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Not mentioned in the video but the #1 Sanding tool you should have is a block of spun rubber to clean your sand paper. A.K.A. Abrasive Cleaning Stick If you have never had, used, or heard of one your shop life will never be the same without it.

I adore these deep dives into tools- some of my favorite content Adam makes (and I love it all)!

While I understand what was said about gloves, there's a counter to this "wear gloves" thing. I specifically instruct people in my shop /not/ to wear gloves with any spinning machine. The fact is, you can't feel the tip of that glove, and you will find yourself bumping stuff sometimes. That's fine. But with a spinning machine, it can be the case that the machine snags the glove and pulls it. Then more contact is made, and thus more pulling, to the point that the glove can end up being pulled into the machine. But if you go back to the start of the scenario, you'll be reminded that your hand is /in/ that glove when that happens. It can be quite unpleasant, and make a band-aid situation into an ambulance situation. The best example is a jointer, where being pulled in means you don't get to enjoy the benefits of those fingers ever again.

Alligator finger tape! End of video you mention gloves but I've found cases where gloves create more of a danger and I still needed some kind of protection. Alligator tape is commonly used by jewelers and when you need to hold light small items for sanding and especially when you have to work with a rotary tool. This tape is an absolute finger saver. It gives you more grip and both heat and abrasion protection. It only sticks to itself and it's very affordable. You can even use it over gloves if you need chemical/grime protection but your gloves are too thin to last from abrasion. Makes your disposable gloves last forever when polishing. Fingers are usually the first thing to go.

You forgot to mention fingernail file sticks. You'd talked about them in some projects in the past. Also, the advice to try the drum sanders to determine whether or not your shop needs to escalate to one of the more expensive options is a fantastic one.

Tool videos are always my favourite.

Adam, you are one of the makers who inspired me to get into making. About a year ago I sorted out the garage and have converted half of it into a woodworking shop. I have made so many things and have spent countless hours building things. I’ve started making the gifts I give to my family for holidays. I went from using just the tools my family had in the garage and I now have 2 3D printers (1 fdm printer and 1 msla printer), a bandsaw, and a hand lathe. This is something I could see myself doing as a hobby for the rest of my life. I just wanted to thank you for the motivation to finally do something I had wanted to do for a while and now love doing.

Hey Adam, a tip I’ve found works for me is on the top of your sandpaper storage screw a hacksaw blade teeth side out and it’s a nice serrated cutter, slide the sheet under it and pull up from one side.

I've invested a lot of resources in sanding machines. They take up a lot of space in the shop but worth every inch.

For use on a die grinder, the best abrasive I've ever used is scotch-brite in a barrel form factor. It has almost no weight, so there isn't any chatter. These are designed to be used in a horrible arbor designed by 3M that don't really work, so don't use it. The best "arbor" we've found is an old short worn out conical burr. Push it right onto the cone. Just make sure they don't pentrate past about 1/2 way through the barrel. These are stiff little barrels of scotch-brite. These are really nice because you use them like you use a grinding wheel. If you need to clean up a radial surface, you use the barrel. If you need to clean up a flat surface you used the flat surface on top of the barrel. These were used to clean up holes when grounding vehicles to a frame. In 2 seconds the hole would be clean, then to make sure you had good contact with ground strap, we'd hit the area surrounding the hole with the top. These things are amazing. They work so well because they're designed to be used in die grinders. Every mechanic at out shop had a burr with one of these barrel pads in their tool boxes. Some of them had more than one. This was because, as they wear, they usable in smaller diameter holes. So once one wore out, they'd save them for tighter clearance situations. The ones you want are about an inch in diameter and maybe a little over an inch tall. Again the arbors you're supposed to use are worthless. Just experiment with finding the right conical burr. For safety reasons, you don't really want the exposed surfaces of the old cutting edge exposed, or maybe just file them down. www.rshughes.com/p/3M-Scotch-Brite-XL-UW-Unitized-Aluminum-Oxide-Medium-Deburring-Wheel-Medium-Grade-Arbor-Attachment-1-In-Diameter-1-8-In-Center-Hole-1-8-In-Thickness-15517/048011_15517/

First I was like…”I’m a puppet builder and I don’t sand…” then it hit me, I sand rod handles and mouth plates for my particular style of puppets so I think Adam is correct that sanding is what unites us all. Lol

Two comments: (1) Surprised you didn't mention the venerable random orbital sander. Maybe it's more of a mainstay for woodworkers, as opposed to makers, but I think it deserves honorable mention nonetheless. (2) My experience is that it is always better to buy quality sandpaper. It stays sharp longer, it provides a better 'sanding experience', and in the long run it costs less.

