anyone know much about flap sander attachments for drills?

[LCHIEN]

mop sanders, flap sanders,
So many different kinds
Any advice for small bandsaw/scrollsaw cleanup? small wooden toys and stuff?

[Jim Frye]

Had one of the flap wheel sanders hanging in the pegboard for over a decade. I was underwhelmed with its performance when new and that’s probably why it’s been hanging on the wall for so long unused. I prefer wire wheel brushes for metal, and sandpaper with a backer for wood.

[twistsol]

I have a couple of them 120 and 240 grit. I thought they would be useful for sanding profile trim, and they are ok for that, but the profile will lose some definition as you are sanding it. I no longer use them on anything wood and chuck them up into the drill press to initially clean rusted metal parts.

[leehljp]

Mop sanders are used often in some scroll saw works, and in certain situations - highly praised.

In general, all the types regardless of grit are not as aggressive as the inexperienced expects - just my thoughts, experience and reading others results. For me - Back to different traditional sanding tools, both motorized and by hand.

[mpc]

I've only used flap wheel style... long ago. Imagine needing to cut an arc shape into the face of a board - something easily done on a band saw. But not easily done when one does not yet own a band saw. I used a dado stack in the BT3 to make a series of overlapping dados of various depths: shallow on each end, deepest in the middle. So I had a stair-step shape that needed to be sanded into a smooth arc. I tried a flap style wheel and it worked well - buzzing those steps into something reasonably smooth. I found the 60 (or was it 80?) grit wheel that I used cut quickly. It also wore somewhat quickly too; I remember I needed several wheels to make the two arch shapes. I used a corded drill back when corded drills could run at fairly high RPMs - much faster than cordless drills and most corded drills sold today. 3000 RPM perhaps? The sanding wheels I used were 3 or 4 inches in diameter and about an inch thick/wide if I remember correctly.

Lots of dust got flung into the air too. I would not consider a flap wheel sander on a high speed drill for "sanding up to the line" as control was somewhat iffy at times. I didn't have a good workbench with a vise at the time either - just F-clamps holding the workpiece to the top of the BT3 if I remember correctly. Nor did I have a drill press. I think it would be easier maintain control hand-holding the workpiece past a drill press mounted flap sander.

mpc

[leehljp]

I would not consider a flap wheel sander on a high speed drill for "sanding up to the line" as control was somewhat iffy at times."

AGREED! A regular drill is the wrong tool to use with mop type and even any of the type Loring posted in the OP. (Sorry, this just came to me as I was reading mpc's post)

I almost forgot that bowl and some vase turners use those sanding disks too. But they use a different type of "drill" so to speak. Here is the type of drill best used with those type sanding wheels TO BE EFFECTIVE:

https://www.amazon.com/Hoteche-Electric-Variable-Forward-Reverse/dp/B0D69KQW2M/ref=sr_1_45?crid=16FY5AD48O0AM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U_ KCV2v6JX-KdpwkUaolWUm2m7a0AWlJyImgu9ldrQ-Q_XDu4fL9E-8PjaBf5qKdDsDB9-2jz-W09ERGn-8wiJNSUuyhteg8ZVxDIjvy8l1V32prrIHRJKboXFNdfoLqOT42 1gjZQAT31la_rBCDGye_MBnDh5S1t9KzjOrVYinXoGaAbmDORl o1tbU145nrHX3Hj37FNelf9IdjaP4TormdYUhDkwhqHT9clGsk pIK_UFGf4evLn7IaIQRmUtI39WgPwvX_NPb2iEWD7qB9bmJxUA v-uvziJCh36s7zgfk.R41FGBLqsMwPVWgCz-Fm3czB4ljvgrOzBeiy2O7tAtw&dib_tag=se&keywords=Neik o+right+angle+drill&qid=1778024928&sprefix=neiko+r ight+angle+drill%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-45

I have one of those under the Neiko brand and used it when I was in Japan and made bowls - when I wanted something different from making pens. I don't know What brand bowl turners use now and could not find one on Amazon other than the one above.

I have seen a couple of Angle Grinders with them, and while not paying attention to the angle grinders, I'm thinking they must have had Variable Speed.

FOUND Another one on HF's website: https://www.harborfreight.com/35-amp...ill-57148.html

[Jim Frye]

The flap sander I have was used with my Makita 1/2 inch variable speed drill, which has a max. rpm of 200. Still did not like the performance.

[d_meister]

I have a collection of these types of wheels that have been on display with their 1/4" arbors plugged into pegboards in two different shops over the years. I felt intuitively that to be effective they must run at a high enough RPM where centrifugal force would serve to extend the flaps, I have a couple of air die grinders and have always been too afraid to use them with these wheels. Some wheels are marked for max RPM of 23,000. A couple of days ago, inspired by this thread, I finally looked into a variable speed electric die grinder and ordered the Vevor from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYV2P54S...fed_asin_title
I'll let you know if the flappers survive

[dbhost]

I use flap sander wheels on a grinder to smooth out the castings on new cast iron cookware since the pre-seasoned stuff we are getting from the likes of Lodge are junk... Never tried them in drill format. probably easier to manage...