- Joined
- Mar 28, 2003
While cutting out the back fan grill of my first gen Lian-Li V1000B today I learned a much faster and cleaner way of sanding the finished edge than using the dremel with it's sanding drum.
The dremel's sanding drum is quite effective, but just not ideal for fan holes. It's to small and the sleeves are ground away quicker than you can say uncle. I remembered using my dad's shopsmith for sanding some straight edges on plastic, which worked quite well. So I pulled out the 18V Milwaukee cordless drill and attatched the Shopsmith's 1 1/2" sanding drum to it with an OLD sleeve. I had done the entire 120mm fan hole in about a minute and a half. Using the larger sanding drum on a coreless drill seems to provide SO much more control over how much you sand away. My guess is because you can shut the drill of right away when you see you are getting to close, as well as the fact that the drill and drum spin slower, it gives you more time to pull the drill away if you're going to far with it.
Where can you get this wonderful sanding drum and sleeves? From Shopsmith's website of coarse! It's pretty darn cheap to! You get four different sized drums including the 1 1/2" that I used, as well as a 24-piece set of sleeves, six for each size drum. All of this for only $21.62 plus the price for shipping. You can also order a set of replacment sleeves for $5.84. Order while these items are still on sale!
It's about a 200 or so grit that the sleeves come as, but a quick go over with 400 grit, then 600 grit sand paper and you have yourself a silky smooth professional look cut hole. If you do a lot of modding or just want a clean cut and sanded hole, this sanding drum set is well worth it's price and will definately pay you back from use.
The dremel's sanding drum is quite effective, but just not ideal for fan holes. It's to small and the sleeves are ground away quicker than you can say uncle. I remembered using my dad's shopsmith for sanding some straight edges on plastic, which worked quite well. So I pulled out the 18V Milwaukee cordless drill and attatched the Shopsmith's 1 1/2" sanding drum to it with an OLD sleeve. I had done the entire 120mm fan hole in about a minute and a half. Using the larger sanding drum on a coreless drill seems to provide SO much more control over how much you sand away. My guess is because you can shut the drill of right away when you see you are getting to close, as well as the fact that the drill and drum spin slower, it gives you more time to pull the drill away if you're going to far with it.
Where can you get this wonderful sanding drum and sleeves? From Shopsmith's website of coarse! It's pretty darn cheap to! You get four different sized drums including the 1 1/2" that I used, as well as a 24-piece set of sleeves, six for each size drum. All of this for only $21.62 plus the price for shipping. You can also order a set of replacment sleeves for $5.84. Order while these items are still on sale!
It's about a 200 or so grit that the sleeves come as, but a quick go over with 400 grit, then 600 grit sand paper and you have yourself a silky smooth professional look cut hole. If you do a lot of modding or just want a clean cut and sanded hole, this sanding drum set is well worth it's price and will definately pay you back from use.