That sander got some kinda crazy good bearing on it.

My school design teacher was demonstrating a disk sander whilst talking to the class, got distracted and sanded off the ends of his fingers. Best lesson ever. Still not as bad as the poor kid who got his balls trapped in a workbench vice. He was known as womble from then on.

Flap wheels and sanding mops. So very useful for shaping.

Honestly a few things worth mentioning: Mouse, orbit, and handheld belt sanders have their uses depending on what you are working on, although they are probably the most notorious tools in the household/DIY world of having one and thinking it can do way more than it actually can/should (memories of my dad and I taking shifts sanding a deck over several days with a dinky mouse sander because my mother said we already had a sander so there was no need to rent a big one from home depot) Also I think a big BIG thing to add is... PPE! Masks are always a good idea when sanding, and depending on the material and grade of sandpaper, maybe a ventilator. Eye protection is especially important when dealing with sanding metal (especially powered sanding) because if you get a tiny metal fragment in your eye, you may just lose the eye if you step into a MRI 10 years later since matter that gets lodged into the eyeball doesn't necessarily come out. And as always, gloves are great but something you have to be very careful with when doing powered machining with something that can grab like sandpaper.

W.r.t. sandpaper, I've been taught to use it as if it's free. No use spending more time with the same piece, as you don't end up using much more, but you save a lot of time

All of my shop teachers have warned me to never wear gloves while using power tools, especially ones that spin.

I grew up in a puppet making studio in a theater around my dad who was a sculptor. One of his most used tools was the grinder. Since during the 80s in Bulgaria sandpaper was rare to find my dad reused one thrown out from a furniture factory. Restoring it included using acetone and a brass brush and a cotton rag. He had a couple of 250, 400 and 600 sheets which were used very sparingly.

At secondary school I spent a lot of time using sandpaper, Japanese rasps and the disc sander. Just the thought of using a rasp or sander like that is instant nostalgia trip for me

I'm an rc airplane modeler and my absolute favorite sanding tools are permagrit. They are tungsten carbide bonded to steel and will never wear out under normal use, and they usually dont gum up, if they do a wire brush will clean them. I have a dremel sanding drum that's over 20 years old and still works great. They make files, blocks, flat bars, dremel bits, and even a hacksaw blade. Great stuff

A couple of accessories I would mention are sanding pads and sanding blocks. The pads are flexible foam that have a strap that keeps on your hand. The one I have takes the same velcro sanding paper disc's as my power sander. I have 2 sanding blocks. They are the automotive kind with clips at the end. The reason I have 2 is with one I unscrewed the clip from the end and drilled a small hole. I added lead fishing weights and glue then replaced the clip. The added weight means it applies pressure without muscle power. And as mentioned elsewhere, a belt cleaner is a great way to extend the life of sanding material. Especially with any powered applications. It looks like a giant eraser and harbor freight cheap is just fine.

Tossed a vfd on a Kalamazoo combo 12/6x24 $300 auction find. Lovely machine with the vfd, Put a plug on the built in vacuum for now taking this thing down to 10-20 percent power is is controllable. I couldn't ever imagine living without a sander like this.

The don’t overwork sand paper is something I’ve had to re learn as I’ve got back into scale modelling. Even using the ladder with such small subjects makes a huge difference to the end result

There is a tool used in the prosthetics and orthotics industry (artificial limbs and braces) called a "Trautman sander". It is a long stick with a thread on the end, where you can thread on various grits of cones (thin to thick) as well as grinder bits. This allows you to do fine sanding work on larger objects (cast of a leg or arm) using both hands. There are variable speed models, but I've only used the single speed ones. The trautman unit is on a pipe stalk and can be raised or lowered. The angle of the trautman can also be changed to point downward or upward.

