Abranet paper on 16/32 sander. WOW!

[david brum]

After reading a few threads about the virtues of Abranet on a drum sander, I finally aligned the funds and ambition to try it. What a difference. My old Performax has been about my least favorite machine because of its nasty habit of stalling and/or burning the wood being sanded. Lately it was relegated to 60 grit paper which at least doesn't burn much. Hardly ready for finish, though.

I got a roll of Abranet Heavy Duty 2 3/4 mesh grip, 80 grit. It cost $34 for a 33 foot roll. It looks like there are probably 3 usable pieces per roll. As I installed it, I noticed how much sharper the abrasive feels. Cool. I turned on the sander, set it to the appropriate height and sent through a 6" wide piece of oak. I made repeated passes, lowering the handle 1/4 turn each time. I had installed an ammeter a while back, so I could tell when the machine was getting close to stalling. Interestingly, taking a full cut ( 1/4 turn of the handle) uses about 5 less amps with the Abranet than with regular sand paper. This brings the machine from constantly being on the hairy edge of failure to humming along within a comfortable range. Amazing. This is a completely different machine now. I attribute the improvement in performance to the sharper abrasive.

There also is no sign of burning, meaning that the paper doesn't seem to clog with dust and resin. This makes sense, since there is plenty of room between the abrasive weave. I also tried some soft maple that had been burning like crazy with the regular paper. Same results. I can't believe I'm been missing out on this. Will I get the same kind of results with my random orbit sander?

[John Coloccia]

Your welcome :)

[david brum]

Oh yeah, thank you John.

[Rick Fisher]

Wonder if they can make belts ? I would try it for sure

[Shawn Pixley]

David / John

Where did you order yours? I'd like to try it. I love their ROS pads.

[Sam Murdoch]

I am a huge fan of the Abranet Mesh on my Festool ETS150/3 especially for finishes although on bare wood it is just as great.

[Alan Lightstone]

I am a huge fan of the Abranet Mesh on my Festool ETS150/3 especially for finishes although on bare wood it is just as great.

Me too. I can't wait to try some on my 16/32. Where did you get the rolls?

[John Coloccia]

I happened to get mine from BeaverTools I think.


Oh yeah, thank you John.
I was just kidding about that, BTW. I do know, though, that a handful of us have been singing the praises of Abranet on drum sanders. I wish I could remember the couple of guys that really came up with the idea so that we could all thank them for thinking outside the box and showing us all the way. Abranet, and things like Abranet, are the future of these kind of machine abrasives IMHO.

[david brum]

Me too. I can't wait to try some on my 16/32. Where did you get the rolls?

Mine came from Mirka-Online.com (http://mirka-online.com/hd5bg001803r-mirka-abranet-heavy-duty-2-3-4-in-x-33-ft-mesh-grip-roll-80g-qty-1.html), which as John says is Beaver Industrial. They must be the sole importer?


I was just kidding about that, BTW. I do know, though, that a handful of us have been singing the praises of Abranet on drum sanders. I wish I could remember the couple of guys that really came up with the idea so that we could all thank them for thinking outside the box and showing us all the way. Abranet, and things like Abranet, are the future of these kind of machine abrasives IMHO.
Couldn't agree more and I really am grateful that you guys shared your experience with this stuff. IMO it's right up there with my conversion to spiral cutter heads on my planer and jointer.

[Victor Robinson]

80g is as high as these rolls come eh? I tend to prefer 120 on my drum sander instead of 80 because I find the scratches left from 80g a little annoying to remove and I don't do major dimensioning with the drum sander. Do you guys find the 80g Abranet to be leave scratches that aren't as deep as regular 80g paper?

[Julie Moriarty]

Thanks for the tip on drum sander abrasives! Abranet seems worth a try.

[david brum]

80g is as high as these rolls come eh? I tend to prefer 120 on my drum sander instead of 80 because I find the scratches left from 80g a little annoying to remove and I don't do major dimensioning with the drum sander. Do you guys find the 80g Abranet to be leave scratches that aren't as deep as regular 80g paper?

It actually goes to 400 in the 2 3/4" width. You can get it all the way to 800 in 3 2/3" width, although I don't have first hand experience with whether that would fit.

As it is, I've only used 80 grit, so I can't say anything about the performance of the finer grits. The scratch pattern seems about average for 80 grit, definitely shallower scratches than when I was using 60 grit standard paper. I'm looking forward to trying 120.

[David Helm]

Are you using the standard or the HD? It appears that the HD only comes in 40, 60 and 80 grits. I, too, like to use 100 or 120 on my drum sander.

[david brum]

I bought the HD. I don't know how the standard Abranet would fare on a drum sander. Perhaps similar performance but less lifespan?

[C Scott McDonald]

I have to agree with the others on the Abranet R.O. discs they are aces. I run them on my Bosch R.O. and they are aces.

[Dave Cav]

Will it work on a Woodmaster with H&L on the drum?