How to use your HSRT on:
Understanding the Cutting or Abrasive Action of Your HSRT
This is an important bit of theory that will really help you enjoy using your HSRT. Any rotating tool, cutting bit, grinding bit, or polishing wheel has a "preferred" direction of movement. It is the direction that gives you the most control and results in the best finish. If you hold your HSRT in your hand with the accessory bit pointing away from you, on most HSRTs the bit is turning clockwise!. In most cases, with your HSRT running, you would place the accessory gently on the surface of your material and move it from your right, to your left!
Install the 1/2in. sanding drum, see the pictures below, and try this action on a scrap piece of pine.
How to install the Sanding Drum
The sanding mandrel is a medium firm black rubber cylinder, 1/2in. or 1/4in. diameter, with a machine screw in the end. The sanding sleeve is a 1/2in diameter paper tube with sanding grit on the outside. Loosen the screw and squeeze the rubber a bit so you can insert it inside the sanding sleeve. Now, when you tighten the screw a couple of turns, it will compress the rubber, making it tight on the sanding sleeve, and holding it in place. Operate at about 10,000rpm. See also: ACCESSORIES
To better understand the "cutting action" of the sandpaper on the wood, we can look at it from the other end. Now, if we are looking at "end" of the tool ( as if someone else was pointing it at us ) note carefully, that the rotation appears in the counterclockwise direction and we work from the left to the right. See below.
Note the action of the sandpaper "digging into" the wood and pushing all the dust in front of it, AND, what is really important: Leaving a nice finished surface behind it! This is the working action of almost all woodworking machines: table saws, planers, routers, etc. Big or small, they have this same action.
Working with your scrap piece of wood try to get the "feel" of a light pressure on the wood and overcome the "resistance" of the tool as it tries to get away from you. Learning this little skill is the secret to doing good work with most of the accessories. There are only a couple of exceptions, called "Climb Cutting", and we will cover them when necessary.
Since this is a scrap piece and we are just practicing, try moving in the "wrong" direction. Note that the tool moves away almost on its own, and leaves little gouges and marks in the wood.