Doing Less Can Be Better

Doing Less Can Be Better Leave a comment

I’ve got 6 sanding machines I regularly use. I know the woodworkers wanna know … so if you are a civilian, just hang on for a bit.

The six machines are:

A Jet 16-32 drum sander, which allows me to smooth wide pieces like the Lazy Susans
A Jet 6″ belt sander, perfect for smoothing rounded edges … I thought
A Jet Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander – the only good way to work on concave curves
Festool ETS EC 125/EQ … a Random Orbital Sander (ROS) … the 5″ model for edge sanding
Festool RO 150 FEQ … another ROS, the 6″ model for sanding the tops and bottoms of boards
Festool DTS 400 REQ, a triangular sander for reaching nooks & crannies

Here are the hand sanders I use, all by Festool. When I use them, they’re connected to a Festool “Dust Extractor” which absolutely minimizes dust in the air. When I bought these, my air got cleaner and my life got better.

Lazy Susans are cut on the CNC, which means that I screw down the work piece to the sacrificial board, then have to remove the tabs that hold the piece in place as it’s cut out. That’s done on the band saw … and then I have to sand the tab stubs smooth. Typically, I’ve done that on the belt sander.

And that was wrong.

With this batch, I’ve confirmed that I can avoid the belt sander altogether … as it leaves vertical scratches around the entire circumference of the Lazy Susans. Instead, I used my 5″ Festool ROS (Random Orbital Sander, or the ETS EC 125/EQ), and that removed the tabs nicely … and I didn’t have to then clean up the entire circumference of the Susan. That’s 4″ of sanding, instead of 55″ of sanding.

Oh, I still had a bunch of sanding to do, and I still sanded the entire circumference – twice – before these pieces reached the finish line. However, by avoiding the belt sander, I had an easier time of it.

Less is better, in this case.