Sanding Inside Long Projects

SabertoothBunny

SabertoothBunny
Corporate Member
Alrighty, I am working on a decorative vase from bad piece of walnut with epoxy. It is a limb cutoff that had some cracking due to the pith. The piece isn't very large, the inside is about 6-8" deep and about 4-5" wide at the opening that tapers down narrower inside. It is my first attempt at a form like this.

I do not have a tool that can get down in there and sand effectively nor can I find one. So I am trying to carefully reach in with my hand with gloves (thinnest, tightest fitting golfers gloves I could find) on to reduce friction on my skin. It is spinning at 1500 rpm for the sanding. Had to fill some voids from cracks with thick CA glue so I stopped for the night. I am using 2" sanding disks.

Anyone know of a long handled sander that can get down into these pieces for some sanding work? Do any companies make or sell these or is it one of those things will good old fashioned American ingenuity needs to kick in and find a solution? My hand can reach in to the bottom but not well enough to effectively sand the bottom.
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
That's very dangerous reaching inside a spinning piece with your hand. Gloves make it even more dangerous! If the glove were to catch on the piece and get wound up, ouch! For sanding these types of rotating vessels, I either tape some sandpaper to a dowel or I also have a Guinevere Flex Shaft Power Sanding unit with the inflatable sanding drums, both tubular and round profiles. I just used the round one on a small bowl yesterday. Sorry, haven't posted a pic here yet. You're welcome to bring the piece to my shop in Chapel Hill and use my flex shaft sander.
 

HITCH-

Hitch
Corporate Member
A picture would help.
Would a dremel tool fitted with a sanding ball fit inside there? I would sand it off the lathe.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Depending on the I.D. you can use a piston honing tool.
Piston Honing tool There are other designs as well. You can attach sand paper to these as well if you are a bit creative.
Just another idea
 

cliff56

cliff
Corporate Member
I have a long set of forceps I clamp a pad in and use a lower speed. Also don't put fingers in forceps holes! Got them at HF . Has worked for me inside small turnings.
 

Martin Roper

Martin
Senior User
Something like this?

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