Sanding discs...

[PipesByDesign]

I've got several of the Abralon foam backed sanding discs that I use on a couple of sanding pads I got from Kurt. Love the set up, but I'm not entirely impressed with the longevity of the pads. I'm getting them from McMaster-Carr.

For roughing in I'm using a 7 inch fiber backed disc with ridiculously aggressive grit...it'll shave a knuckle if you're not careful... and those things last forever. I'm just frustrated at losing the grit on the abralon pads.

Any alternatives? Needs to be hook and loop, of course.

Thanks.

[taharris]

I have a home made set up that works pretty well.

I use the arbor that came with my Beal buffing system.

I drilled and turned a wooden disk the same diameter as the Abralon hook and loop pads that I wanted to use.

Then glue on a foamy pad and then self sticking hook (of the hook and loop) material that I got from McMaster Carr.

With this set up you can use the hook and loop Abralon pads (the ones without the foamy backing). They seem to last pretty well for me. The only issue I have is that they tend to want to rip at the edge of the radius if I try to sand too sharp of a corner on the Briar block.

If this makes no sense let me know and I will post some pictures.

Todd

[PipesByDesign]

For clarification I was speaking of the longevity of the sanding pads... Not Kurt's pads. Those things are terrific. Your set up sounds great. I ended up getting some aluminum rod stock from McMaster and making my own arbors since it was more friendly to my daily budget.

It just seems like the grit doesn't last very long and it takes forever to remove material. At four bucks a pad I'm not interested in going through them super fast.

[caskwith]

Try and do more with the coarser grit, i do 90% of my shaping at 40grit then tweak the sheap using 80 or 150 before finish sanding or prepping for blasting as required.

[SimeonTurner]

Try and do more with the coarser grit, i do 90% of my shaping at 40grit then tweak the sheap using 80 or 150 before finish sanding or prepping for blasting as required.

If you are tweaking sheep with a sanding pad (sheap is a Brit version of the word, right?), you may find that your grit runs out pretty fast.

I would like to see you sandblast a sheap. I bet that is an intense process.




On a serious note: I find the abralon pads in question last for 2, maybe 3 pipes at most (and that's after doing the majority of my shaping exactly as Chris suggests (minus the livestock). Another thing you could try is the abralon mesh discs, which come in a greater variety of grits, and seem to last decently longer.

[KurtHuhn]

On a serious note: I find the abralon pads in question last for 2, maybe 3 pipes at most (and that's after doing the majority of my shaping exactly as Chris suggests (minus the livestock). Another thing you could try is the abralon mesh discs, which come in a greater variety of grits, and seem to last decently longer.

Holy crap! I get several pipes out of each pad, even more actually, and I run them at about 1700 RPM normally.

How much pressure are you using when sanding? How fast are you running them? I suspect you guys might be getting a little too aggressive, or impatient, or something. I can't imagine only getting 2 pipes out of each pad.

Maybe the subject of my next video?

[PipesByDesign]

A video would be terrific.

I might be applying too much pressure, but it didn't take much to render the 180 grit foam backed pad (lowest grit at McMaster) impotent. I was using it to shape an oak stem for a Lord of the Rings replica pipe, and after a while it wasn't really removing material. Maybe the problem was the oak? Some woods clog more than others?

[caskwith]

Sorry to dissapoint Simeon but ti was a simple typo, a sheep is still a sheep hear and i try to avoid livestock in the workshop, too much of a temptation.

[KurtHuhn]

A video would be terrific.

I might be applying too much pressure, but it didn't take much to render the 180 grit foam backed pad (lowest grit at McMaster) impotent. I was using it to shape an oak stem for a Lord of the Rings replica pipe, and after a while it wasn't really removing material. Maybe the problem was the oak? Some woods clog more than others?

Hells bells! Never try to shape with the Abralon - that's an exercise in frustration. Shape with a much coarser grit, like an 80 grit or similar, then you can move to 180 to clean up the scratches from that shaping disc. Once you move to abralon discs, you should only be doing the barest minimum of shape tweaks, but really all you're doing is removing scratch marks from the previous grit and smoothing out any unwanted ridges.

I'll see if I can't get something DV'd this weekend.

[staffwalker]

I took one of Kurt's disc pads, bought a spray can of carpet glue from a auto supply house and glued a piece of 180 grit s'paper to the disc. I then cut away the excess s'paper with scissors and/or exacto knife. This left me a 180 grit disc with no overhang. I rough shape with 35 grit on an 8" wheel, go to the 180 s'paper sheet/disc for final shaping, then to a normal Abralon 180 to remove any lines the s'paper 180 has left especially at the shank/bowl junction, the abralon works wonders at this with the overhang. Then change to 360, 500 abralon and sometimes 1000 abralon. Then I'm finished. I have to change out the 180 sheet about every 20 pipes. I seldom have to change any of the abralon discs. bob gilbert

[RadDavis]

I use 3M Hookit sanding disks and I have to change paper about every 3-4 months, and I make at least 5 pipes a week.

I rough shape with 36 grit, smooth and do a lot of major shaping with 120 grit, then tweak it on up through 600 grit. The coarser the grit, the longer it lasts. I change the 120 grit about every 5 months.

What are you guys doing to your disks?

Rad

[TRS]

What are you guys doing to your disks?

Are you guys trimming down with a band saw or a coping saw?

[andrew]

band saw, makes me feel alive.

[caskwith]

I am quite similar to Rad. My 40grit rough shaping discs last a couple of weeks but that is becuase i use them on morta which strips the grit in fast order! My 80grit tweeking discs last a few months easily, the 180abralon lasts about the same. Shape is cut out on the bandsaw, turned on lathe as apprpriate then straight to the 40grit.

[RadDavis]

What are you guys doing to your disks?

Are you guys trimming down with a band saw or a coping saw?

Band saw.

Rad

[staffwalker]

Band saw but I don't do a great deal of trimming, the 8" disc with 35 grit removes excess so fast it's not necessary unless it's a really big block and I'm making a really small pipe. Another reason is that the pipe which comes out of the shaping is never the pipe I had planned going in and for me that's a good thing. Not doing a great deal of trimming allows better flexibility to follow what I see in the emerging pipe. Or, the ultimate reason might be I'm just scared as hell of the band saw. bob gilbert

[TRS]

What are you guys doing to your disks?

Are you guys trimming down with a band saw or a coping saw?

Oop, sorry, I was meaning to ask if they were using anything at all to trim down with, or if they were just grinding untrimmed blocks down on the disks....