Full Circle Radius360 Round Sander
As its name suggests, the Radius360 is round. But the shape of this drywall sanding tool isn’t the only thing that makes it special.
The innovative design combines Velcro-like pads and foam padding to create a tool that is a great way to defend against streaking, scratching and gouging.
The typical drywall pad is rectangular. The shape is unstable on a pole, so it flips over easily. When it does, the hard edges and corners gouge and scrape into the drywall. In contrast, the round Radius360 doesn’t flip as easily. If it does, its rubber-coated curved edge won’t leave a scratch.
The aluminum head of the Radius360 is 9 inches in diameter,
with wide pivot brackets that move up, down, and side to side,
allowing the user to change directions quickly without having
to lift the pad off the wall.
The round sanding pad does not rest directly on the aluminum head of the tool. Instead, a hook-and-loop layer grips a foam pad, which uses another Velcro-like surface to secure a rounded piece of sandpaper. Both the foam disc and sandpaper can be torn off and replaced, eliminating the nasty process of fumbling with nuts and bolts. And the tight-gripping hook-and-loop surfaces keep debris and drywall mud from creeping beneath the sandpaper.
The soft foam pad curves to fit contours. The tool will easily sand rounded surfaces such as arches, domes and barrel vaults. It can also wrap around corners.
The tool screws onto the end of standard roller poles. And because of the disc’s relatively large size, it covers more area per swipe than a rectangle-shaped pole sander, allowing contractors to finish the job more quickly.
The circular tool is made by Full Circle International Inc. “The competition, I guess, would be a hand sponge sander,” says Mike Collins, vice president of business development for Full Circle.
The Radius360 is the invention of Kent Annis, Full Circle president and a professional drywall sander in the Minneapolis area.
Annis took his inspiration from a fellow sander who he saw using a rectangular tool with hand-rounded edges. “He’s really been looking for better ways of doing the job,” Collins says.
Full Circle launched the Radius360 in June 2004. The company has sold thousands of the tools. “It’s catching on,” Collins says. “I’m hearing more interest very day.”
Annis still works as a drywall sander. His crew uses the round sanders, and they’ve estimated that the tools make them $35,000 a year in productivity.
The sanders are sold in about 150 drywall supply and hardware stores. “My grand ambition is to see two or three Radius360s in every paint store,” Collins says.
The company is learning as it goes, he says, and has just scratched the surface. Radius360 is the only tool it sells, along with special-cut sandpaper discs and replacement foam pads.
For more about the Radius360, call (888) 284-7716 or visit the Full Circle International Web site.
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