Sanding device

Abstract

attached to the surface. A handle (C) is attached to one edge of the blade (A) in order to stiffen the blade (A) so that the blade is stiff around one axis lying in a plane normal to the plane of the blade and normal to the handle and is flexible around an axis normal to the plane of the blade and parallel to the handle. The sanding device facilitates abrasion of surfaces in corners and rebates without undesirably abrading the adjacent surface.

Description

[0001][0002]This invention relates to a device for abrading detailed surfaces and surfaces of abradable material, especially, but not limited to, surfaces formed of wood in difficult to reach areas, examples are edges, corners, grooves, and small areas of a flat surface.BACKGROUND[0003]Sanding a large flat surface is straightforward and many known devices achieve a satisfactory result. Difficulties arise when sanding right up to an edge of an adjacent vertical surface or into a corner with adjacent vertical surfaces on two sides. A good example is sanding a cupboard door where the typically recessed central panel meets with the raised framed sides known as rails and stiles. When faced with these difficult areas, powered sanders, where the sanding abrasive surface oscillates at high speed, bounce out of the corners and off the raised adjacent surfaces, providing a poor abraded finish and often damage the adjacent surfaces. For this reason, much detail sanding is undertaken by hand. T...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a sanding device that includes a flexible blade with a hook and loop fastener, and an abrasive sheet with a hook and loop fastener on its opposite face. The blade is secured to the hook and loop fastener on the blade, and the abrasive sheet is secured to the hook and loop fastener on the abrasive surface. The blade has a stiffening bar that restricts its flexibility, allowing for controlled pressure on the abrasive surface when bending the blade. The blade is made of a resiliently flexible material, and can abrade effectively into corners and other small areas without damaging adjacent surfaces. The device is portable, compact, and can be formed from lightweight materials like plastic or metal.

Problems solved by technology

Difficulties arise when sanding right up to an edge of an adjacent vertical surface or into a corner with adjacent vertical surfaces on two sides.

When faced with these difficult areas, powered sanders, where the sanding abrasive surface oscillates at high speed, bounce out of the corners and off the raised adjacent surfaces, providing a poor abraded finish and often damage the adjacent surfaces.

A sanding block will only sand into a corner if there is areas that the sanding block can access usefully because the attachment hardware obstructs effective sanding of detail and edges.

The flexibility is provided by the foam, and while useful, particularly on curved surfaces, this flexibility does not always address square corners as well.

Because the sanding pad is flexible square edges can mistakenly be rounded if the operator applies too much pressure to the sanding pad when sanding square profiles and inside corners, both can be left less than square due to the lack of rigidity of the sanding pad.

Sanding pads are expensive compared to sanding blocks.

These are not always applicable to a given job and many go unused.

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