# Pen sanders-Do they work or waste of money?



## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Like I'm sure a lot of others here, sanding seams and sanding in general is my least favorite part of the hobby, lately I've been eyeing this Proxxon pen sander for wooden boat building at our local hobby store.

A very small random orbital sander seems to be a good idea in theory, has anybody tried these and do they work ok? And if they do work, is there anything cheaper that does the job as well, the Proxxon is about $80.


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

I was going to say try it out until I saw the price. Holy cow. Have you looked for it online?

José


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

They're expensive because they run off a transformer that cost more than the sanding tool. But it is a real random orbital sander. 

I looked around @bay and a few other model supply sites, but almost everything else I've seen has either a 4" x 4" or 2" x 2" sanding surface,which seems pretty much useless on the scale I work with for smoothing seams. The sanding head of the Proxxon is a _lot_ smaller than that.

I was hoping somebody could recommend something faster and easier than sanding sticks and wet sanding!


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## Trek Ace (Jul 8, 2001)

Patience is part of the discipline.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Yeah, I asked Dave Merriman, I have no doubt if there was a labor saving device that worked he'd be using it, he recommended against it.


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## rossjr (Jun 25, 2001)

Micro-Mark carries them.... I've seen them but that might give you a base line for cost...


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## Ignatz (Jun 20, 2000)

I've got a microlux pen sander. Bought it from Sears a few years back when they carried the line. It's okay. Works well in some tight area applications. but you've got to watch marring surrounding areas. Certainly speeds up the sanding process. Cutting the adhesive backed sanding paper is a pain and sometimes glueing a bit of abrasive paper to a popsicle stick is the best way to go.


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## big-dog (Mar 16, 2003)

I got a selection of sanding wands from a local train shop here, 4 grades of belts, I think they were 4 bucks each for the wands, you could, of course buy only one and change the belts for every grit, and replacement belts were 3 bucks for 2 or something close.


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