I bought one of these at Stoneleigh, and used it seriously for the first time today when needing to fettle a GRP nosecone

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/black--decker-powerfile-pwrf-979-p.asp

What a brilliant piece of equipment! I was expecting it to be moderately useful, but hadn't expected it to be so good. I'm still on the first belt but must have ground loads of GRP to dust with it.

One of the really good things about it is that you don't need as much access to the work as you would if using a sanding block, or drum, or file even, and I managed to do a lot of the work almost in situ, just wedging the bits apart enough to get the business end in.

Thoroughly recommended

John

i've used air powered ones before and was really impressed with them too

I got one from Amazon for Christmas and agree that they are really nifty bits of kit. I found ebay good source for belts as well.

I did have a Powerfile but the B&D unit used an odd sized belt (only available from B&D at inflated prices)

I think i'll buy an air linishing tool which uses industry standard belts.

Sounds like a good tool - control with quick results - but - don't forget your PPE - mask etc.

Was the most useful tool I bought during my build. I actually wore out one of the arms (the roller on the end) and had to replace it with a new one I used it that often.
I also bought belts in bundles of ten off ebay at a much cheaper price than B&D genuine ones.

What a great tool - has made many jobs so much easier.

As Andrew says - you can get the belts cheap on Ebay - go for the blue ones - they really do last longer

Yep great for fettling grp with minimum of gell coat damage

quote:

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Originally posted by minitici
I did have a Powerfile but the B&D unit used an odd sized belt (only available from B&D at inflated prices)

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We must have gone through best part of a hundred powerfiles at work over the last 15 - 20 years.

Thoroughly agree how useful they are.

Screwfix do belts quite cheaply, but they occassionally snap soon after starting use. B&Q do them for about a fiver for three, so avoid like the plague.

Arms (wheel bearings) wear out as mentioned and they are about £9 and do pads under the arm (£2ish!!/each).

Motor bearings fail, drive from motor to drive pinions also fail.

They do have a two year warranty though so if file breaks and arm's had it, send the lot back and get both replaced.

They are now on 3rd generation so not as cheap as they could be - we were getting the previous models for about £20, which when you consider they are identical apart from a slightly different external design is a bit unreasonable.

ATB

Simon

Mine has just packed up completely, but agree that they work well. Although they don't feel like a quality tool they can do some jobs quickly that would be very difficult by any other means.

Cheers

Fred W B

Just remembered the above thread .....

I was in B+Q earlier today, and they had a table full of 'special' offers by the door, the B+D powerfile was reduced from £43.95 to £38.....

......just thought I'd share that with you...

Steve.

How useful are the air 'powerfiles'? They're fairly cheap, and very small, but I don't know how available the belts are.

I have a decent compressor, and I'm unlikely to use the tool away from it.