Inflatable Contour Drum Sander Question

[jsburger]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try each one of the suggestions to see if they work any better than what I'm currently doing. Ed, I do have and have tried the belt sander (didn't like results) but never thought of using the backside. Looked it up in the PTWFE and sure enough, a pic of a somewhat similar application. Thanks for the heads up. BTW, I've also tried the strip sander but the platen keeps the belt to straight. Was thinking of trying it without the platen to see if I can get any contour in the belt.....just haven't tried it yet.

I would give the strip sander without the platen a try. I bet it will work very well.

[mr.d]

rpd.............I have done some between centers before and nothing wrong with that method. My personal preference is in a chuck but I'll have to give your swapping ends idea a twirl. As long as the 2 center-points can get perfectly re-aligned, should work.

jsburger........while trying to decide how to speed up this process, my first thought was the strip sander but I did have the platen in place and it helped but not the way I wanted it to, so I put the belt sander back in place. Just been to lazy to switch them back out and try without the platen.

[mr.d]

Just as an update. Took the table and platen off the strip sander and didn't work very well. Just nothing but air to provide any pressure to the piece. Add the shorter platen with the radius and it worked quite well and better than expected. Provided just the right amount of flex to conform to the shape of the ball. Used it on one of my not so great spheres that had a larger than normal nub on it so it was a good test. The nub was at the top of the pic below.

[rpd]

Just ran across this video, shows a different way of sanding spheres.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbpnPvDMtRs[/youtube]

[jsburger]

Just ran across this video, shows a different way of sanding spheres.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbpnPvDMtRs[/youtube]

Very very interesting. Thanks!

[mr.d]

I've seen a couple of his sphere videos but not this particular one. Thanks for posting it. The resins/plastics certainly are pretty and you can come up with some wild color variations. I've made some pens with it but really don't like working with it. Smells goofy and getting rid of the strands is a PITA.......at least for me.