Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to sanding and grinding apparatuses, particularly directed to power tools using abrasive surfaces, and more particularly directed to a sanding apparatus useful for corners and edges. The present invention is related to sanding and grinding apparatus, particularly directed to power tools that vibrate, oscillate, or reciprocate and use abrasive surfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A conventional sanding apparatus comprises a sanding member, a drive unit, a motion converting means and a connecting means. The sanding member has on a lower end thereof a flat sanding plate, and is able to oscillate around a rotating axis at right angles to the sanding plate. The sanding plate of the sanding member has an abrasive lower surface by attaching, for example, a sheet of sandpaper to the lower surface thereof. The drive unit comprises in general a DC motor, and causes the sanding member to oscillate around the rotating axis. The motion converting means has an oscillating arm, and is connected to a rotating output shaft of the drive unit. The motion converting means permits conversion of a rotational motion of the output shaft of the drive unit to an oscillation motion. The connecting means connects the oscillating arm of the motion converting means at one end thereof with the sanding member.

According to the conventional sanding apparatus, the rotational motion of the output shaft of the drive unit is converted to the oscillation motion of the oscillating arm by means of the motion converting means, thereby causing the oscillating arm to oscillate. The sanding member is oscillated around the rotating axis together with the oscillating arm so as to perform sanding work. As typically configured, the sanding member includes a sanding pad upon which a portion of a sheet of sandpaper is fixed, the pad typically oriented perpendicular to the oscillating arm with the sandpaper facing downwardly to allow a user to apply abrasive force to a work surface or workpiece.

Typically, comers and edges are dealt with standard shaped comer and detail pads. These pads typically have only a single abrasive surface attached thereto and are shaped to conform to the adjacent surfaces to be treated, with usually a generally triangular configuration corresponding to the comer or adjacent perpendicular surfaces to be treated. The problem with the prior art pads is that they can only treat one surface at a time so that even if effective it can be time consuming as the user has to make two passes to treat the perpendicular adjacent surfaces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A sanding apparatus and method for treating work surfaces with abrasive material is provided. The apparatus is a standard oscillating sanding apparatus having sanding pads positioned thereon. The pads are configured to apply abrasive action to adjacent generally perpendicular surfaces either simultaneously or one at a time. The pads may be contoured to conform to the exact angle between prospective work surfaces and thus a plurality of differently configured pads are provided. Each pad may selectively have a guide surface for gliding along one of the prospective surfaces.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved sanding apparatus.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sanding apparatus adapted to abrade adjacent angled surfaces simultaneously.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sanding apparatus adapted to form shaped voids within, or cut patterns through a substrate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a sander using the sanding apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 2 .shows a perspective view of a sanding pad used with the sanding apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a pair of specially configured sanding pads for use with the inventive sander.

FIG. 4 shows an extending arm for use with the inventive sander.

FIG. 5 shows a side sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the inventive sanding apparatus.

FIG. 6 shows a side sectional view of the alternative embodiment of FIG. 5 illustrating an angled abrading bit.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a shaped void created using the apparatus of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 8 A - 8 J show various configurations for embodiments of sanding pads.

FIGS. 8K and 8L show 2 embodiments for sanding pads attached to a sanding apparatus.

FIG. 9 shows an abrading applicator useful for forming shaped depressions.

FIG. 10 shows a tip of a cooling apparatus used with the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is directed to an apparatus or method for sanding or abrading in hard to reach areas such as corners and edges. Corners and edges are especially difficult because of the fact that two or three perpendicular surfaces are being treated. In some situations, only one of the surfaces needs treatment, but often both surfaces need treatment.

Although the tool or tool system referred to in the present application is referred to as a "sander" which uses "sandpaper", it will be recognized that other abrasive papers, abrasive materials, or abrasive systems or the like can be used to replace the "sandpaper" referred to without loss of generality.

The preferred system is a sanding system which can be useful for sanding adjacent perpendicular or nearly perpendicular surfaces simultaneously, which can be configured for variations in the angle between the surfaces. The present sanding system allows for providing sanding pads configured to treat two or more adjacent surfaces where the surfaces to be treated he in different planes or are substantially perpendicular. Each sanding pad has two or more abrasive surfaces lying in different planes. The relative angles of the abrasive surfaces is variable, and the abrasive material may be selectively removed so that at least one surface of the pad is smooth and can be used as a guide placed against one of the adjacent surfaces, this allowing the sander to operate as an edging tool.

Referring now to Figs. 1 - 4 the apparatus is essentially a conventional sander with a plurality of interchangeable sanding pads. To accomplish this, the present sanding apparatus preferably includes a pad frame system comprising a corner or detail pad frame for supporting a corner or detail pad for sanding into corners, and a plurality of profiled pad frames for supporting profded pads configured to power sand simultaneously in two different planes regardless of the angle between adjacent work surfaces. The sanding pads are attached to the pad frame in any of several well known ways. A key aspect of the invention is that the profiled pads may have one or more generally vertical or angled (with respect to an upright sanding mechanism positioned for a sanding operation) abrasive surfaces, with one or more of the surfaces deliberately left smooth so as to provide a guide surface as described in more detail later.

