Looking for Flexible sanding long boards 27"- 36"

[Alaskastreamin]

The owner of the company that made the flexible long boards that use the stiffening rods passed away this summer. My wife contacted his wife and had a long chat.
Their sons aren't interested in taking over the company but may have some outside interest. If that doesn't' work, I will need a set of the longer boards.

I'm hoping someone who has finished their build might have a set they would be willing to sell.

Ron
ron.pratt@cityofsitka.org

[MP&C]

Ron, check Northern Tool, Eastwood, and all those sorts of outlets, maybe someone has one on the shelf

[MP&C]

36 is a good choice for door skins and other such long panels. The following shows why shorter versions should not be used:

Tonight's post offers some blocking pointers.
We had already done a couple sessions of priming/blocking the door across to the quarter and to the fender, all installed on the car. After this, more primer and put a perimeter of tape on the door skin. Now block separately, and the tape allows you to block the door and keep off the edge to prevent losing your match to the fender/quarter.



I don't stick with 45* angles, if you want to keep a long direction flat, you need the long block to better follow that direction. So change up to some sharper angles, about 30* off the long direction every now and then. Work one end to the other, consistent spacing, consistent angle, end to end. Then alternate to passes in the opposite direction.

Once done, and the inner part is good and blocked, now remove the tape and GENTLY block to the edge, taking care to not pull down at the edge and round things back off again. Whatever hand is holding the block make sure it is minimal pressure and stays on the door skin. In other words, no pressure pulling down past the edge.



One other point, to keep the inner end of the sanding block from sanding out all your hard work in the center of the door, put a wrap of tape around the end of the sanding block that is towards the center of the door. This helps that end to glide across the center of the door without cutting primer there.





Now to show the importance of the long board..

We had done some blocking with the 27" AFS and seemed to have two high spots with a low in the middle of the door..
Note the high areas marked by the green tape...





Now we can see that as the sander is moved to the left, the left portion of the AFS is over the high spot on the left, and a bit more movement and the right portion of the AFS will start dropping into the low void. Effectively, this is still cutting material out of the low, keeping it low.



Looking at the next size up, a 36" AFS....





Here we can see this one does a much better job of spanning the high spots and staying up on top, for a more effective job of knocking down the highs and leaving the low in the center alone...



After a few horizontal passes at slight angles, like so with the 36".......



We follow up with some vertical passes at slight angles with the 27".... all rods removed to better follow the contour. Then alternate back to the 36 and another horizontal session..

[Alaskastreamin]

Funny!! Robert.... I started searching for these sanders immediately after reading that post. I tried all the venders. Their website has a place to order them so we placed an order earlier this week. The guys wife called us yesterday to say they don't have any and are trying to get the website down.

Caprice has a way that notifies you if one gets listed on E-bay. Thought I would post on the car sites as well. Someone has got to have these sanders sitting on a shelf not knowing what they are going to do with them now that their car is done.

[LEE T]

It will be hard to find something comparable to AFS, but you might try making your own with varying thicknesses of acrylic to get the flex you want. Half inch is probably the thickest you would need.
I hope someone buys the rights to make the AFS

[Alaskastreamin]

If I don't find one by the time I am ready to sand, I will just make a set.
I make fiberglass molds for one off parts and have made molds and poured plastic for "door casing plastics" for the 37-'39's chevy car doors. Once the suppliers knew I made a set for me, they talked me into making enough to fill their 5 year back orders. (500 sets)


These are made from foam. I got a supplier that sells this stuff. Easier to just buy a set though.....

[Rick_L]

Just posted on the other site suggesting that you build your own using foam sheet and variable thickness sheet metal. See it's already suggested here.

If you are willing/able to pour mold the foam - you should be able to duplicate the AFS stuff plus have lots more control over the stiffness, as you can mold in holes for different stiffening rod diameters, vary the foam stiffness, and vary the sheet metal thickness.

Seems like the hardest part would be to mold the foam shape so that you have something nice to grip like the AFS has. But I don't think that's essential. You don't need a "mean" grip on the block once you're down to fine block sanding.

[Alaskastreamin]

I would make a foam or wood "buck" then a silicone mold off that then as many parts as you want to make. It's actually pretty easy after you get the right density foam.
I see in Roberts picture, there is a white foam core material. I didn't know there was a steel sheet in there also. Good to know.

Would still prefer to just buy one though.....

[Rick_L]

There's probably 2 different densities of foam there. Didn't know that they did that. The end of the 27" board is enclosed and you can't see the inner foam.

The sheet metal is what you stick the PSA paper to. Don't know the gauge, but it's probably pretty thin.

[Bitchin'57]

There's probably 2 different densities of foam there. Didn't know that they did that. The end of the 27" board is enclosed and you can't see the inner foam.

The sheet metal is what you stick the PSA paper to. Don't know the gauge, but it's probably pretty thin.

Yep, it IS thin. I have the 27" model, and I just measured the metal thickness, and its around .012 thick, give or take a thou.

[MP&C]

This is the 27?


5F0053F6-B03E-48C0-98AA-F2645060AAAF.jpeg


B3B8B352-03B8-427E-B4E7-E200868BDB06.jpeg


Your psa paper is 2-3/4 wide, the metal strip underneath was 2-11/16 wide

[Alaskastreamin]

Thanks for the pictures Robert.

That's interesting at .021. Did you order yours with more stiffness?

The owner said (before he passed away) he used .015 std. (This is more in line with Daves 27) and could mold in thicker if desired.

I can get either so that's not a problem. The body use 8# density urethane foam also not a problem.

Your rod holes look correct at 3/16" on the sides and 1/4" center.

You know,..... it would still be easier to just buy a used set of sanders. Just sayin..... LOL!!!!

Just found this: Explains the difference....


The 21" is AFS's Most Popular Sander! By far the most popular AFS sanders in use today. A great choice when working on
street rods, muscle cars, or anywhere where nothing less then a show finish will do. You wouldn't believe how much
easier and quicker it is to straighten a panel with just six more inches of sander. Even more importantly, a lot of
thought and care went into the design of it, so it gives the user an unbelievable sense of confidence knowing they're
doing the job right the first time. Made out of 8 lb. density foam, has a .015" thick base plate. Comes with 3 - 5/32"
rods and ends caps. Each sander comes with a set of vinyl end caps to prevent the rods from sliding around and to
prevent unwanted scratches when working in tight areas. How They Work and Why They are Unique: By adding or removing
flexural rods of same or different diameters in different configurations, you change the pressure to flex-ratio. In
other words, you control how much the sander flexes. These sanders will pick out lows that your hand or naked eye almost
always miss. The number of rods inserted effects the stiffness of the sander. This allows you to go from sanding the
fender of a 1940 Chevy to the hood of a 1965 Lincoln in a matter of seconds. Each sander comes with a set of vinyl end
caps to prevent the rods from sliding around and to prevent unwanted scratches when working in tight areas. How They're
Made: The base plate on the 4.5", 9", 15", 21" and 27" sanders is made from 1075 tempered spring steel. Ranging in
thickness from .008 to .020" depending on length. The base plate on the 36" sander is a little thicker, made from .060"
thick aluminum, (around 16 gauge). The flexural rod chases within the sanders are made from polyethylene and the foam
handle is made from the finest foam available.

[LEE T]

This may help someone

https://youtu.be/T8GfSzTHODQ

[Alaskastreamin]

Thanks Lee.
That's where I first got my info.
It's a shame he passed away. I watched all his sanding video's. Seemed like a good guy.