Sander for curved (concave and convex) hardwood panels.

[redbear]

Hi,

I am needing to sand some large curved pieces constructed from  1" thick poplar, I need to sand both sides so concave and convex. The max surface area is 1m x 1m and I have attached a simple cross sectional drawing to show the tightest curves.

I need some advice on which might be the best choice of sander and what type of interface pad might be the best option. As the panels are quite large I would imagine dust extraction might be an issue so also any advice on this would be most helpful like which machine, size of hose etc.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[blaszcsj]

With that size part and the curve I would go with the 5" ETS / ETS-EC or RO90 either with the super soft pads.

 

[redbear]

Thanks for the reply, I like the look of the ETS EC 125 so will likely take your advice, any ideas on extraction, thinking of going with the Festool CTL 26 E but reading that the hoses make a difference so which hose should I go for or will the one supplied be ok?

 

[rvieceli]

[member=70698]redbear[/member] take a piece of hard board or heavy cardboard and cut out a 3 and a 5 inch circles  Test it out.  I think that the 3inch RO with a half inch foam pad on it would work better

Ron

 

[VirTERM]

[member=70698]redbear[/member] take a piece of hard board or heavy cardboard and cut out a 3 and a 5 inch circles  Test it out.  I think that the 3inch RO with a half inch foam pad on it would work better

Ron

The hose supplied with the latest model of ct26 is great, I a, sure that you will be more than happy with it.

 

[blaszcsj]

[member=70698]redbear[/member] take a piece of hard board or heavy cardboard and cut out a 3 and a 5 inch circles  Test it out.  I think that the 3inch RO with a half inch foam pad on it would work better

Ron

The hose supplied with the latest model of ct26 is great, I a, sure that you will be more than happy with it.

Size of the hose only really comes into play with larger tools that generate more/heavy chips such as a saw. the 27mm hose is fine for all sanders. What you will find is that the EC variants have a nice size motor and should not be affect to much by suction. Even then, if you find you have too much suction you could always dial it back with the CT.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The outside is easy with the ETS 125, EC or non-EC.

I think I would do the inside by hand. 1m x 1m is not such a big surface and the curve seems pretty steep for a sander. I don't see a problem doing special projects by hand, sometimes that's just the best solution.

 

[Bob D.]

Wouldn't an oscillating spindle sander work on the ID?

Or was he looking for a Festool only solution.

 

[Alanbach]

I like [member=3192]rvieceli[/member] ‘s idea regarding the test. Having said that do keep the Festool interface pads in mind. They are stackable so whether you end up with a ETS EC 125 or an RO90 you can get the super soft pad and an interface pad or two. If you try it with just the pad and you are not getting good contact you can always add an interface pad or two to give you more flex. If you go with a 125mm pad you can also actually put an 90mm interface pad (accessory for the RO90) on top of the 125mm interface pad and then attach the sandpaper on top of that. It is a very flexible system.

As far as the vac goes I agree with others that the hose that comes with the CT’s will be fine. In fact if you come up with a configuration that gets you great contact along the curved surface then you will probably need to turn down the suction. If you don’t get good contact then you might need to use the vac on full suction power. Either way the hose will be fine.

If this will be your first FT sander and vac combo know that the CT’s are so strong that they tend to suck the sander down to the work so hard that you can barely move the sander. The rule of thumb that I use is that I turn the suction down until I see residual dust then I turn up the suction slightly until i don’t see dust. In other words use the minimum amount of suction needed to get the dust up off of the work.

Good luck, it looks like a really interesting piece. You are going to love Festool sanders.

 

[dltflt]

You could try these if you are going the hand sanding route. There is also ones for convex. Yes

 

[redbear]

Really appreciate peoples time taken to respond here, very grateful.

As I said the wood is poplar and I have taken some time in constructing the curved surfaces over jigs, imagine a series of planks, beveled with a jointer plane then glued. I would say that poplar behaves more like a soft wood than a hard wood so whilst I am after a good finish I don't want to deform the curves as I am already down to 60 grit by hand and they are nice and uniform.

As another poster has said I am more concerned about finishing the inner radius but the double pad might work well, I guess the only way to find out is try. I am going to need a mitre saw and rail saw in the near future so these will factor in terms of choice for sander and extractor combination.