Rotex for End Grain Sanding

[Owego]

I'm sanding  tree  cross sections.  Trying to get them to a 180 grit smoothness.  Wood is ash.  I've flattened these 16 inch disks using a drum sander w/40 grit paper, now I want to finish them to 180.  Tried a 150 R/O  with 40 grit to get the drum sander scoring out.  It was not effective - too slow.  Tried a belt sander with 40 grit - better, but still unacceptably slow.  Would a Rotex be more effective (faster) than a belt sander ?

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

Why not drum sand to 120 or 150?

RAS, then Rotex

(or just the RAS, with some practice you should get it where your 150 should do it)

Tom

 

[lwoirhaye]

Ash is pretty resilient on end grain.  I suspect the end grain is quite chewed up from flattening and you'll need to remove a lot of material (like 1/32") to get it smooth.  I would expect a belt sander to be the fastest abrasive way to do it.  While rotex sanders are pretty aggressive, I don't think they're near as aggressive as a belt sander. 

Unless you've got something to prove, I recommend finding a way to run the parts through a wide belt.  Further dimensioning on a drum sander with finer than 40 grit paper would also work.  I've never managed to save time finish sanding by skipping grits.

 

[huntdupl]

I use a router sled with a dedicated bit for roughing and a secondary for final cleanup. Once you find the right feed and speed you can help minimize chipout but there's still a TON of time involved getting things smooth. I haven't found a faster way, somethings you can't speed up. Use a cleaning stick often on your abrasive and give things a chance to cool down. You could try a coat of shellac or other fast drying sealer to try and hold the grain together a bit more, but that's more time... maybe explore a new genre of music

 

[Steven Owen]

I'm sanding  tree  cross sections.  Trying to get them to a 180 grit smoothness.  Wood is ash.  I've flattened these 16 inch disks using a drum sander w/40 grit paper, now I want to finish them to 180.  Tried a 150 R/O  with 40 grit to get the drum sander scoring out.  It was not effective - too slow.  Tried a belt sander with 40 grit - better, but still unacceptably slow.  Would a Rotex be more effective (faster) than a belt sander ?

Tom

You have another option.  You can try using an old fashioned block plane or a shooting plane to clean-up the end grain with some sacrificial blocks to prevent tear out at the ends.

A hand plane does a better job on end grain than most powered sanders.  Surprisingly the hand plane is also much faster than sanding since you don’t need to change grits.

Lee Valley sells the Veritas block plane.  You also have the wooden style European hand planes sold by Infinity tools if you want to be more budget conscience.

 

[Holmz]

...

You have another option.  You can try using an old fashioned block plane or a shooting plane to clean-up the end grain with some sacrificial blocks to prevent tear out at the ends.

A hand plane does a better job on end grain than most powered sanders.  Surprisingly the hand plane is also much faster than sanding since you don’t need to change grits.

Lee Valley sells the Veritas block plane.  You also have the wooden style European hand planes sold by Infinity tools if you want to be more budget conscience.

^  [wink]^

One does not want a flat circular piece to become rounded over and looking like a mushroom.

It is either a belt sander or router which can have something to increase the footprint, hand plane...
(Not a grinder or small rotary sander, or it will likely become like a pebble in a river and rounded over on the corners.)

 

[Stephen B]

If using the Rotex, with lower grits and in Rotex/agresseive mode they can be at times more effective if you lower the speed via the adjustable wheel index. Try by half and experiment from there to see if this helps in this situation.