That red scotch brite is fantastic for cleaning stainless steel BBQ. Those brown stains and dull finish cleans off fast.

Very nice alternating plane sander, dear! My grandmother would approve. I am thinking maybe folks of previous generations so hoarded every scrap of things such as sandpaper out of necessity that your students were just used to doing so from watching the habits of their childhood mentors.

The mention of knowing you will use a tool before investing in a good one is something I try to get people to appreciate. Some people want to get "the right tool" right away, which keeps them from getting projects done while they save up for it, then they get it and it isn't what they thought it would be, or they aren't skilled enough to use it. Getting a "good enough tool" is what I advocate people go with so that they learn the lessons they need to learn without spending too much money. That way, by the time the "good enough tool" is no longer doing enough, they are ready to use "the right tool" to it's full potential

I'll add mention of two more tools that I love. The oscillating multi-tool is great for detail work, with those triangular pads able to work into inside corners. they don't remove a lot of material quickly, but do have good control, plus can cut. Also, for bigger jobs, a 4 1/2" angle grinder can be equipped with sanding disks or toothed abrasive wheels, and works very well for sculpting on wood.

I'm no maker... at least not for years now but... Adams love and enthusiasm, plus his various stories act like ASMR to me. So I watch these vids to relax, despite having little practical utility for me. Mr. Savage, never lose that sparkle.

I like wet dry sand paper because Then I don't have to deal with dust (I don't have a work shop I work in my office) when I'm done a I put the water through a coffee filter and throw it in the trash so Im not putting resin dust down the sink. My sanding tip if your flattening the bottom of somthing put you sandpaper in a metal baking dish and use strong magnets to hold it them you just hold the tray much easier

I use to use a larger disc sander and I loved it.. It ate everything.. Wood, steel, fingers. Had a young guy who used the tool without permission and had gloves on and was sanding a very small part. The glove caught and pulled his index finger into the gap space and he was down to the end of his fingernail before he could yank his hand back. Those are great tools, just they don't forgive mistakes.

Aw man, I REALLY needed Adam to tell me not to be precious with my sandpaper. Here's hoping that leads to much better sanding discipline!!! Thanks, Adam!

Not sure what channel I saw it on, but a YT woodworker said the general rule when going up the grits is to add 50%, so 80 > 120 > 180 then whatever you want to finish with, either 240 or 320. I find that works well for almost all projects.

Great video! I screwed a hacksaw blade raised up by a two pennies into my sandpaper shelf. Slide a sheet of sandpaper and tear for perfect strips and sections.

I've worked on aircraft windshields, windows Inside and out ,wet . Very well paid rewarding work

Loving this masterclass! Before watching, I was recalling Derek/Vice Grip Garage's recent meme about using 1 grit sandpaper...basically a cinder block LOL

One thing I love is big rolls of sticky-backed sandpaper, can be ordered online or found in a well-stocked auto parts store (or hardware store if you have a really excellent one!). It stays stuck to your hand (or sanding block of any shape). (So remember to move it or rotate it to use clean areas of it.)

My favourite tip for sanding - Emory boards. Like - go to your chemist and buy a bunch of boards for filing nails. They’re great for getting into tight corners and come in nice fine grades. Another thing that I think is worth mentioning is the bread and butter sander for woodworkers - the random orbital sander. They’re super versatile.

One of my blacksmithing mentors apprenticed years ago with a professional swordsmith, and one of the gems of knowledge he picked up was, “Grind like the belts are free.” Using dull grinding belts and dull sandpaper is a false economy, as you will get your work done faster and better with sharp.

