Originally Posted by Kmot

Maybe scratching those hard to reach areas?

Uh...

lol...

I was all happy and wanted to share the excitement I had. I was taking pictures as I opened the box. It all looked good until I went to lift the main unit out of the box, and the table was all floppy. Then when I lifted it out I could see the plastic structure was busted up real bad. Talk about a let down!

yeah, that is a bummer... Hopefully it won't be too long before they get another in stock... as the others have said, looks like a useful tool!

You can never have too much power at hand for sanding... so I'm wondering, has anyone tried one of these mini sanders from Micromark?

Both are $$... the first one requires a 12v transformer too.

Could Harbor Freight be the inspiration for the pointy-bowed Atlantic tug?????

Originally Posted by Kmot

Maybe scratching those hard to reach areas?

Hee hee, I'll pass on that one Tom---.

Originally Posted by patmat2350

You can never have too much power at hand for sanding... so I'm wondering, has anyone tried one of these mini sanders from Micromark?

Hummm, that looks like it could be awkward to use as a hand held... (unless we are talking a really big model...) sometimes power tools create more problems than the solve...

Originally Posted by Aerominded

Hummm, that looks like it could be awkward to use as a hand held... (unless we are talking a really big model...) sometimes power tools create more problems than the solve...

Imagine a boat 54" long with less than perfect 1/8" thick pine planking!
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum...art=15#p255937

But no matter, I smoothed it real good with a palm sander...

Whoa! I haven't checked in on that build thread in a while! that is a big boat! looking great!

Originally Posted by patmat2350

Imagine a boat 54" long with less than perfect 1/8" thick pine planking!
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum...art=15#p255937

Ye god's Pat!...

I've just looked over at your build thread... thats a MONSTER!...

Nice work.. as always..

Back on topic:

I know what I could do with a model that is not in a build thread on RCG. I could spindle sand it into a toothpick!

Yea... except you'd need a spindle sander that was intact to do that.

For a down and dirty thickness sander if you have a drill press you can use those small sanding drums that are made for power drills, set up a fence on your drill press the thickness away from the drum of choice and run your stock through it.
Good for small projects and if you only need to run a few pieces, but it does work and with a little patience you can do a good job.
You can also use your drill press and sanding drums as a spindle sander and no it is nowhere near as good as the real thing but if you don't have the money and not going to use it a lot it will work well enough to get your project complete without spending a lot and will give you an excuse/reason to go out and buy the real thing.

I've done a bit of sanding in a drill press, and I'm happy to have the real sander now! One problem with drill presses is their typical sloppy spindles and/or quills, which allow for sideways slop. This is also one reason why it's hard to mill in a drill press- too much chatter. Also, the chatter can knock the Morse taper chuck loose... which why real mills have drawbars.

I actually tried a large drum sander in my drill press once.

My drill press is bolted down to a workbench. It is meant to drill things that fit on the small table.

I was trying to sand the edge of a 54" long piece of Springer hull and I mostly suceeded ini knocking over everything else on the workbench and not doing a very good job on the piece of wood I was trying to sand.

The spindle sander I am going to get replaced will be a portable unit I can take outside and place on a workbench where I have unlimited room and freedom of movement to work on the largest pieces of wood I ever actually plan to work on.

So yes the drill press idea is okay, but mostly for very small stuff.