But, finding that “just right” speed will mean a nice, even sanding job across the entire piece.ģ. It’s a bit of a “Goldilocks” issue – going too fast can lead to poor results, with sections not sanded enough or missed entirely, and going too slowly can lead to over-sanding or cut-through in some areas.
However, like most things where quality and attention to detail are important, moving the sander at a controlled and even pace across the surface will lead to the best results. Avoid sanding too fast, or too slowly.īecause sanding is often tedious, many people want to finish sooner by moving the sander very quickly on the workpiece. When sanding properly, the sander should move across the surface with ease, as if it were gliding.Ģ. Each grit is designed to remove a certain amount of material, so if you need to remove more, use a coarser grit, rather than pressing harder.
The rule of thumb for this is to let gravity, or the weight of the sander, and the abrasives, do the work. More heat can either cause the sander to shut off or potentially lead to pre-mature loading of your sheets or discs. When you use too much pressure, the sander has to do more work to perform its rotations, this means there will be more work for the motor and more friction on the surface of the workpiece. However, doing this can cause issues like swirls, cut-through, uneven sanding and other problems, such as excess heat and loading. Intuitively, it seems like that could make the sanding process go more quickly. We all want to finish sanding faster, and get the best cut from the abrasives, so it can be tempting to press down harder with the sander. Avoid pushing down with too much pressure on the sander. On the other hand, if you use good technique and avoid the mistakes explored in this article, you’ll have a high-quality finish every time.ġ. When sanding incorrectly, you can cause swirls, excess dust and other issues that will lead to an uneven or blotchy finish. Sanding with a random orbital sander or orbital sander (without random pattern) is not complicated, but there are several things to consider in order to avoid common problems, and get the best possible finish. When you want to get the best finish on your project, it comes down to the quality of the sanding.