How do you sand inside a vase?

[Tom Lewis]

I am making a vase with a 1 1/2 inch opening. The vase is hollowed out maybe 10 inches deep. Any suggestions as to how to sand the inside of the vase?

 

[Jred]

I don't think you really need to bother.

 

[Odie]

I think it's true that many don't bother.....as long as you can't see down in there very easily.

But

If you just want to, it can be done with one of the extended mandrels available for the powerlock sanding system. I have one of them shown here in this picture with the other extra mandrels. I haven't done what you are looking to do, but I've used mine to get down into deep bowls. The one you see here is shortened slightly to suit my own purposes. I got mine at CSUSA.

If you are looking to put a piece of sandpaper down in there, you could probably rig up some method of holding a piece of sandpaper on a long dowel rod.....or? I haven't done that myself, but I bet someone has!

good luck

....odie

 

[john lucas]

Forceps or a stick with sandpaper glued on. You can buy large forceps at a lot of flea mkts and sometimes at Harbour freight and other discount tool places. Don't stick you fingers in the holes, just grip the forceps from the outside and clamp the sandpaper in the jaws.
You can glue velcro to a stick and then stick your sandpaper to that and sand the inside.

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

I wrap sandpaper around a wad of steel wool and hold it with a sanding clamp that I got from CSUSA.

Ed

 

[Bob Boettcher]

Dale Nish says he uses a dowel with a slot cut into the end to hold the sandpaper. Haven't tried it yet.

Bob

 

[Leo Frilot]

A hemostat is one of the best tools. It's the locking type that looks like a cross between scissors and needle nosed pliers with a curve on the end. But, DON'T STICK YOUR FINGERS IN THE HOLES !!! Lock in a wad of sandpaper and go at it. Here's a pic.
http://www.tedpella.com/dissect_html/53096.htm

 

[Odie]

A hemostat is one of the best tools. It's the locking type that looks like a cross between scissors and needle nosed pliers with a curve on the end. But, DON'T STICK YOUR FINGERS IN THE HOLES !!! Lock in a wad of sandpaper and go at it. Here's a pic.
http://www.tedpella.com/dissect_html/53096.htm

Howdy Leo.......

I'm interested in seeing your illustration picture, but the link isn't working for me.

....odie juan

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Odie, I'm not Leo, but let's see if this one works...

http://www.tedpella.com/dissect_html/53096.htm

Leo, do you have any pictures of how you wad up the sandpaper? I've got a pair of hemostats and have tried them a bit for sanding, but I'm looking for good ways to keep the sandpaper between the metal tip and the wood.

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

Vaughn, I'm not Leo either but maybe this will help. I take a strip of sandpaper that is 1-2" wide and about 5 inches long. I roll that around a wad of steelwool creating a cylinder about 3/8" - 1/2" diameter. When I pinch it with the clamp(hemostat) it ends up somewhat teardrop shaped. I grab it with the clamp towards the end of the cylinder. It helps keep the clamp away from the wood.

The steel wool doesn't contact the wood during sanding. Why steelwool? I suppose you could argue that it acts like a little heat sink to dissipate some of the heat from sanding. I doubt it would be significant though. It just seemed like a good use for some old steelwool I had laying around. I'm sure plenty of other things would work just as well.


Here's a link to the CSUSA sanding clamps:

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper?search=action&keywords=sanding-clamp

Probably more expensive than used medical equipment at a flea market, but less expensive than new medical equipment.

Ed

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks, Ed. I'll give the steel wool a try. I did try something similar with a small piece of a rubber mat (like a router mat) but I think I needed a longer strip of paper. Also, the rubber had a tendency to squeeze out of the ends of the cylinder a little bit, then catch on the spinning wood.

 

[Leo Frilot]

Thanks all that corrected my link error. You know, I was trying to find the "clamps" on CSUSA's website but just couldn't put my cursor on it. I definitely promote buying them from CSUSA, any day!

