Sanding bits?

[mtylerfl]

I'm really liking these tapered Kutzall burr bits https://kutzall.com/collections/taper. I dip them into some Rockler Pitch and Resin Remover http://www.rockler.com/rockler-pitch-resin-remover so that they can stay un-clogged a little better.

I also make my own cushioned sanding disks by gluing and ironing sandpaper onto foam and then stamping them out with a hole punch and drilling a little hole in them and double sided sticky tape them to a special mandrel (1/8 shaft with a rubber hose over it).

Sanding is a lot of work no matter how you do it.

Alan,

I use the Kutzall burrs occasionally (three different yellow "fine grit" ones - although they are not really very "fine") and like them for certain situations where I need to somewhat aggressively hand carve and/or hog out material.

I also like your homemade sanding attachments! I can see from the video they are very useful. It would be cool if you made a PDF instruction tutorial on how they are made. I think it will be very popular!

[mtylerfl]

A sanding bit in the Carvewright would be awesome... as I am struggling with the sanding too... I do use the sanding mops, and they do a pretty good job, and I always do my carves using the optimal setting. But, I still like to clean up the little areas and give it a good hand sanding. So, over the weekend, while at Hobby Lobby.... I found some awesome sanding tools that they use in "model cars, airplanes, etc". I bought several different items, and so far, am loving what I got. If you're interested, I kept the packaging, I would sure share some pictures. The tedious sanding part is my biggest downfall right now, so I'm still trying different techniques to speed up my process and still be happy with the results.

Hi Loretta,

Yes, please do share the photos! Sounds interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you found.

[mtylerfl]

It has been mentioned before but I do not think it has been tried.

Along that line though, run a second pass with the depth set just a tad deeper. It will leave a cleaner carve.

The folks at CarveWright did indeed experiment with sanding bits a few years back. Unfortunately, the idea was pretty much abandoned because results were mixed. One of the techs told me it actually worked pretty well, but apparently not consistent enough and it was time-consuming (could sand much faster by hand). So the public never knew about the experiments (until now!).

[bjbethke]

Hi All, much love.

I'm a couple cocktails in and need to get this down before I lose it.

Has anyone thought of a bit or series of bits that could do your sanding?

Mops are great and all, but if i could finish a project, proof it, then swap the bit to a sanding/buffing whatever terminology works bit, then get back to the phones, email, and harem...?

Thoughts, suggestions, and innuendo are expected.

All The Best.

I don't think you can make the CW unit do the cleaning or buffing??? You need to use the Phone and E-mail later. I made a sanding Mop when I first got my first CW unit. I don't paint my carvings; Some times I use Formby's Tung Oil Finish. I buff it first with my 8 inch Mop on my drill press; running at about 700 RPM's and then buff it again between two coats of Tung Oil. - This work great for me. I got the sandpaper 180 grit from a discount house - a big box of sandpaper.

[fwharris]

The folks at CarveWright did indeed experiment with sanding bits a few years back. Unfortunately, the idea was pretty much abandoned because results were mixed. One of the techs told me it actually worked pretty well, but apparently not consistent enough and it was time-consuming (could sand much faster by hand). So the public never knew about the experiments (until now!).

Yes, some of those back shop secrets we do not hear about . My comments on the second pass carve were from my discovery on doing a recovered carve. It stopped about 20 minutes in and instead of doing the zero carve region I just restarted it from the beginning. The already carved area was a lot cleaner versus the rest of the carving and basically only had to wipe out the dust with not sanding afterwards. I would say this method is very similar to doing a roughing pass followed up with the finishing pass.

Like those who have commented, probably not the most time saving method compared to time spent just sanding.

[SteveNelson46]

To me, the amount of sanding is directly dependent on the quality of the carve and, of course, the sharpness of the bit. 99.9% of my carves are carved on the "Optimal" setting when I upload them to the data card. Using anything less generally requires a lot more sanding. I'd rather let the machine do the work. In the long run it takes about the same amount of time.

[fwharris]

To me, the amount of sanding is directly dependent on the quality of the carve and, of course, the sharpness of the bit. 99.9% of my carves are carved on the "Optimal" setting when I upload them to the data card. Using anything less generally requires a lot more sanding. I'd rather let the machine do the work. In the long run it takes about the same amount of time.

Very true...

[Alan Malmstrom]

Alan,

I use the Kutzall burrs occasionally (three different yellow "fine grit" ones - although they are not really very "fine") and like them for certain situations where I need to somewhat aggressively hand carve and/or hog out material.

I also like your homemade sanding attachments! I can see from the video they are very useful. It would be cool if you made a PDF instruction tutorial on how they are made. I think it will be very popular!

1. Basically I take some 1/4" inch foam from door hangers that can be found at the craft store. These work good because they are firmer than the 1/4" large sheets of foam.
2. Then apply 3M foam fast 74 Spray Adhesive to the foam and attach the sandpaper to it.
3. Then I put a piece of paper over it and iron the sandpaper to the foam to get good adhesion.
4. Then I put some double sided carpet tape on the other side of the foam. The kind with no string fiber in it. They have it at Menards Hardware store. No Fiber, so that it's easy to punch holes in it.
5. Then I use a 3/8" inch hole punch to punch out the little disks.
6. Then I take a 1/8" inch metal rod and cut it to about 1 3/4" inch long and put a metal sleeve collar on it that is about 3/8" width. Hardware Store.
7. Then I just peel the adhesive backing off of the disks and attach them to the collar. You can also drill a hole in the foam and have the collar ride up on the rod to have a more stable disk but you don't really need to.

These disks must be run at slow speeds. About the speed of a regular drill, perhaps 2,000 RPM.

I use this kind of Dremel Right Angle attachment to easily flip the disk around side to side:

https://www.dremel.com/en-us/Attachm...l.aspx?pid=575

I published these disks as open source so that I could sell them on ebay but they didn't really sell that good. Besides they are pretty easy to make yourself. I don't know of anything that works as good as these. It still takes a lot of time to use these depending on the detail but you have to spend the time if you want a good smooth surface.

I use the Kutzall burs (yellow) first to get rid of a lot of fuzz, and then these cushion disks, and then a nylon disk to kind of smash the grain down. But everybody is different, and there's a lot of different materials. Sometimes uploading with a quality of Optimal is worth the extra time spent carving especially hard woods.

[mtylerfl]

Excellent, Alan. Thank you very much for the "how-to" details. These will be very handy!

[Alan Malmstrom]

Pretty easy to make the sanding disks.

They will work best if made out of the 3X, 7X or I think they even have to 10X sandpaper now. And the 80 grit is probably the one that most people will want to use.

Also the sandpaper available now has the non slip backing on it. This non stick backing works great with the 3M Foamfast 74. It seems to help it stick better, but if you iron it to long it will kind of seep through the sandpaper onto the paper used to cover it.

Also if you can get the 3/8" hole punch (Harbor Frieght set) to fit in your drill press chuck it will make the disks a bit straighter when you use your drill press as a punch press. The disks don't seem to need to be perfectly punched straight because the spinning and friction seems to center them while in use.

1. Sandpaper
2. 3M Foamfast
3. 1/4" inch thick Craft Foam
4. Iron
5. Carpet Tape (without the string in it)
6. Hole Punch 3/8" diameter
7. Metal rod 1/8" diameter
8. 1/8" Diameter Sleeve Collar

You could run these disks in a hand drill or even connect one of those dremel type flex shafts for better handheld maneuverability.