What Types Of Sanders Can You Get?

Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper that does the work. Woodworking sanders are usually operated by electrical power while the ones used in auto-body repair, work on compressed air.

Belt sanders (hand-held or stationary): This is a machine used to quickly sand down wood and other materials for finishing purposes. It consists of a small motor that pulls a sandpaper belt along. Belt sanders can be either hand-held where the sander is moved over the material or stationary (fixed) and the material is moved on a fixed rotating sanding belt. Stationary belt sanders are often combined with a disc sander. On wood, belt sanders have a very aggressive action and are normally used only for the beginning stages of the sanding process or used to rapidly remove material.

Random Orbit Sanders: These are hand-held power sanders where the action is a random orbit. Random orbit sanders combine almost the speed and aggressiveness of a belt sander, with the ability to produce a finer finish than that available from a standard, slow speed, orbital finishing sander.

Because of its unique random sanding action, the tool does not leave swirl marks, and it is not sensitive to the direction of the wood grain. This makes it work very well when sanding two pieces of wood that meet at right angles. Random-orbit sanders use sandpaper disks and many random-orbit sanders now come with dust collectors. Disks are attached using either pressure sensitive adhesives or a hook and loop system. On models equipped with a dust collection feature, a vacuum effect sucks sanding dust through holes in the paper and pad, feeding it to a bag or canister.

Orbital Sanders: Finishing sanders come in two main types: block sanders and random orbit. Although either tool can be used as a finishing sander, they excel at different applications. Random orbit sanders are better for sanding large areas quickly and can cost upto $70.

Profile Sanders: Profile sanders are a recent invention and are even more appreciated for that reason. Profile sanders can be used for sanding in tight corners, or along grooves or ruts. A good profile Sanders comes with an assortment of different sanding shapes, known as profiles, that can be attached, not just the standard triangular profile and can cost up to $110.

The available profiles can be classed in three categories - convex, concave and angled profiles. As the name suggests concave profiles are used to sand concave surfaces. Angled profiles are available in a number of different angles typically 30, 45, 60 and 90 degree angles and are used for sanding the bottom and sides of slots or grooves.