What Is Sanding?
Sanding is a process technique used to roughen the surface of an item. It is used on wood, metal, and plastic surfaces.
In the field of sports, sanding is also used to prepare surfaces for skiing, snowboarding, and surfing.
In this section, we will discuss sanding as it is used industrially.
Purpose of Sanding
Sanding is used on wood or wood products to improve the surface roughness of the surface to be used as a base surface for painting.
This is because uneven surface roughness prevents a uniform coating from being applied.
Therefore, sanding is performed to achieve a surface roughness that is appropriate for the properties of the paint.
In addition to smoothing the surface to facilitate the formation of the paint film, depending on the nature of the paint, the surface may be intentionally uneven to allow the paint to penetrate the unevenness and facilitate the formation of the paint film.
Another use of sanding is to adjust the texture of a material. For example, wood-plastic products, which are a mixture of resin and wood, are sanded to give the appearance of wood after injection molding.
Sanding Methods
Sanding can be done by hand or by machine.
1. Manual Sanding
In the case of manual sanding, the sanding paper is attached to the surface to be sanded, such as a sanding pad, and the surface is slid in the same direction with light pressure.
Sandpaper is numbered according to the roughness of the surface. The smaller the number marked on the sandpaper, the rougher the surface and the rougher the surface after sanding. Therefore, the first step is to process the surface with the roughest sandpaper, for example, about No. 80. This is done to eliminate irregularities on the wood surface and make the surface flat.
Then, we changed to a finer grit sanding paper to make the wood surface even.
The final step is to finish the surface with a finer grit sandpaper. Sanding is a technique to further polish the surface to a smooth finish.
When done by hand, the finish often depends on the skill of the operator.
2. Machine
For products that require mass production, sanding is done by machine, using a device called an electric sander.
Sanding is performed by rotating or sliding the surface to which the sandpaper is attached on the electric sander.
The time required for sandings can be reduced compared to manual sandings.
About Sandpaper
There are various types of sandpaper, and those used for wood, as mentioned above, and those used for metal and plastic, as mentioned above, are completely different.
It is important to use different types of sandpaper depending on the material used.
Conclusion
It is important to consider the material, application, and versatility of the product to be processed, to choose hand sanding or machine sanding, to determine the degree of sanding required, and to use the appropriate sandpaper for the material.