In the Process Fabrication/Sanitary Stainless/Food Grade/Pharmalogical TIG welding feild, a mazzive favorite and standard peice of kit are the 6" red scotch brite wheels on a variable speed grinder. They can do fabulous things in the way of material prep and final finish. My personal favorite is the 3M Grey wheel, its a compound impregnated soft abrasive wheel that gives a FABOULOUS mirror chrome finish when used properly. Anyways, lovely video. Thanks for all you do. Youre a continuous source of inspiration. 🖤

Adam and Team: have you considered turning some of the content of the channel into a podcast? I love listening to Adam talk about stuff, even if I can’t watch what he’s doing

When I was in high school auto-body class, one third of our final summative was taking an 8.5x11 sheet of sand paper, separating it into two halves, then folding those halves into thirds to give approximately hand-sized pieces of sand paper, that you could then swap between the 3 segments to most optimally use all of the sandpaper.

I really like the sanding drums for dremels and such for small work.

A form of drum sander I use all of the time is a 6'' rubber drum mounted on a bench grinder. The drum has a metal disk that is the body of it and rubber vanes radially cast to the body and a outer rubber drum face. It is very true running and the centrifugal force holds the sand belts firmly yet flexibly to the drum. I call it a jewelers drum sander.

Not many folks have the ability to project such a passion for something as mundane as sanding. I guess, to some degree, I have that passion. Over the years, there have been a couple of things that I have really liked using. The first was when I worked in manufacturing of plastic parts for the medical industry (making orthotics and prosthetics). We had a number of "spindle sanders" that were a long shaft that a rubber mandrel (with a brass center) could thread onto. My favorite were these tapered units about 4 inches long. We had gotten them from the industrial tool supply company called MSC. Really handy little tools. The other is a 3M product called "Sandblaster Pro Ultra Flexible" sanding sheets. They are like sandpaper, but with a flexible rubber sheet baking (instead of cloth or paper backing) which makes it REALLY GREAT for sanding contours (either inside or outside). I used to get this from Lowe's, but I haven't seen it for a long while now. Maybe it isn't on the market any longer. But if you find some...GRAB IT!

Those 1" and up to 3" strip rolls are commonly called "abrasive shop rolls" if you're looking to buy some. Also those rolloc disks also come in a huge variety of sizes and grits that you can attach to a die grinder or drill. And the drums can also be had in a variety of scotch Brite abrasives.

Klingspoor sells a “bargain box” of sand paper for dirt cheap. It’s a great way to get a range of grits in your shop fast. It’s off cuts from giant rolls, so it’s usually narrow rolls, but they’re extremely useful in the shop!

Only thing I would add is to be careful with those drum sanders chucked into a drill press. The bearings on a drill press are sensitive to too much sideload, so go easy, friends! If you really bear down on a drum sander that's spinning in a drill press chuck you can easily cause permanent runout on your bearings. But they do great if you only need a bit taken off (or are really, really patient). Great video, Adam!

I had to use some of the green scotch bright, trying to bring the shine back on some chrome fog light's I found for my 1947 Chevy Coupe. They are pitted and nicked up but they will match the car for its age. They will look original to the front of the car.

The Proxxon 5" disc sanding machine is sweet for model making - pricey, but well made, and with a variable speed control that allows you to sand styrene. Pricey, but worth it.

A great place to get a lot of sanding tools and supplies would be your local Rockler store - for Bay Area folks, there is one in Concord. Perhaps Tested could reach out and get a sponsorship with them - a store tour with Adam would seem a natural way to benefit both companies.

Is it wrong that I got really excited about this video 😂 I looooove sanding, and I WILL use anything from a stone to a machine sander.. But you can't beat the feeling of a piece of paper on the tips of your fingers going over the surface of the wood you're working on... Blissfully meditative ❤️🦊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧

Random orbit sanders, belt sanders and spindle sanders also help in the drudge of sanding...I would posit you may already have them, if not, a spindle sander might be most useful for your kind of work.

I used sanding attachment’s on my dremel too. Saves a ton of time

I frequently use an angle grinder with flap disks for shaping, but they spin fast enough that it can burn the wood if your not careful with it.