 

[Bill Boehme]

I could tell you what your fingers would look like if you stick them into a hollowform to sand while running the lathe. but it would probably give you the willies. Suffice it to say that it is really amazing how fast your fingers can wind up pointing in directions that you never thought possible. And holding a dinner fork can become an interesting challenge when you have to rotate your wrist 180 degrees to hold it the right way. I can even bend my right index finger now a little bit two years after my "experiment".

Bill

 

[Joe Greiner]

I attached a tennis ball to the end of a square stick, with an access hole at the distant end - sheet metal DIY washer, and a sheet metal screw for better purchase in end grain. I tape the sandpaper to the tennis ball, long enough to overlap the tape connection, and wrapped CCW (viewed from the stick). Filament tape works better than masking tape. Minimum opening is about 2 3/4"; I think racquetball balls are smaller, and even smaller rubber balls may be available. The stick can be any length needed, with a generous back span for stability. For shorter reaches, though, the hemostat and cushioning sounds simpler.

Joe

 

[Paul Engle]

Here's a novel idea, get some rock tumbling material and fill the hf about 1/2 way, plug up the opening and turn on loooowww speed and see what happens. I have some 3/8th minus( shot ) rock and soon as I get the courage to try another hf I will use this to sand the inside. I'll let ya know how it works...... who knows, maybe sand would work for a finish grit....

 

[Brian Myers]

You can get hemostats up to 24in. ,but they run $26 to $30. Just whats needed for deeper hollowforms. :cool2:
http://www.scissorsales.com/hemostat.html
http://www.bigappleherp.com/Hemostats?sc=2&category=27

 

[Bill Pottorf]

The first person who used the hemastats with steel wool and sandpaper wrapped in a ball around the steel wool was Ray Allen. He turned beautiful southwestern segmented pieces and was a close friend to Dale Nish. I believe that Craft Supplies sells hemastats for this purpose. I have personally used that system and it works very well for narrow openings in closed form vessels. I think - but don't hold me to it - that this method is included in his books (which I think Dale wrote). I do agree that if you get the inside next to the lip as far (as far as ones fingers will reach) that noone would really know the difference. However, Ray's method doe's work rather well. Good luck with your sanding.

 

[cypher]

Here's a novel idea, get some rock tumbling material and fill the hf about 1/2 way, plug up the opening and turn on loooowww speed and see what happens. I have some 3/8th minus( shot ) rock and soon as I get the courage to try another hf I will use this to sand the inside. I'll let ya know how it works...... who knows, maybe sand would work for a finish grit....

I agree with Chips29! I have used polishing material/rocks intended for larger metal polishers to clean up the inside of vases, pots, etc. I have also used the heomstate method, and the stick method but I don't feel safe using it. I have busted a few pieces this way as well. hemostate/stick slips and bam no more piece.

drawback is it takes some time. I don't leave my lathe unattended but sometime i do other things while is is on very very very low. I have considered taking apart a old icecream maker and using the slow turn motor to do this for me.

 

[Sky]

I thought your typing looked a bit "skewed".... (I hope you are just kidding) I tell my classes to only stick things into a turning on the lathe that they don't mind loosing.

 

[Joe Greiner]

[added]

I have considered taking apart a old icecream maker and using the slow turn motor to do this for me.

I made an auxiliary drive from a rotisserie motor, 5rpm; less than $5 from a garage sale. Drive shaft is a dowel with a square end to engage the motor; tried threading LH 1/2-12 for the outboard headstock spindle, but too fragile. So I made a very flat taper and let the dowel find its own way. Works just fine. The setup shown is for driving a jam chuck for run-less coating (workpiece chases the run, and the run loses). As the headstock spindle is now driving the lathe motor, high-speed setting on the lathe presents less resistance to the rotisserie motor. The motor mount can be bolted to the outboard bed, but I've found bolting unnecessary. For this function, as well as rock tumbling, direction of rotation doesn't matter except to maintain engagement with the spindle. YMMV.

[These "thumbnails" sure are big. Did I hit the wrong button? Or is it a "feature" of the VBulletin version?]

Joe

 

[Bill Boehme]

This forum does not use thumbnails -- if you post a large image, then that is what will show up. You could improve the images by cropping out the white space and unnecessary parts of the photo area.

