Bowl Sander Sanding Tool for Woodworking Total 50 Pcs

Works well but when turning on my lathe it sometimes gets in the way of contours and it is easier to hold the sanding discs by hand. Would be okay for large projects. It is built well.

I put off buying one of these for the longest time, it just seemed like an unnecessary expense over the cost of just sheets of sandpaper. Boy howdy was I ever wrong!! I'm using far less sandpaper with this, and spending far less time, and yet getting far better results. My results with 400 grit rounds surpasses what I was reliably getting with 800 grit held in my fingers, and with only a fraction of the time... I understand "glass-like" now. My only complaint is that it is so efficient I'm finding I need to stop sanding long before I actually want to - it's so fun to get these results I just want to keep sanding! :) Oh, and other reviewers have said, hold it at an angle so that it spins in the direction that "tightens" the pad. Before I learned that I had the pad fly off the handle and travel across the workshop at high velocity. Only did that once.

I hesitated buying this because of some negative reviews I did anyway, and I am glad that I ignored them. All the negative comments relate to the bearings. The roller ball bearings look like common unsealed 12mm OD, 6mm ID bearings made of carbon steel. This rotates at very high speeds, so heat and a little dirt could cause unlubricated bearings to fail. If you put a single drop of oil (3 in 1 works) on them every now and then they should last a long time. Put some oil on it every time you use it, and it probably will last a lifetime. Even then, you can buy the unsealed bearings for 80￠ and sealed berarings for $1.60 (if you don't care to lubricate them). As to falling apart, this can only happen if you have the pad spin the wrong way (should spin clockwise looking at the pad). You need to hold the tool at an angle so that the spin is correct. When held correctly the head will rotate rapidly, and if you move the tool while spinning you get a result similar to a random orbital sander. The pads are convenient starter packs, and you can use any felt backed sandpaper you want; just cut out 2" diameter disks. I knocked off one star because it could use an instruction sheet explaining all this.

This is exactly what “The doctor ordered “. My god, it works. It works well. No batteries, electric motor…. I can’t believe it. That said -I did read other reviews discussing the bearing - so periodically I’d stop, add a few drops of 30wt, wipe away any excess and be on my way. There’s perhaps 2 hours on it at this point - it’s been spinning at some ridiculous rpm - It’s still like new. Hook and loop pad is still like new. It’s quite the tool.

Works great for bowl turning!

Bought this to aid in sanding the interior of wood bowl. To get this to work as described you need to crank up the lathe speed above 2500 RPM and I don’t turn at those speeds for safety reasons (had a bowl blank unmount itself while sanding) so just do it like that anymore. And yes the blank was securely fastened in a 4-jaw chuck using a tenon. Anyway the tool uses the bowl rotational speed to spin the disk so a lower speeds (<=1000 RPM) it doesn’t sand well.

Haven't used it yet but it looks like it will do the job, and it's well made.

Out of the box, seemed well made for the price. Came with an assortment of sanding discs, various grit. Worked well at first, I was finish sanding a small maple bowl to get rid of the sanding lines. Then the inside bearing gave out. All the bearings fell out. They weren't even decent sealed bearings, but an open design as shown in the video. Unsealed bearings in a product exposed to dust. I wouldn't recommend until they fix/upgrade the bearings.

ALL GOOD

I read the reviews on this item and then decided to order the bowl sander and was not disappointed when I used it for the first time...

Not great, the head doesn’t keep well the position once locked in place. Overall feel very cheap compared to other brands. Can be used lightly but I won’t consider this a great purchase. Not easy to use as it doesn’t hold position well once assembled and locked in position

Gut

Works great. Takes a little bit of practice to get the angle right as someone stated before put a small drop of oil in it before you use it runs much better with a little bit of lubrication.