I like those finger sanders. That might be an upcoming purchase. I use pretty much everything you do otherwise though mostly on a smaller scale. The one tool that I have come REALLY to like is my floor standing 8" expanding wheel lapidary drum sander. I usually run 80 to up to 800 on it. My unit has two drums so I usually go coarse and fine. It does a great job on stone obviously but I also use it on Metal and wood. The resulting finishes can almost be mirror-like. Certainly a buffing wheel can take it the rest of the way there but I can take something that is gnarly pitted and rusted down to almost mirror-like with it.

The low hanging fruit for sanding is DA's and random orbit sanders but you can get large shaker sanders. They are helpful on large flat surfaces. The self adhesive sand paper is what I always go for. They make it easy to get small pieces or attach to any surface that you need. You can also remove some of the gum up with the rubber erasers or my dad always just used his jeans. This is tough on them but can get a lot off. The only thing I will add is that you should be careful if you get a buffer/ grinder. My dad always told me they are hungry for you and will not care what is in their way. He told me about a guy he knew being severely injured from it and not to wear baggy clothes while using one.

Back in the tool and die shop my dad started in our basement in 1978 one of the most indispensable machines was the simple, cheap belt sander we bought at Sears on sale when we first opened. 3 decades later, my S.O. bought a tiny belt sander just on a whim at a thrift shop not knowing what it was used for. I gushed. I was working on the electrical for our fixer upper and putting in EMT and steel flexi (rat-proofing. Rural), and I'd forgotten just how much quicker and easier it is to deburr stuff, sharpen drills, etc. Recently at work, I've had to put fire retardant coating on plywood boards. I discovered they're now coating essentially a stiff sponge with grit, which is just so convenient for quickly prepping wood surfaces over trying to coat a wood block or piece of rubber with paper. Maybe that's been available for a while, but it was a welcome discovery for me. 24:00 I'm having a similar annoyance with the vibration on using countersinks in a hand drill for sinking flatheads. Because of the oscillation that builds up I'm always cutting a hexagonal chamfer around a hole instead of round. Since nothing I do for work has to be overly aesthetic it's not a big deal, but I still find it annoying.

When cutting an opal we use a similar process. We start with a 120 grit wheel, through to a 3000 grit wheel, then you have the options of diamond paste, cerium oxide or Nova wheels through to 50,000 grit wheel.

My favorite sander is the THICKNESS SANDER from BYRNES MODEL MACHINES. It is a great and very precise sander for small things. 6” wide drum, with about 1,5” thickness capacity. All hand fed. It has very precise thicknesses adjustment, and can flatten and plane wood, plastic, and softer metals. A bit pricey, but well worth every penny at 350 bucks. Using it always makes me happy. And it has sped up my work with building and repairing guitars a lot. Especially for thickening nuts, saddles, binding, and fretboard blanks.

Tools I use a lot for sanding: flap discs, both on drill and angle grinder

This is really one of the most amazing video about Sanding ! Thank you so much , Mr. Adam 😌 !

Thanks Adam. I am just getting into sanding old tables and bedside tables etc. This is great for beginners like me

That shinto rasp is one of the tools I used the most by far. After my mother died, most of her tools were lost, and that rasp was one of them. It works wonders to shape wood, and even to do fine details! It saves SOOO much time over using different other tools to do the same thing. As soon as I have any budget again to buy new tools, a rasp like that is absolutely on the top of my list! I recognize the sand-paper issue too. Running out of any sandpaper would be awful! I have lots of types brands and sizes!

yeah, agreed sanding is extremely important in many fields. I'm a woodworker, so I don't have much for knife grinding, but, I do have lots of sanding stuff. Sure, we all have our RO sanders, and portable belt sander. I have two stationary belt sanders, plus an edge sander, (horizontal and much longer belts). Yes, I agree a good disc sander is a must. I too have a Max, (20). But for wood, we need more. I have a BC large oscillating spindle sander, flap sanders, (they are great for curves). But the best investment in my mind for any woodworker, is a thickness sander. I originally got one of those drum sanders, but as soon as I could, I bought a small wide belt. Woodworkers spend about 80% of their time sanding it has been estimated. I pre sand ALL my stock to thickness, at least to 180 grit. Having a thickness sander, with belts that change in less than 20 seconds, makes woodworking enjoyable. If one is a serious woodworker, spending more than 8 hours a week even in the shop, I can't imagine not having such a machine. There used to be more models available, but now there are very few for the small shop. I have a 16" open ended wide belt, like the PM. Does it do as well as the closed ends? obviously not, but hell, it also only has 7 1/2 hp, where the closed ones start at 10 or more HP. My shop can't handle that amount of power.

