Hook and loop for large disk sander - good idea?

[John Ziebron]

I'm thinking of purchasing a 12 inch disk sander and would like to convert it to H & L. I've always had problems in the past with PSA paper not coming completely off and then having to scrape off the remains. H & L works great on all my small RO sanders but I don't know if there would be any issues with it on a larger surface like a 12 inch disk. I know you can buy 12 inch H & L disks but they don't seem to be too common of an item. Anybody have any experience with this?

[Bob Coates]

I have and have used for years on a shopsmith 12" disk. Some people say it is too soft but I had no problems using it to flatten rings for segmented rings. They have both the paper and the H/L sticky to apply to the plate. Not sure it would make a difference, but I run with the SS on low setting (guess at 875? rpm)
https://www.industrialabrasives.com/hook-loop-discs-sheets-8-12-hook-loop-discs-c-201_191.html?zenid=u078j4ckljn890nopqjhgrguq4

[lowell holmes]

https://search.tb.ask.com/search/AJimage.jhtml?&n=7867188c&p2=%5ECPO%5Exdm139%5ETTAB03%5Eus&pg=AJimage&pn=2&ptb=D0F8849E-0F01-45FF-A705-A304F967DED8&qs=&searchfor=12%22+sanding+disks&si=46379845133&ss=sub&st=sb&tpr=sbt&ots=1586041699023&imgs=1p&filter=on&imgDetail=true

[Matt Day]

I’d stick with (no pun intended) PSA backed.

And a 12” disc sander is not large by any means. I use PSA on my 20”.

[Paul F Franklin]

I used to use H&L on my shopsmith. It worked well as long as I just used it for light sanding, but I found it was easy to melt the H&L pad with heavier sanding that generated localized heat. After the second time I ruined the pad I went back to PSA type. I actually preferred the slight give to the disc that the H&L pad provided but apparently couldn't train myself to not overheat it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

No experience with hook and loop on larger disk sander. On my 12", I run shop made disks, held on with disk adhesive. Sanding paper comes from Klingspor, along with adhesive. Use a drywall circle cutter to cut out disks. When sanding Toys for Tots cars, I burn thru a disk with each fifty cars, meaning I go thru 6 disks every year. Buying premade gets expensive.

[glenn bradley]

Hook and loop on large disks, like hook and loop on drum sander drums, is right for some and not for others. I use the disk for rough removal and fine tuning things. I prefer PSA. I use the drum for thicknessing veneers I am glad to have the hard drum and abrasive belt riding a solid platen. H&L and a rubber feed belt gave me unexpected results. Neither is right or wrong; it just depends what you want to do with the tool. I change my discs as shown in this video (https://youtu.be/1_sxDVI2z8c). Easy-peasey.

[Richard Coers]

I use a disc sander to adjust a mitered joint, flatten a warped bowl bottom, etc. I don't want any give in the sandpaper, I'm looking for dead flat. Never thought I would get that with a velcro mount.

[Keith Westfall]

I've always had problems in the past with PSA paper not coming completely off and then having to scrape off the remains.

I heard someplace, onetime, from somebody... That the use of a heat gun helps loosen the sticky stuff, allowing it to come off easier. Anybody else know about that?

Never tried it... :eek:

[Gustav Gabor]

Yes, heat does help loosen PSA sandpaper, but I find that by using heat there's also a lot more sticky residue left on the disc. Lacquer thinner removes that easily though.
I try as much as possible to remove the sandpaper without using heat, but sometimes it's just really stuck on there, so sometimes I get it started with some heat from a heat gun.
I personally wouldn't want hook and loop sandpaper on my disc sander. Just too soft for my purposes....

[Chris Fournier]

Depends what you're sanding and for what purpose but I wouldn't. As others have said heat and solvent do it for me in my shop. It is a PITA but I do it when I'm in the mood. I and looking for crisp square edges in wood and steel that may be joinery components in my shop so hook and look would not cut it.

[Mark Bolton]

If you have trouble with the PSA coming off you need to get comfortable with cleaning the disk with a skew chisel. Its super fast if you get in a sticky situation (same no pun intended). If you have some stubborn paper you can get a bent tip squeeze bottle and keep some acetone or laquer thinner in it and that would also help release the paper and clean the disk if the chisel isnt comfortable.

[John Ziebron]

Thanks for all the input. I wasn't worried much about applying light pressure or being perfectly square. But I didn't consider how much heat would build up melt or distort the plastic hooks. I'll plan on staying the PSA route.

[Richard Coers]

I keep a single edge razor blade in a holder around for some cleanup when removing the old disc. A bit of acetone and the blade really does a nice job.

[Pete Staehling]

I use hook and loop on a 12 disk on a sanding setup on my lathe and love it. I use PSA 12" disks on my dedicated 12" sander. ideally my preference is for the low speed of the lathe setup and the hook and loop, but it isn't always available when the lathe is in use.

I am tempted to convert the dedicated setup to hook and loop, but realize that it will require either conversion to lower speed or greater care to not over heat. I keep threatening to convert it to run at a much lower speed. My opinion is that disk sander should run at much lower speeds by default.

[John Ziebron]

I ended up buying the Grizzly 12 inch double disk sander. After some minor tweaks with a file and some shim stock I'm very happy with the machine. Grizzly calls it slow speed (1720 RPM) to reduce burn marks but I think other makes of 12 inch disk sanders operate at that speed due to direct drive. And it runs very quiet.

It was supposed to come with a coarse and fine PSA disk installed but mine came with coarse on both sides. I will likely use this machine more for metal than wood so I did some testing with only metal so far. The results were better than my expectations. I did end up taking off one of the coarse disks and I can now say that this is a job I don't plan on doing in the future, except once more for the other side. It took me at least 20 minutes using an old chisel and solvents to get the aluminum disk clean.

I happen to have a piece of PSA hook material from Klingspor left over from making sanding blocks. It was big enough to use for one disk. After I got my order of H & L disks i was able to finally try it out. I saw no difference in performance or distortion of the work piece. I used moderate pressure with some 1/2 inch thick mild steel. The metal was barely warm and my rounded corners came out perfect. I think my results, at least in part, were attributable to the short, high density hooks on the Klingspor material. Now I just need to order another sheet of it to convert the other disk.

[Pete Staehling]

I'd advise caution regarding using a disk sander with both wood and ferrous metal. I found that the sawdust in the shroud was prone to catching fire when grinding ferrous metal with residual sawdust in the shroud so I stopped using it for that. I could imagine it being a big problem if there was a bigger fire in the dust collection system (mine wasn't connected to the sander at the time). I only had a little smoldering in the shroud and fairly easily put it out but if I hadn't noticed and had left the shop it could have been much worse.

[John Ziebron]

Pete, I certainly agree with your concerns. I give my wood dust/chips to a local organic farmer and don't want anything besides wood in that collection. I have a large edge sander that I use for both wood and metal but have it set up so when using wood it's connected to my cyclone dust collector but when using it for metal I hook up a shop vac. This disk sander will be set up the same way.