Anyone tried MicroPlane discs ?

[Doug Shepard]

The latest Highland Hardware catalog was in the mail today and the back cover has a new item - "MicroPlane Stainless Steel Sandpaper". It's essentially a 5" Hook & Loop version of the MicroPlane stuff for mounting on a RO sander. I've got a few of the handled MicroPlane tools and they work well but can cut pretty aggressively. I would think putting these on a powered tool would be just asking for divots and hollows. They're 2 for $9 (Coarse, Medium, & Fine 'grits'), but the "Lasts 10X longer than ordinary sandpaper" claim sounds pretty good. Anybody used any of these things?

[Hoa Dinh]

Unlike sandpaper, MicroPlane disk can cut in only one direction, I think your ROS will becomes an OS.

Initial reports indicated problems with the velcro: the disk kept falling off. It's not clear to me if the problem has been resolved.

[Greg Scott]

Doug,
I tried them they failed miserably after about 5 seconds they would come flying off the sander. The finish that they leave will require you to sand afterwards with 80 grit paper to get rid of the marks they leave. If I were you I would skip them and buy regular sandpaper instead.
Greg

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks guys. Think I'll promptly put them on my Christmas Wish-You-Wouldn't-Buy-Me-Any-of-Those List.

[Paul Comi]

I bought a 3 pack with the various grits to sand some exterior gate posts. Like others said, the disks flew off fairly shortly, but the company replaced them without question and told me that they had problems with the velcro on their earlier production. The new package states to not use the disks on anything other than plain wood and I probably had problems partly because I was using the disks on wood that had some paint still on it. I haven't tried the new ones yet, but based on my experience I'd probably only pull them out to use for rough shaping prior to using a spokeshave and other hand tools.

[Carl Eyman]

I didn't have them come off the pad. but it seems the "pock marks" get filled with wood and they don't cut any more. This happens right away. When I posted this comment a couple of months ago somebody from the company asked me if I'd try their new version. I said I would, but no action yet.