Stellar video, with loads of helpful info, thank you! As an amateur knifemaker sanding and abrasives have become my life lately. And I agree that you can never have too many sanders :)

Really love the Milwaukie right angle m12 die grinder wirh the 2in rol loc disks. It is a very well made and handy tool.

for really fine work where a Proxxon might have a tad to much revs....David Union does some amazing micro routers and lateral sanders

A decent alternative to a disc sander is a calibration platter for your table saw, to which you can attach adhesive sand paper; along with a variable speed motor controller which allows you to get better speed control, though the table saw on its own is quite adequate for most jobs. I also like the drill press for rotary drum sanding; you can even get adapters to allow it to travel up and down, equalizing the drum usage. Working in a small shop one has to maximize what you can accomplish with minimum tools.

I am very surprised you have not mentioned using shoe crepe sole to extend the life of any grit sandpaper. I use my drill press with drum sanders and frequently run my small crepe square on it to clear the voids between the particles. I use it on my dremel attachments. It extends the life and is very inexpensive. My crepe square used to be for removing rubber cement from paper. It has now be relegated to cleaning all my sanding surfaces.

I made a 12" disk sander 5 years ago, I have used and loved it almost every day since

I found that exact five roll box about five years back after you mentioned on your podcast about auto shop fabric backed sandpaper being better and that it often came in rolls. That was the only form factor I found easily.

This is such a relatable video and topic. There is a sub topic you missed. Weather to have the tool stationary and apply the work piece to it or have the work piece stationary and apply the tool to it.

Thank you very much for the video! This is exactly the information I was looking for about sanding paper.

I just found this channel, been watching a lot of the videos, especially where Adam talks about Jeimy. Now I realize that these guys are just older versions of Phineas and Ferb.

I might say this is an excellent tool tip! Of course at my age I have found through trial-and-error everything that you were teaching today which is fantastic for these young kids coming up. This was an excellent tutorial for these youngins. This brought up some excellent memories of some of my arduous attempts at using sandpaper, the hard way. But now I know when to advance and I know when to go to the next Grit and which machine to use, so on that note thanks very much for the video I'm glad you put this out for these young modelers I hope they take heed. Have a great day and stay safe and keep your powder dry and your sandpaper ready!

Scads of makers, including knife makers, have made their gateway bench sander your basic 1" x 30" belt sander, with like a 1/3 HP motor, and even the Harbor Freight version has allowed people to be introduced to whatever making at a very reasonable cost.

I can honestly watch your content all day Adam, it's so engaging

I am mostly a finisher and grew up on the sanding side of fabrication, I have always loved your stuff but this hit home :)

You can get tungsten carbide burrs for the die grinder. They do not vibrate, but take off material very nicely and last almost forever.

Some sanding tips I use all the time: I keep a pair of scissors at my sandpaper station. Sandpaper trimmed squarely can make details and edges easier to make. I also use an inexpensive bench brush to clean my sandpaper if it starts to clog. If I'm sanding something that really gums up the paper, I use a wire brush to clean the paper so it doesn't scour the surface. I also have a dedicated air regulator that I can chuck into my air hose so I can precisely control my die grinder speed. I'll often set my rpms to a speed that reduces vibration when I have an attachment that gets harmonic vibration at a certain speed. A tip for scotch brite; if the scotch brite gets worn out, you can cut it into smaller pieces and use the cross section as a sanding medium. It's 3 dimensional so the inside is just as good at sanding as the outside surface.

Great video, Adam! When I was working in the traveling wave tube (TWT) industry, I started out manufacturing waveguides, towards the end of assembly, we would climb the sandpaper ladder and at the last step, use the backside of 600 grit paper to obtain a polished surface on the waveguide flange.

