In praise of the lowly PC Profile Sander….

Bruce Page

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Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Everyone like to bad mouth these sanders but the thing works when you need it. I’m in the process of making a couple of small Cremation boxes that have routed profiles on the Lacewood end grain. After spending several minutes finger sanding and not making much headway, I remembered that I had a PC detail sander tucked away somewhere. It’s probably been 3 years since I last used it but it’s making short work of my profile sanding. :thumb:

I know that it's not a Festool or Fein but it does the job!
 
I never really used my profile sander much either, mainly because I found that the sandpaper doesn't last long at all since you're only using a small area of it. However, it's one of those tools that when you need it, no other tool will do the job as well or as quickly, and doing it by hand can be tedious and even painful after an hour or so of sanding tiny areas.
 
I agree with you. I think the PC profile sander has gotten a bad rap just like the RotoZip because people are trying to use the tool for jobs that it wasn't intended to do.
I think for what it was intended to do, it works great.
BTW, I've made some 'wooden attachments' for mine to use for specialized sanding like when I had to sand the edges of some slats I made a flat piece of wood that I screwed to one of the adapter plates. I then could glue some sandpaper to the wood with spray glue and it made quick easy work out of the job.
 
I dabble with antique tube radios and sometimes I have to work on a cabinet. I have found that for the rare time that I have to sand a trim profile to match a cabinet after some repair, the PC sander works very nicely. Could I do the same thing by hand? Probably, but I'd really rather spend that time working on the radio chassis - hand sanding trim and keeping it straight and uniform is time consuming and boring to me (maybe not to everyone)... I'm not sure that my PC sander is very high quality, but for what I paid for it, I'd say I'm getting my moneys worth.

cheers
 
For whatever reason, alot of people don't like them. I have one (the non-VS). I don't use it very much, but when I do, I'm glad I have it. I use the diamond shaped pad much more often than the profiles. My only real complaint about it is that it is just a bit too big for my hand to comfortably grasp for any period of time.
 
"the PC profile sander has gotten a bad rap just like the RotoZip"

Are you kidding? The roto-zip is the best thing since sliced brioche! You wouldn't believe the contortions I went through before I got mine! Now, quick, easy, no problem. If you're reworking an old house, it is without parallel! ;)

Don't have a detail sander, but, then, I don't have details to sand, either... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
The first $40 (+shipping) can have mine (the non-VS model). Haven't used it in 10 years or so.

C'mon Bruce. You know you want it. You've just been dying to try some 2-handed sanding haven't you?:D

LOL! I agree with Sean, it's hard to hold even one!
 
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"the PC profile sander has gotten a bad rap just like the RotoZip"

Are you kidding? The roto-zip is the best thing since sliced brioche! You wouldn't believe the contortions I went through before I got mine! Now, quick, easy, no problem. If you're reworking an old house, it is without parallel! ;)

Don't have a detail sander, but, then, I don't have details to sand, either... ;)

Thanks,

Bill

I don't have a clue as what "brioche" is, but when remodeling, or hanging sheetrock it is the tool to have. But, I think there were a lot of "woodworkers" who thought they could use them as small routers or for jobs they were never intended to do.
 
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