Sander: Belt of Orbital?

peccary

peccary

Well-known member
I am thinking of getting myself an inexpensive sander for bare enclosures and don't have a lot of metal sanding experience.

My gut is telling me that an orbital sander will be more versatile and allow me to actually get a good polish if I want to take it that far. If not I can always finish by hand to get a nice straight "grain" as well after taking flat spots out.

Am I thinking about this right, or are there benefits to a belt sander I'm not thinking about?
 
I don't really like polishing bare enclosures but I used a Dremel if I'm going to

Edit: if you're going to use a sander, you'll probably want a vise (and non-marring vise jaws) unless you want to launch your enclosure across the garage. Even with the Dremel I use a vise. You can also polish by hand
 
Harry Klippton said:
I don't really like polishing bare enclosures but I used a Dremel if I'm going to

Edit: if you're going to use a sander, you'll probably want a vise (and non-marring vise jaws) unless you want to launch your enclosure across the garage. Even with the Dremel I use a vise. You can also polish by hand
Click to expand...

I feel like that would take quite a while with a Dremel, right? I have a workbench with dogs I can use to clamp the piece, so I'm not too worried about sending it flying.
 
peccary said:
I feel like that would take quite a while with a Dremel, right? I have a workbench with dogs I can use to clamp the piece, so I'm not too worried about sending it flying.
Click to expand...
The one I did with the Dremel a few weeks ago only took a few minutes. I did the first few rounds with sandpaper by hand and did the final polishing with the dremel
 
Harry Klippton said:
The one I did with the Dremel a few weeks ago only took a few minutes. I did the first few rounds with sandpaper by hand and did the final polishing with the dremel
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I hadn't considered a Dremel and it would be a more versatile tool - you've given me something to think about, thanks!
 
For what it's worth, I also have an orbital sander, belt sander, angle grinders with various discs I could use for polishing, but I chose the hand/Dremel option
 
I'd say go orbital but make sure it's got a speed control

I've used both belt and orbital, belt as @temol says is more aggressive and you need to keep it perfectly flat it can gouge into the enclosure very easily, obviously depending on the grade of sandpaper you use

I only ever used the belt sander to remove etches I wasn't happy with and like a Muppet bought an orbital with no speed control I can still use it but it's not very easy to control at full on rpm

I was looking at mini type bench sanders like these

www.ebay.co.uk

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I guess that might depend on what orbital and what belt sander. If you want a mirror finish you might want to consider a buffer wheel in addition to the sander... polishing by hand kind of sucks, I did a stainless pick guard by hand and then buffed it out with a wool pad on a drill.... took fooor eevvverrrrrr.
 
thewintersoldier said:
I have a cheaper black and decker orbital sander. I use it to get a level a surface with 100 grit discs. After the enclosure is level and the surface is uniform and all scratches are out I switch the hand sanding. I go thru 150, 320, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. It takes a few mins but I have total control of the process. No scratches, dips or unevenness in the finish. And the sanding lines are uniform unlike a lot of power sanders.
Click to expand...
That's kind of what I was thinking in terms
of process, though you go through more grits than I was originally thinking.

There's a person on the bass forum I frequent who makes these beautifully polished pedals and that's what got me thinking about this. That and your bare metal ones as well, I really liked the last one you did. You all give so many ideas I kind of jumble myself up thinking of what to try next.
 
thewintersoldier said:
I have a cheaper black and decker orbital sander. I use it to get a level a surface with 100 grit discs. After the enclosure is level and the surface is uniform and all scratches are out I switch the hand sanding. I go thru 150, 320, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. It takes a few mins but I have total control of the process. No scratches, dips or unevenness in the finish. And the sanding lines are uniform unlike a lot of power sanders.
Click to expand...

Really can't cosign this enough.

Orbital sanders are nice to have around but it's also not hard to take an aluminum enclosure from unfinished and raw to mirror finish by hand with a few different grits of wet sanding and a polishing compound or two.

If I was doing it regularly I'd do it with power tools as much as I could but I also think if you @peccary haven't done it by hand before it might be a useful exercise in helping you answer this question. All of the important work of making a nice finish is done first few lower grades anyway.

Sanding sponges are nice but most good sandpaper is wet and dry. Lil bit of soapy water and have at it. For polishing / cutting compounds I swear by mothers mag, dialux and cap code wipes. All three are different but tend to cover most bases. I've used dialux vert on aluminum but it's probably overkill - I think blue is probably the ticket. Cape code wipes are mild and really nice to have on hand to polish up metal pedal hardware like outward facing phone jacks and footswitches.
 
Last edited:
I use the drill attachment buffer for polishing, mind you my ex Mrs didn't think it was that adorable I did get a mirror finish saw her in it and immediately filed for a divorce

Not really! I bought a shovel and took her for a walk up the hills! Alright I didn't, I got black patches of polishing compound all over the side of the fridge

But they are great for getting a nice shiny enclosure just make yourself a booth to stop stuff going all over the place

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192923256796
 
For polishing work I'd go with a buffing wheel and buffing compound. Polishing by hand is ok, but only for a while :)

As for the grainy look - I've tried belt sander and wire brush drill attachment. There's slight difference in the grain pattern between those two. Here's the enclosure treated with a wire brush. It's a sheet metal aluminum enclosure.

br1.jpg br2.jpg
 
I love my belt sander but it's not for the faint of heart! I need it because the standard timber where I live (other than plantation pine) is jarrah which is extremely hard and almost impervious to hand-sanding.

But I don't use jarrah for my enclosures. If I wanted to polish enclosures I would use a random orbital and a buffing wheel.
 
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