I was instructed that gloves are bad when using rotational power tools because of the chances of catching and feeding into the machine. No? I do agree with the benefit of wearing gloves when hand sanding.

That was great. One thing you did leave out was sanding and grinding bits for the Dremel rotary tool. I use those quite often in model making.

Scotch Brite pads were a secret polishing tool in the machine shop I used to work at. Also, air files can do some remarkable hard-to-reach work.

Thank you as always for the informative and always entertaining and inspiring videos! If I can share one thing I picked up from a woodworker, the best way to cut sheets of sandpaper is with a metal hacksaw blade, it tears easily and leaves a beautiful clean edge!

Great video!! These comments are great too, adding to your case of just how broadly used sanding is. For the last bit on your die grinder with the drum sander, we use flapper discs in our metal shop, it keeps the vibration down and fits into contours quite well. One word of warning though, when they give up, they make a spectacular mess.

I had a sanding job at a firetruck company. I absolutely LOVE finger sanders. I can get inside the tig welded compartments to make the joins look like they were molded in that shape. It removes the welding patterns in the aluminum in the corners and angled joins. Great stuff!

Don't forget about the might flap sander. I find for the outside of projects, the wheel works. Inside though, flap forever. Don't forget to build calluses, too. Gloves are great. Calluses will keep you goin.

This was a great informative vid Adam - As a prewar car body builder I use an edge sander everyday for shaping timber framing but probably a bit brutal for model making.

Excellent video Adam thank you. I converted one of my band saws into a sander. I custom order the sanding belts in the exact grit, diameter and size that fits. It is my go to for thin edge sanding on curvy material. I usually run 400.

Dynafile makes an electric finger sander with 1/2”, 1/4”, and 1/8” belt attachments and 1/4” and 1/8” with relief for pipe and radius pieces. I’ve used it to finish pipe rail after grinding on steel and rough grind and finish on aluminum railing.

great show, love your tutorials. As a metal worker and polisher, I used the Rolls Royce of electric sanding machines. Suhner machines and abrasives are pricey but the best I have used.

I can 100% relate to the disc sander. As a pattern maker and fabricator the two most important machines in our shop are the bandsaw and the 20 inch Apex disc sander. With experience the disc sander can yield results equal to those achieved by many machinists. We recently upgraded it to a new motor and a VFD, not for variable speed but for dynamic braking and safety. It was too easy for someone to throw the old barrel switch into reverse and do some serious damage. The VFD makes that impossible.

I had to aluminum rivet the base of my aluminum Laser mast back on, and I sanded down the rivet, then turned the sand paper over and rubbed it with the paper side, and it made it shiny!

The dewalt rotatory sander: "DWE6401DS" - I take the dust shroud off but my goodness... I use that thing every time I go into the shop, almost daily. first off... Hook and loop sanding system with a sponge backer. Conformal. Maybe not ideal, but it makes swapping paper easssy. Love the fact you can take the second handle right off. AND... Not gonna lie, I've made some mounts for it too. At first I didn't like it that much, but now, if it ever wears out I'm buying another right away. Great RPMs, VERY variable, in fact it's just a sanding head mated to a drill, but without all the mechanical slop and excessive length a chuck-in sanding adapter has. It feels like an engineers afterthought, but I love it :)

Adam, have you ever had the pleasure of using a micro mesh kit? As a surface finisher, I would frequently use a micro mesh sanding kit for fine work. I even used it to sand out scratches in Perspex aircraft windows. Micro mesh starts from about 400 grit and work up to 2000 - 2500 grit. Cool stuff.

Adam for that little sander just order 5” or 6” PSA sanding discs. Also you already have cordless tools. Makita has the finger sander in 18V so does DeWalt I believe. For the little angle die grinder air tool those are called Rolocs. They have sand paper in that form factor as well. 40,60,80,120,180,220,320 grits etc. I’ve had good luck with Jet die grinders. They don’t vibrate. They’re more expensive though. I think I paid $140 for my straight die grinder and $128 for my angled die grinder.