The preferred sander comprises a sander body 50 which houses a motor 52 (see FIG. 1) coupled to an in-line oscillating mechanism 54.

A preferred sanding pad frame such as frame 56 and sanding pad such as 56A may be coupled to an in-line oscillating mechanism such as 54 for movement in a linear oscillating motion. The frame 56 maybe rotated about the axis (before attaching) of the oscillating arm to allow the user more orientation options. Such a sanding pad or pad frame 56, which is sometimes referred to in the present application as a corner or detail sanding pad or pad frame, typically has a substantially flat horizontally disposed lower surface 58 and a substantially pointed front portion 60 bounded laterally by vertically disposed sanding pads 56A which are positioned at a relative angle of less than 90 degrees. Thus with this configuration, with abrasive material 64 positioned on lower surface 58, and at least one pad 56A the apparatus can be used to sand a corner of a workpiece or two adjacent non-parallel surfaces such as a wall and ceiling. If positioned in a corner, the device 10 could simultaneously abrade a floor and two walls if positioned in a comer. In one embodiment, the bottom surface 58 abrasive material 64 maybe removed so that lower surface 58, which is then smooth, maybe used as a guide to slide along, e.g., the floor or other adjacent non-parallel surface while treating the lower edge of a wall. If both the floor and the wall need to be treated, pads 56A and 64 simultaneously abrade both, e.g, a floor and a wall or any two perpendicular surfaces simultaneously. The user may select from frames 56 having one, two, or more angled abrasive surfaces, with one or more of the non-abrasive surfaces functioning as guide surfaces to guide the sander along it intended path as will be discussed below.

Fig. 3 shows a different embodiment of pad configuration. This embodiment, generally indicated by the numeral 100 attaches to a rectangular frame and is useful for sanding within multiple parallel grooves simultaneously, or sanding around multiple parallel protrusions. The first pad 102 can be used to sand within grooves, while the second pad 104 is useful for sanding around multiple parallel protrusions. The pads 102, 104 are connected to the oscillating arm in the well known manner.

Fig. 4 shows an extending arm for use with the sanding apparatus. The arm 200 includes a frame attachment portion 202 and a pad attachment portion 204. The frame attachment portion attaches to the sander, with sanding pad 56A and frame 56 attached to pad attachment portion.

Referring now to Figs. 5 - 7 another embodiment of the sanding apparatus, indicated by the number 300 is shown. The apparatus 300 is particularly useful for forming shaped voids in suitable substrates such as wood. Fig. 7 shows the type of void contemplated by the present invention. An initial opening 302 allows for accessing the interior of the substrate 304 so that the tool can form a complex shape such as the bowl shape 310.

The tool 320 has an applicator 321 with a tapered conical shape which may terminate at a point to form a drill type tip. Abrasive material 322 is positioned on the applicator 321 which may alternatively be formed of metal with an abrasive surface such as diamond dust. The applicator 321 is connected to or replaces the oscillating spindle of an oscillating sanding apparatus 340 which includes a motor 342 and corresponding mechanical linkage. The spindle portion 344 of the applicator 321 may be articulated (need to show how) to allow for manipulation of the applicator to form the complex shapes as shown in Fig. 7.

In use, a user first uses applicator to form opening 302. Once the opening is formed the user may then use applicator 321 to form shapes. The size and shape of applicators maybe varied and, the applicator 321 maybe under robotic control to allow for reliably recreating complex voids.

Referring now to Fig. 8 various arrangements of sanding pad frames 400 - 412 and corresponding contoured sanding pads 414 - 426 which operate in the manner described above in reference to Figs. 1 - 4. It can be seen that sanding pads 414 - 426 have between 2 and 4 vertical abrading surfaces 430, with surfaces 430 selectively covered with abrasive material to allow for treating angled adjacent surfaces simultaneously as described above. The surfaces 430 maybe varied with respect to height or length to fit a particular job. Sanding pads 414 - 426 are all formed of main bodies 440 having abrasive surfaces 430 formed thereon, the main bodies 440 separable from frames 400 -412 so as to be connected to an oscillating mechanism using means as would be apparent to one of skill in the art.

Surfaces 430 may have different grades of abrasives positioned thereon so that for a four sided sanding pad such as that shown in Fig. 8G each side 430 may have a different grade abrasive so that the main body 440 can be rotated to apply a desired abrasive without having to change the sanding pad/applicator.

Fig. 8H - J show various main bodies 440 with abrasive surfaces 430 which maybe connected to oscillating mechanism 54 and oriented variously as shown. Figs. 8K and 8L show a mechanism with a sanding pad 450 connected directly and using a pad frame 452 respectively.

Fig. 9 shows an abrasive sphere assembly 500 that can be used with an oscillating mechanism 54 to create or polish a substrate 502 as shown. The abrasive surface 530 covers the entire sphere as shown but again could cover half or less as discussed above. In order to uniformly produce complex voids 504 the mechanism may include a robotic mechanism to allow for numerical control.

Fig. 10 shows an aspirator element 550 which maybe used with oscillator mechanism. The element may be used to supply cooling fluid or gas as would be apparent to one of skill in the art.

Any variations and any combinations of the above teachings are also intended to be covered by this patent application.