grinding inside curves

M

manassas dragon

Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
158
i've been using a plain old grinder to hog out inside curves and finishing up with a dremel followed by hand sanding out the irregular dips and indentions. there has to be a better way. what is it?

thanx agin as always
 
Need more info - I assume your talking about the profile.

How tight of a curve, how small/large to name a few?

Drill press for roughing out the curve, then 1 X 30 belt sander and dremel/files to finish was the way I did the last curve.

But that wasn't a drastic curve by any means - for serious curves/scrolls I'd probably go - drill press>jewelers saw> files

A drum sander would be nice for bigger curves, but I don't have one.
 
Oscillating Spindle Sander

Jet_JBOS-5.jpg
 
Half round files, some are coarse and fast, some are fine and smooth.
Then abrasive paper around dowels

Oscillating spindle sander

2x72 grinder with small wheel attachments.
 
If you're on a tight budget, a home-made sanding block with curvature very close to the curve of the blade. This should help smooth out the dips and indentions.
 
I've got 2 Harbor Freight spindle sanders and I've used em hard for years. They've worked well for me and lasted. I think they were $139 ea. If one died I would buy another one tomorrow. Supergrit.com has a great selection of the sleeves in the widest variety of grits I've found.
 
I have a ridgid model spindle sander that I got at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Seems to work OK for profiling steel, but you aren't going to find many abrasive sleeves for it other than A/O. I use mine for roughing curves in handle slabs, easier than files/hand sanding in that sense.
 
I believe Klingspor makes sleeves in all the metal working abrasives. Give them a call 1-800-645-5555. Tell the person who answers you want to talk to the rep who handles the knifemaker's requests. I can't remember the name of the new person, but IIRC, it is a nice lady.

Klingspor will make up nearly any belt, in any size you ask for, in most any abrasive type. They are fast,too. Usually the order goes out in a day or two.
 
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