Since started scrollsawing last december, i bought a small band disk sander , a belt / spindle sander and over $200 of sandpaper to fit new machines. A mop sander. Accessories for drill /rotary tools for sanding.
I already had palm vibrating sander.
If you walk through wood specialty stores , rockler or woodcrafter , they have a good portion of the store for sanding. Another big portion is finishing stains and protection.
So yes this concept of getting away from hand sanding is always a big topic in industry.
When I use the big belt sander or the small band sander I always accidently touch areas of the piece that already sanded. So I have to redo that area, it becomes a cycle. So i end up hand sanding those areas. But those machine can save alot of time.
Mark