Aluminum oxide or zirconia for a drum sander?

[Zachary Hoyt]

I bought a drum sander nearly 5 years ago and soon after bought a 50 yard roll of 80 grit, which is the only grit I have used 98% of the time. I just cut my last refill from that 50 yards and need to reorder, and I find that I can get AO 80 grit 3" X weight cloth for $60 for 50 yards, or zirconia is $80. My experience has been that zirconia sanding belts seem to last longer than aluminum oxide, but I have never seen any discussion of the relative merits of the two in a drum sander. I have a SuperMax 19-38, if that makes a difference. My primary use for the sander is flattening instrument parts, mostly softer hardwoods like cherry, walnut, and maple, but not infrequently some smaller pieces of ebony, rosewood, jatoba, etc for fretboards. I'll be grateful for any advice about which abrasive to buy. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I'm curious to know if it does.

[Sam Force]

Care to share your source of materials?

[Zachary Hoyt]

supergrit.com is where I bought the first roll. I also buy all my sleeves for the spindle sander from them, and sometimes RO sander discs. For 12" PSA discs and 1" sanding belts I use empireabrasives.com.

[Robert Hayward]

Here is a good article on the differences between AO and zirconia.

[Sam Force]

Thanks, I normally use. Industrialabrasives

[mreza Salav]

In my experience zirconia lasts longer.

[John TenEyck]

Zirconia lasts longer in my experience on my drum sander, too; however, I'm not sure it's any more economical at $50 vs $80 for the same length roll. There are less changing of strips, though. But if you get slagging on the strips the calculation gets even muddier. I often get slagging when sanding cherry and maple, and when that happens there's no good way to remove the slag to make it usable again in that section. That often necessitates replacing the strip long before it otherwise needed to be.

John

[Zachary Hoyt]

Thanks for all the input. I've ordered the zirconia and will await enlightenment. I figured for an extra $20 it was worth a try. I usually don't get slag till the sandpaper's getting about worn down anyway. I'm mostly not taking off a lot at a time, like someone who was making cutting boards or something.

[Sam Force]

How bad was the shipping cost on a 50 yard roll?

[John Lanciani]

Zirconia lasts longer in my experience on my drum sander, too; however, I'm not sure it's any more economical at $50 vs $80 for the same length roll. There are less changing of strips, though. But if you get slagging on the strips the calculation gets even muddier. I often get slagging when sanding cherry and maple, and when that happens there's no good way to remove the slag to make it usable again in that section. That often necessitates replacing the strip long before it otherwise needed to be.

John

If you're using cloth backed abrasive soak it overnight in a container of straight simple green. The build up rinses right off.

[Zachary Hoyt]

How bad was the shipping cost on a 50 yard roll?

I don't know yet, they say they'll charge actual discounted freight and it hasn't shipped yet. I have placed a few orders with them over the last ten years or so and have never thought the shipping charges were exorbitant.

[John TenEyck]

If you're using cloth backed abrasive soak it overnight in a container of straight simple green. The build up rinses right off.

Thanks John. I'll try that. I've tried other things that haven't worked. It would be a pretty large savings for me if it works. I've lost strips after only a few minutes of use and it doesn't matter which abrasive you're using when that happens. Still a pain to change the strip and have to clean it, but better than throwing it out.

John

[Zachary Hoyt]

How bad was the shipping cost on a 50 yard roll?

It just came through and cost $17 and change for a roll and 100 5" sanding disks. I think they're in PA and I'm in NY, so it might be more if you're further.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I am just writing to answer my own question from last winter, now that I have found out. I have been using the same piece of zirconia abrasive on my drum sander for a few months now and it is still going strong. How much I use that sander is variable, but I would guess that this has already lasted at least twice as long as the aluminum oxide I was using, and I am very pleased. It's cheaper in the long run, and saves time and hassle having to cut new pieces and install them.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the update. I'll give zirconia a try as I soon need to order a new roll for my drum sander.

John