Sanding

[Les Smith]

Hi, Wally.

I've seen using the Ryobi sander for several years now. It's certain-
ly paid for itself many times over in terms of time saved on certain
jobs, but it probably won't do everything for you that you hope it
can, and the areas where it won't work probably wouldn't do any bet-
ter with various shaped attachments. I bought mine hoping that it would
help in finishing sanding hard-to-reach places on soundboards that
couldn't be reached with a power block sander, and so would otherwise
have to be done by hand. I still have to many of those areas by hand.

In tight areas, either the piano case, or the bridges interfers with
the handle which contains the motor and consequently you can't get the
saanding head to lay flat on the piece your trying to sand. If you can't
get the head to lie flat, it will chew up the surface and you'll wind
up having to hand sand it anyways. Even in areas where access isn't a
problem, you hgave to be constantly vigilant about keeping the sand-
ing head flat, because the handle part which contains the motor is
very heavy, compared to the size and weight of the sanding head and
will reward a moment of inattention by chewing up the surface for you.

This is an orbital-motion sander. If you use paper coarse enough to
remove material easily, you get fairly deep swirl marks in the wood.
Even when following up with progressively finer grades of paper, some
swirl marks will remain because of the orbital motion, so you'll
probably have to do some by-hand, finishing sanding anyway.

The sander is very poorly balanced, with virtually all the the weight
being in the handle. Using the sander for any length of time gets real-
ly uncomfortable , as you're constantly straining to keep the sanding
surface parallel to the work surface. Lastly, the motor is really
noisy, so you HAVE to use ear protection when using it. That's not
too big a deal though, because you probably use ear protection with
every power tool you use.

If this sounds like a negative review, it really isn't. The Ryobi
is certainly worth it's price and is a quality tool. It's just that
it probably won't do for you all that you hope it will. And dif-
ferently shaped attachments aren't going to help much with the
problems you're likely to encounter using it. I'd certainly buy
mine all over again; and you can't argue with the price. On the
other hand, if I paid four times as much for essentially the same
tool, I probably wouldn't be too happy right now.

Your best bet might be to enquire among other tech's in your area,
and find some who own the two tools you're considering buying. See
if you can go over to their shops sometime and try out the two
tools for yourself, before making a decision. Ultimately, you may
be better off buying the Ryobi, PLUS some of those hand-help shapes
you've seen in the catalogs. No matter which one you buy, you're
still going to have to some hand sanding in most cases. Probably
more than you anticipate.

Hope this helps.

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net



On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, Wallace F. Wilson wrote:

> I've been looking at a couple of profile sanders, Ryobi's and Porter
> Cable's.  They have triangular heads.  Porter Cable's has various
> attachments and various shapes of sandpaper to fit the various attachments,
> designed to fit in odd places.  Some of the catalogues have these same
> shapes designed to be hand-held. I've usually used cabinet scrapers and
> sandpaper for these odd spots such as filigree work or decorative legs.
> Porter Cable's price tag is $118.00, and Ryobi's is $33, but Ryobi's does
> not have shaped attachments.  It does however, have a more aggressive speed.
>
> Can someone who has used these hummers comment on their worth for the
> dollar, and whether they save significant time or skin?  Thanks for feedback.
> Wally Wilson
>
>