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  #1  
Old 12-16-2015, 06:40 PM
JediBoss JediBoss is offline
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Default Sanding Questions

Good Evening!
As someone who really loved this hobby as a kid and has been lurking here for a while, I have a sanding question. Specifically, my hands are pretty mangled from years of hard use, yet I want to do the best job that I can when assembling. Can anyone recommend a technique for gnarled, arthritic, carpal tunneled hands?
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Old 12-16-2015, 06:52 PM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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Jeffyjeep gets his wife to do it for him.

Not knowing the extent of your mangling, there are only a few things I can definitively say that will help. 1. Use the correct grit for the situation. 2. Keep the paper clean. 3. Change paper when it starts to wear down. All of these will help keep the total sanding time and effort to a minimum. 4. Use tools when you can such as sanding blocks, t-bars, emory boards, files, planes, etc. 5. Use fillers and primers that are easy to sand. We have hundreds of posts about these.

You can avoid some sanding by papering your fins and using plastic nose cones when possible. If you want a slick finish, you will still need to sand your primer coats, but it's better than filling, sanding, filling, sanding, priming sanding, and on and on.

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Old 12-16-2015, 06:58 PM
JediBoss JediBoss is offline
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Thank you!
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Old 12-16-2015, 07:08 PM
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sandman sandman is offline
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A very very long time ago (early 60's) I made a tiny power sander out of a discarded electric shaver. The tiny back and forth vibration worked great on model rocket fins.

Today I have a newer modern equivalent from Harbor Freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/oscill...tool-68861.html

They have several styles of sanding pads available with the smallest just a little triangle shape that gets right up in the corners.

http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-...6-pc-61832.html

The $20 price is really hard to resist.

Better yet is the variable speed cordless model!

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-vol...tool-68012.html
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:27 PM
JediBoss JediBoss is offline
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That's a great suggestion too. Do you think I could use it wearing a wrist brace?
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JediBoss
That's a great suggestion too. Do you think I could use it wearing a wrist brace?


I would think so.

Actually for small parts like fins I've mounted mine in a vice and just held onto the fin to sand it.

Like a bench sander.

But, hey, it's only $20.

Since it has a wide variety of tools available it's a lot more than just a sander.
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:39 PM
JediBoss JediBoss is offline
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There's a HF near my house. I'll swing by there tomorrow and take a look. Thanks again for the suggestions.
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JediBoss
There's a HF near my house. I'll swing by there tomorrow and take a look. Thanks again for the suggestions.


Oh, btw, welcome to our forum.
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:53 PM
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To add to Sandman's powered sander suggestion: With any power tool, use a light touch and let the tool do the work for you.
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Old 12-16-2015, 11:41 PM
stefanj stefanj is offline
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Have you tried a sanding block?

It strikes me that if you have trouble gripping a full size block, you could cut a sanding block in half lengthwise. I may actually try that just to have a narrower and easier to handle block.

Last I checked, Big Lots was selling a good quality hard rubber sanding block for cheap.
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