the dawn of time. It's an awkward 6", there are no commonly available discs . Being inline my hands are high up, so it pulls. But there are times when a disc sander is the perfect tool for wood. 10,000 rpm of the mini grinder or 7,000 of the full size seem a pretty fast, burning the wood.

What's out there ?

[Woodwreck]

Sander??

[Woodwreck]

Easy...

https://www.toolnut.com/festool/festool-sanders.html

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

Here is what I hope to replace https://www.google.ca/search?q=vinta...9kEpbqK_REA40M

[beachburl]

Easy...

https://www.toolnut.com/festool/festool-sanders.html

And then I see this:
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[Stuart Jacobs]

Would this be portable enough? SANDER 1IN. X30IN. BELT AND 5IN. DISC CSA CT170N This is at Busy Bee.

[Harvey]

If I understand the sander you mean is a dual mode, coarse or random orbit sander, Fine Woodworking tested them in 2009 and chose the Festool rotex as best & the Makita BO6040 (now the BO06050J) being the best value. (A lot of Makita owners complained the coarse mode of the BO6040 failed in use.)

[KenL]

I have the old Black and Decker disc that came with my drill kit back in the early 1970's and treasure it for auto-body work and the like but it is getting to be difficult to find disks for it. Princess Auto for one still sells discs but I don't know if they sell 6 inch ones; my rig uses 5 inch discs and those they have. My Dad's Black and Decker disc sander was the must have tool for automotive work and was especially useful for heavy duty fibreglass repairs on things like truck hoods and fenders.The old Craftsman one that OP has (I am guessing at the model) was a common fixture in auto repair shops years ago and eventually was replaced (more or less) by the ubiquitous angle grinder, however, you can still buy DeWalt and other disc sanders in 5", 7" and I think a 9 inch model as well. You can fit a 7 or 5 inch backer to your existing sander to keep it going since the backers pads are readily available items.

I have an angle grinder (4 1/2 inch) too but the little bugger runs too fast to be useful for sanding so the old drill pad stills sees a fair amount of use.

I hope that helps you out somewhat!

Ken

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

My wife has an old desk, some shop built plywood thing that serves as a bench for her lapidary saws. Of course, the drawers didn't work., stuck. An oldtimer showed me a trick for old drawers, Arborite or Formica. . But even before the drawer sides were too tall. The perfect tool to knock the 5/8" plywood down is a disc sander. But my sander has terrible ergonomics, and the old backing disc is warped, making it a much greater challenge than it needed to be. My backing disc is 6", an odd ball size, and threaded 1/2" fine even more odd ball.

Oh for waxing cars or trucks a RO with a wax applicator pad and disc sander with a wool bonnet on slow, makes it quick and easy. .

[KenL]

I hear you on the bad ergonomics but it still beats a disc in a power drill, IMO anyway! I can't help regarding what disc would thread on to your machine and there is little to be done about the grip. Dad's old one was a hard to hang onto beast that took some getting used to; it was heavy too. I would look hard at the DeWalt offerings to replace your Craftsman but that is a very subjective assessment based on handling them at the store only; no user experience.

We didn't use that tool for polishing but it was the go to to grind out any fractured portions and to feather/scarf edges preparatory to gluing on the repairs. Dad had a bonnet polisher for buffing up the paint or the final gel coat prior to painting.

I did find 6 inch discs on Amazon by searching for "resin fiber 6 inch discs" which might help you out.

Ken

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

Thanks Ken, I 'll try plugging in "resin fiber 6" discs"

In order to flat grind with a grinder, you lay the wheel flat on the surface, yes, I know you supposed to grind at an angle. It works pretty good on steel. Larger the diameter the better it works and also the more tricky. .Lets say, I wouldn't want to use a 9" . But a 7" can be controlled.

[al.m..]

I have a Bosch 1250 devs,it’s great,haven’t used my belt sander,or random orbit since I got the bosch

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'm one of the few to whom a disc sander is woodworking tool. I ordered one today, the DeWalt 7" from KMS, best price I found. They have two models, 849 and 849X . The 849X is a polisher for cars, the 849 has a rubber backing disc so it's a sander. .Basically it's a mid sized, 12amp, rat tail grinder with two speed ranges 0-600 and 0-3500..It will work for buffing wax. I can also use it to clean steel for welding too, so it should get more use than that Craftsman. I hated using the Craftsman. Changing out grinders is a pain . Using flap wheels on grinders is expensive, thus using sanding discs is much more cost effective.

I'm sure someone has mentioned this all, but I haven't read any articles.

[stickman]

It's an awkward 6", there are no commonly available discs .
What's out there ?

I got a bunch of 5" discs for free, but my rigid is 6" and I have the same issue I can get them if I want o pay rediculous HD pricing.

I found I can get some in the HD rentals section , they must be used for some other machine they rent, still not cheap but they work and its an alternative to the rigid brand. those seem to come in coarser grits like 36, 60

I just made some "donuts" from what 6" discs I have, then they stay on the sander and I replace the center 5" pad and leave that 1/2 " outer strip on the sander. a bit mickey mouse but it works on flat stuff. for what it's worth..

I have an old 6" craftsman spinning disk, I use it for autobody and such as described above. that one has a hole in the pad and basically nut in the center. no hook and loop. can I get a new pad for it? its good for taking the paint off down to bare metal prior to bondo and rough shaping of the bondo. a flap disk on a angle grinder polishes the metal too much.

[Downwindtracker2 [OP]]

Sears was great for Craftsman parts, but they are no more in Canada and a hollow ghost in the States. Luckily years back I got a replacement nut, It's 1/2" fine thread. The standard thread is 5/8" coarse. So look after that nut. I used 7" sanding discs, and just ignored the edges. It wasn't perfect . I'll pass the Craftsman sander/buffer on to my son.. Young married men don't have large tool budgets.. He can struggle with it.