Bobbin sander

[9fingers]

Triggered off by Jason's thread on door making here trevera25.proboards85.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=projects&thread=1195299957&page=1#1195299957

I see he has one of the huge range of 370 watt (half hp) oscillating bobbin sanders which typically cost £150.
How do these compare in performance (and longevity) to the bigger machines such as the jet, 1hp JVOS10 which is about £800?

A huge price jump but is the extra worth it?

I won't make heavy (trade) use of it but don't want to buy the small one only to find it can't do much work or breaks down.
The Jet write up talks about the big one having an enclosed gearbox but surely the little one much also have enclosed gears in the presence of all that sanding dust and grit?

Can anyone comment on the pros and cons please?

TIA

Bob

[jfc]

I've done without one for years and to be honest i could have made the door without it but it made fast work of it ................and i wanted a new toy

Ive used it twice since making the door not because i needed to but because it was there .

[9fingers]

Thanks Jason,

What did you use before? A drum sander in a drill press or just elbow grease and a curved block?

Or maybe you are a spokeshave man?

Regards

Bob

[jfc]

Spoke shave if i had to or straight off the router . That always left slight quirks and as i planned to use a bearing guided router bit to do the moulding i wanted it to be perfect .

[Scrit]

With a bobbin sander I reckon you're paying for durability. Buy a cheapie and it may last a few jobs (in trade use) , a Jet might last a few years whilst a piece of proper stuff like the Phillipson or Volpato oscilating bobbins are built for the long haul. I own a Volpato and I've looked at the cheaper alternatives and it really is a case of you get what you pay for. The better designs all use a cam and follower arrangement rather than gears.

BTW main uses are for sanding inside edges of frames, etc. Outside faces are best dealt with on a linisher or better still an oscillating belt edge sander. The minus side of these devices, though, is that they will only handle square edges. Go to a profiles or even just a bullnose edge and you need to start thinking in terms of a pneumatic bobbin sander, a soft-form sander or a brush-back sander (such as those with Engis, and similar, heads)

Scrit