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I am looking for a sander with good dust collection like my Festool 125 for sanding the waist area of the sides before binding and during the pore filling process. I have a mini drum sander that chucks into my drill, but it is has no dust collection. So I usually do it by hand. What do you use or suggest?

Thanks, Chuck

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I'm still sanding the waist and cutaways by hand. I've never seen a good way to collect dust off a drill or rolling pin sander.

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Josh House

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Thanks Josh, so far the closest sander that I have seen is a linear sander by Festool which is designed to sand in a perpendicular direction to what we need. I also have a 1/4 sheet Porter Cable sander that works fine but not for dust collection.

Chuck

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I've been wanting to make a solution for this problem too and have an idea that I want to make. But since I never have any time... maybe you would be interested in trying this idea out, Chuck? Right now I'm watching the Lions beat the Bears!!!!! Bet Lance is too!

Get some 1 1/2" pvc pipe which is super cheap and pick up a cap for one end as well. Make it long enough, the pipe to hold on each side of the box with a hand. Cap one end, mate the other end to your vac or dust collector hose and drill 1/4" holes all around the middle 6" or so. Once it's all assembled, the vac hose mates to it, it's capped etc. roll some self stick 120 (you could use 8o grit and I'm told it improves the tone of the resulting guitar... ) and then manually poke holes through the paper mating with the pipe holes.

Plug into the vac and go at it. Mind you it's manual sanding and you likely want something powered but it does have dust collection.

I've been sanding my waists manually for years with PVC pipe but have not tried making the thing with dust collection. I scrape my bindings so sanding the waist is never much of a chore and a few minutes tops does it for me.

Disclaimer: It's an idea and not actually made by me yet but I plan on making one so who knows how well it would work. But.... in my mind's eye I see it as pretty simple in all respects and likely pretty bullet proof too.

Then there is that best laid plans of mice and men thing too to consider.....

Hope this helps and if you make one let us know how it works. I also suspect that it could be made for a 5 spot.

Thanks Hesh, sounds like a good idea! I do scrape the bindings also, and was thinking about the initial leveling before binding and sanding off the CA pore fill. Also was hoping for something that I could plug in. I may give your idea a try...will report back if I do.

Thanks, Chuck

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Sanding waist has been my least favorite work so far. Either you do it by hand, at very slow pace (I couldn't find 10" section of PVC pipes, they either sold it in 10' sections or not at all) or you use a power sander and basically ruin the instrument by sanding the side too thin or ruining binding looks.

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https://www.grizzly.com/products/H2882

You cannot use this agressively or you will end up with round over on the edges. Or extra thin binding. Light passes and that is it.

I have been through the dumpsters at a couple of new home construction sites and came up with a couple of sizes of PVC pipe for this job. The one I like best measures 2-3/8" OD. Feels good in the hand, puts a little more sandpaper on the wood, helps to make a smooth job, and has Hesh says, it only takes a few minutes.

Ed

Use a kitchen rolling pin with the handles locked. Easy on the hands!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

There is a Mirka, hand held sanding block for Abranet, that has a vacuum attachment. There is a curved interface that attaches to it for sanding inside curves. I don't have the curved interface yet, but I have the flat one and it works great for dust free hand sanding. The attachment outlet for the vacuum hose has to be shimmed a little in order to get a tighter fit. I use a little tape around the outlet on the block before attaching the vacuum hose.

I found a few links thru Google. These are examples only, to show the product. I have not dealt with these vendors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mirka-Hand-Sand ... 3f0b7bb1a8

http://www.southernfilters.com/product/ ... ng-blocks/

This is where I bought some of the abranet abrasives. They make different sizes and shapes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181487418068?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Someone posted about the sanding block in in a prior thread, and I think it was on this forum. Since I bought the abrasive assortment pack above, I have found several uses for it without the blocks or the vacuum. It is flexible and tough.

James

I have the Mirka hand sanding block and it does a great job but I searched out the curved interface and it seems to only be available in the UK.

I like Hesh's idea with the pvc pipe just might make one

Fred

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I agree, it is a great idea. I have used the PVC, minus the vacuum hose, for sanding the waist, and it works great. Since the Abranet abrasive strips are mesh, they would not need additional holes. They could be attached to the PVC pipe, if you glue the proper velcro type material to the PVC pipe, after the holes are drilled in the PVC.

Thanks for all the ideas. I do have a drum sander that I chuck into my cordless, but it makes a ton of dust.

I took Hesh's idea and made a quick sander from a piece of 2" abs plastic pipe that I had on hand. I drilled 7/16" holes about 1 1/2" apart in 4 rows with the holes alternating and capped one end. Double sided tape and 180 grit paper (sanding ca pore fill) then cut the holes in the paper. The thing works great!

Thanks, Chuck

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Well... Yes, a drum sander in a drill can generate a lot of dust. But note I said light passes. At this stage, we should be talking "finishing" passes. Lots of good pre-prep before bending, then using a scraper after pore fill. If you are trying to shape and level at this stage, you are going to have, among other things, dust issues. The pvc roller IMHO is the same thing, just motorized. But not intended for intense use.

Mike

Thanks Mike, just trying to eliminate as much dust as possible, not reshaping.

Chuck

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I level my sides with a block before binding then use a sharp scraper from there. I almost never sand the sides with anything coarser than 220 grit on an orbital after scraping.

I was just thinking about building/buying one of these. Any tips? Ah I see the thread is about dust collection and this doesn't solve that problem. Is this similar to the Grizzly linked above?

I wouldn't use it after binding (I use a scraper) but more to level the sides before binding.

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Thank You and Best To All

No doubt after the festive season there will be a lot more waists that will need to be sanded............!!!
Tom

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