sanding discs filling up

Wasnt sure if this went here or wood turning so ill try here.
I am fairly new to this and my current process on wood turning is to get items as smooth as possible off the tool then coat with sanding sealer then using a inertial sander (not sure of right term- one where the spinning object actually powers the sander) I go through the grits. Problem is that the sanding pads very quickly fill with the sealer and dont cut anymore. Means I go through an awful lot of sanding discs. Is it me or is it just the nature of the beast.

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Now, the sander. do you have some form of dust extraction on or with your sander?

Has the sander you use have dust extraction holes? If so, are these should be extracting the dust.

What grits of abrasive are you using? You should be working with sequential grit pads. e.g. 150, 180, 240, 400 at the minimum I would think. But do try the grit pads and sand again with a sander which has dust extraction holes in it's pad.

Regards,

Rob

You also don't say how long you wait after applying the sanding sealer - or any other finish! - before sanding.

The coat must be fully dried, else it's akin to sanding rubber.

(I assume that it's not the timber itself, as you say you flatten it before applying the sealer, which I take to mean some sanding. Timber that's still slightly green will also cause clogging, although some timbers are naturally bad for this regardless. Just mentioning this for the sake of thoroughness. ;) )

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Originally Posted by WaggaSteve

Wasnt sure if this went here or wood turning so ill try here.
I am fairly new to this and my current process on wood turning is to get items as smooth as possible off the tool then coat with sanding sealer then using a inertial sander (not sure of right term- one where the spinning object actually powers the sander) I go through the grits. Problem is that the sanding pads very quickly fill with the sealer and dont cut anymore. Means I go through an awful lot of sanding discs. Is it me or is it just the nature of the beast.

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Firstly I congratulate you on attempting to get a finish ready surface off your tools.

Normally, on flat work I wouldn't use a sanding sealer before I'd first sanded the work to about 240 grit.

are you sanding to about or higher before applying the sealer?
or applying the sealer and then starting sanding at around 100 grit?

Generally when wood turning and when I finish the shaping I start sanding at 120grit going through to 320grit. I spend a fair amount of time on the 120grit as this is the grit that will clean up the tool marks. If I find that along the way I am getting some(for the lack of a better word) fuzzy I will use sanding sealer. Then I re-sand using that same grit. What I expect is a continuation of the same type of dust to be produced from that grit before the sanding sealer was applied. If I get clogging then I have not allowed enough time for the sealer to dry.

It sounds like this is what is happening on your process, where the sanding sealer has not had time to dry.

What sort of Dust extraction do you have?

If you have good enough dust extraction connected to a Bell mouth hooded port this will fair rip the dust off the outside of any spindle work and greatly reduce paper clogging.
With objects like bowls that spin dust up against their insides, an intermittent burst of compressed air helps keep things clear.

I take that you are getting little hard spots all over the sanding disc? If so the best way I have found to clean them off is with air from an air compressor with the compressor set at about 600psi.

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Originally Posted by rod1949

I take that you are getting little hard spots all over the sanding disc? If so the best way I have found to clean them off is with air from an air compressor with the compressor set at about 600psi.

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600 psi? Yikes - that's liable to puncture a hole not just right through the paper but through the sander as well.

Those sorts of pressures are extremely dangerous to have in a home workshop, the main one being that they can easily puncture skin and produce air embolisms and necrosis of the puncture wound.

Alright I like a bit of wind:fart2:. I could say that my finger slipped on the keyboard :booboo: but you wouldn't believe me so what about 60psi would you settle for that?

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sounds like I am applying the sanding sealer too early in the cycle and probably not letting dry properly. How long would you normally allow to dry (and at least some of my wood is fairly green) and is there an advantage to an initial coat of thinned sealer first.

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Originally Posted by WaggaSteve

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sounds like I am applying the sanding sealer too early in the cycle and probably not letting dry properly. How long would you normally allow to dry (and at least some of my wood is fairly green) and is there an advantage to an initial coat of thinned sealer first.

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Me, I like to wait 24 hours between coats of anything, regardless of mfr's recommendations. Not that I always wait, but if it's something I really want to come out right I'll take the time. (Being on a mountain I have problems with cold temperatures most of the year and drying times can be quite... lengthy.)

As for thinning the sealer, I think that in general it's unwarranted effort, however there are times a dilute coat applied first can help with particularly porous timbers.

Then again, so can just giving it a wash with diluted PVA glue, letting it dry, sand and then apply the sanding sealer as per normal. :shrug:


If in doubt, try applying it to an off-cut of the same material first. That can save you some nasty surprises at times!