Official Luthiers Forum!

Whose got one, and how much do you love it?

I have the one from Elevate. Honestly it’s a great tool. You can, of course, really screw things up with one,.... but w a little care it REALLY makes short work out is the process of leveling sides

Very highly recommended
Thumbs up from me


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I also have the Elevate one. It was initially a very love hate relationship and then I saw Jeff Jewitt using one of these with it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G ... UTF8&psc=1

I picked one up and have used it a few times. It makes a world of difference in control of the thing. Holding a battery drill and trying to do it evenly was wonky for me at best. This makes it a lot better - but now I have to listen to the compressor. First world problems I guess.

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I don't use it for sanding sides because it is too aggressive for me. But I do like it for sanding the curvy parts of the neck.

I made my own by buying a few of the larger rubber drum sanders you use on a drill press, taking them apart, and mounting them together on a threaded rod. I use a lot of bearings as the handle. It works great. It can get away from you, but I think that is just going to be true with this tool. You have to be very careful. But the alternative is to slave away at flattening the sides, and man, that is drudgery. As long as you are careful and mindful of what the tool is doing, it is a real timesaver. It makes a horrible dusty mess, though. For sure, wear a dust mask while operating and a bit afterward.

Yeah dust control is a factor, as is having the dust come right at your face. Plus, it’s something that I think would be nice to have, but not essential. But the drudgery, as mentioned, of faring the sides, is accumulating. Still only have to do it 3-4 times a month, but still...might get myself an Xmas treat...

I used my elevate sander for the first time last week after standing there, staring at it in my hands for a solid minute. I was afraid of &%*#'ing something up. Turned out to be really, really easy. Just start with the drum resting on the side, spinning away from whichever direction you're pulling. Also be careful not to move so slow with it that you make a divot. My sides still took a 5-10 minutes apiece to flatten, but it was painless.

I have the pneumatic Grizzly. Both sizes. They are a big part of shaping the heel and heel neck transition with my necks. I use mostly the big one.

I would be scared to death to use a rigid one for leveling sides except maybe the waist. Hats off to those that have made it work. I plan to stick with hand leveling with a wood block, and a large dowel with sandpaper for the waist. it’s not all that bad for me

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

The one time I used a rolling pin sander I sanded through a side. The Macassar ebony sides came out of the bender ripply so I marked them with witness lines to monitor progress in leveling the sides with the sander. I was paying attention to how the witness lines were disappearing (or not) and noticed a reddish patch appear near one edge of a side. I thought that was a weird color for Macassar ebony and suddenly realized it was the color of the mahogany linings. Many bad words were said. I've been accepting of doing hand sanding ever since for leveling the sides.

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I have the little Grizzly. I learned, quite fast, how I should pay intense attention to air pressure when inflating the drum. Those sanding sleeves ain't cheap. Also likes to lose air pressure. Like any power tool, it's got a learning curve. It did level the sides real nice.

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Peter Havriluk

I built a homemade version (hard sanding drum, wooden dowel, fancy plastic) and used it once or twice and was really really stoked! It's only used on the waist. I think I did it in the driveway. I would definitely not want to try that indoors unless I had the mother of dust collection apparatuses hooked up.

I bought the Elevate but have not used it yet. My version works pretty much the same.

Pat

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Pat

I've got one of the flexible roller sanders with a blow-up roller and use a pneumatic motor for it. It works pretty much as advertised but honestly I'm not a big fan. Haven't used it in 3 or 4 years now. Guess I'll get rid of it.

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

Mixed reviews here...

I admit I never used one but it scares me. It seems that whenever I take any piece of wood to a power sander something bad happens.

The trick for me was using short, non-continuous strokes. Similar to using a plane, I wouldn't run it back and forth. Just a short pull along the area, lift, kill the drill, go back to start.

I like to think I have enough skill to figure it out, but I’ve def seen what bad they can do...

Hi Ed,
I use this drill with the rolling pin sander. The drill articulates from 90 degree to 0 degree. I use it in the straight orientation and it makes controlling the pin sander very easy.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-PS11-102-1 ... 35&sr=8-10


I tend to be very OCD about tools -- stuff like runout really bothers me. I bought the Elevate pin sander but had a local machinist make me a new shaft that fit the rubber spindle sander drum much tighter. The pin now has very little wobble and I feel it is much easier to control. I use this sander for getting the sides mostly where I want them and then following up the final pass with a hard sanding block. I use a great sanding tip I picked up from Michael Greenfield - I use spring steel with sanding paper attached to smooth out the contours. The spring steel slats are incredible for smoothing out the tail area and the headblock area -- as well as the cutaway and waist areas. I use a thinner steel for the waists and cutaway and a heavier steel for the tail and headblock region.

The rolling pin sander saves a tremendous amount of work when sanding the sides. I highly recommend one.

Thanks!

That drill looks pretty handy...

I have one of the sort that inflates with a bicycle pump. I keep it a bit soft (far softer than the hard rubber rollers that some rolling pin sanders use) and it doesn't dig in. Using it with some care (and a bit of practice), I find it valuable for flattening sides and assuring that the binding is truly flush -- especially in the waist area. A variable speed drill makes it easy to run it slowly, and with a light touch. I've seen them offered in two lengths: 4" (+/-) and 7" (+/-). I have the 7" version and don't think the 4" would be useful for guitar sides, though it would work for sanding the neck, especially around the curve of the heel.

Just a quick note: this issue has been resolved by the drum manufacturer.

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I have the Elevate pin sander and love it. Initially I used it only for the waist curves but once I got the hang of it and discovered how efficiently it flattens sides, I can't see ever going back. I've used power tools including sanders for decades, so I did bring a lot of experience to the job of sanding guitar sides, but with a little practice and the right drill, I think anyone could benefit from learning to use one.

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It will probably be alright.

I used a robo sander as a rolling pin sander. I love it. But don't use it with air tools, use it with a normal cordless drill with variable speed. This allows you to control the speed of the sander and therefore not go through the side.

I want to build an extended version of this to use with a cordless drill. It is very handy for final sanding of a side to level everything, binding, purfling, everything.

But the key is, control this with a cordless drill so you spin it slower and therefore take off less material with each pass.

They also have air bladder version of this that works real well for just smoothing out a side and not trying to shape anything.

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I've had a rolling pin sander for many years (I use a pneumatic die grinder for power), as well as one of the stationary mounted inflatable drums. They're both very good for what they're designed to do, and I've used them on furniture successfully but just never cared for them for instrument making. That's due mostly to my (lack of) technique, but I don't mind sanding and scraping by hand.

Dave

Used the little Grizzly last night to shape a neck. Half an hour and deed was done. I used an old but unused 3/8" Black & Decker hand drill to drive the little Grizzly. Speed was nice (single speed drill), not aggressive at all, and easy to modulate, used the short strokes mentioned here. A success. Saved me a night's work. Working in my favor was the small diameter of the little Grizzly, it slowed down the feet-per-minute pace of the sanding drum. Second use, it's paid for. If the question was posed as to whether it's a valid shop tool, my answer is yes, does the job, saves time, and practice makes perfect. Saved a lot of time for me, and being soft from inflation, did a really nice job of working convex surfaces. No prismatic facets. An entirely different critter from a solid drum.

About the big one, no idea.

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Peter Havriluk

Toonces I am interested in your suggestion of spring steel backed abrasive. I do this stuff with scrapers and sanding having had a bad moment with a drill driven drum sander.

That's Ok for removing the back and top overhang but removing ripple is a bit different.

Any pics to show how you are using the steel?

Cheers Dave