RO Sander Suddenly Leaving Ugly Swirls?
Hi all,
I’m definitely still an amateur and hoping to get some insight into this. I have a cordless Ryobi RO sander and have been using it for maybe the past 4 months or so. It worked great on my last projects! Then, seemingly out of nowhere I pulled it out to use on a new piece, and instantly noticed it was leaving some very ugly and very noticeable swirl marks! This was happening with any grit sandpaper I used.
I looked up some possible reasons this might start to happen and tried cleaning out the sander with a vacuum and replacing the backer pad – same result, still getting those swirls. I don’t believe this is due to my technique since it only just started happening all of a sudden. I had really thought cleaning it out + a new backer pad would fix things, but now I’m wondering if I need to buy a new sander. Anyone dealt with this before? Thanks in advance!
Replies
Motor speed and surface speed both matter. Fully charge the battery and go slowly with the sander running at its top speed. If you have a second battery compare the two. It could be a battery / power issue. If the tool is slowing it will not cut properly.
Dust extraction is also important... it removes broken-off grit along with the sawdust. IMO unless you're working in the wild a plug-in sander connected to a vac is the way to go.
Thanks for the battery suggestion, I hadn’t thought of that. I will try that out tomorrow. RE the dust/vacuum - in the past I did often hook it up to the vaccum, though sometimes just used the dust bag. However the recent swirls have showed up both with and without hooking it up to the vac.
If I do end up having to buy a new sander, I’ll go with a corded this time :) thanks!
Unscrew the pad and make certain the belt which rotates the pad is still intact.
Causes of swirling:
1. The sander (see above)
2. Too much pressure
3. Moving sander too fast
4. Sandpaper past its due date
5. Speed too fast
I think 2, 3, and 4 are the most common causes. Concentrate on even pressure, slow the speed down a little, and maintain a constant rate of movement.
If you do all these and still get swirls, then its #1. If you plan on doing a lot of this, I suggest you look into better quality sanders and be willing to make the investment.