The rotissere idea is very good. I held onto a rotissere motor for more than 30 years because it was too good to toss out -- until recently when I figured that I would never use it. That's the way that things seem to always work with me.

Bill

 

[Frank Alvarez]

Sanding in a HF

I've used the clamps and hemostats to sand in small mouthed HF. I think I'll op for some of these suggestions for the use of dowels in the future as I have had the things ripped from my hands. Don't put your fingers in the finger holes when using them as that really can hurt!!! Of course , that's just me and I discover new and exciting ways to hurt myself everytime I do a project.

 

[cypher]

I made an auxiliary drive from a rotisserie motor, 5rpm; less than $5 from a garage sale. Drive shaft is a dowel with a square end to engage the motor; tried threading LH 1/2-12 for the outboard headstock spindle, but too fragile. So I made a very flat taper and let the dowel find its own way. Works just fine. The setup shown is for driving a jam chuck for run-less coating (workpiece chases the run, and the run loses). As the headstock spindle is now driving the lathe motor, high-speed setting on the lathe presents less resistance to the rotisserie motor. The motor mount can be bolted to the outboard bed, but I've found bolting unnecessary. For this function, as well as rock tumbling, direction of rotation doesn't matter except to maintain engagement with the spindle. YMMV.

Joe

Joe this is a great idea! It will save me so much time instead of adapting a ice cream motor. I also use my lathe for dripless coating and i love it. this idea will allow me to leave the finishe to dry without having to stay in the shop. Now . . I just need to find a cheap rotisserie motor . . garage sales here I come.

 

[Paul Engle]

I have a 3/4hp dc mtr with speed control i use for slow finishing, works great
i can mount it direct to my 1236 jet and slow things down pretty good. cost was a 10 inch elm bowl. the roterssiery mtr idea is cool would be way cheaper than the dc mtr. neat idea. metal / machine shops use a triangular metal lub for tumbling bolts and nuts etc for sharp edge removal , that may work well on wood as they come in different sizes .

 

[Al Neighbors]

HF inside tumbler/sander

I have a tumbler that I made from a geared electric motor that turns a slow 70 rpm... (don't know what it was originally for)... I used pulleys and slowed that down to 58 rpm (I counted them). I use it for HFs that I can't get my fingers or a hemostat through the opening. And I have used it on others with larger openings that I just didn't want to have to sand.
I chuck up a hollow form and throw in some pea sized granite gravel, with some carbide scraps that a friend gave me. I put a piece of masking tape across the opening, and turn it on. I leave it on for 8 to 10 hours... stopping only long enough to twist the belt for reversing the rotation. A fan blowing on it keeps the temp down.
The inside gets smooth, but the softer grain is removed much faster than the harder grain, which leaves the inside wavy. I don't mind. It works for me.

 

[Joe Greiner]

This forum does not use thumbnails -- if you post a large image, then that is what will show up. You could improve the images by cropping out the white space and unnecessary parts of the photo area.

Bill

I halfway suspected that. Likely a software version thing. SMC and WWF (in Oz) also use VB, but they have thumbnail versions, and larger allowable file size (100Kb). Heck of it is, I DID crop the images to get down to our size limit, but apparently the white space trailed along; another skill I need to refine.

Thanks all for your assessment.

Al Neighbors, that's a great setup too. Frees the lathe for other work (as long as you don't need the chuck or have a spare chuck). I'd heard about the softer grain anomaly, but I don't mind either.

Joe

 

[George Guadiane]

Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a novel idea, get some rock tumbling material and fill the hf about 1/2 way, plug up the opening and turn on loooowww speed and see what happens. I have some 3/8th minus( shot ) rock and soon as I get the courage to try another hf I will use this to sand the inside. I'll let ya know how it works...... who knows, maybe sand would work for a finish grit....

I have some of that stuff, from my jeweler days, including some steel shot...
I haven't bothered to sand the insides, but this would be SOOOOOOoooooo Easy, I gotta try it. Might even add some oil or something to burnish and sand at the same time.