Anybody using Roloc discs?

[Jerry Ingraham]

Last night, after having several discs separate between the hook and loop material and the disc itself, I began to wonder if the Roloc discs would work better. They're the discs with a small plastic threaded spud on the back which twists into a backing pad. I've seen them used in autobody and mechanical shops and so far I've only found 24, 36, and 50 grit locally but I see that Woodturner's Supply has them up to 320. The adapter/backing pad is $15 and the discs about $1.50 each so I think I'll give em a try and report back.

Jerry

[Mark Pruitt]

Can't speak for Roloc, but I have used the Power-Lock discs available from Packard and they do not fly off unless they have been used a lot; by that time it's time to trash 'em anyway.

[George Tokarev]

I use the 2" Power-Loc types. Love 'em. You pretty much have to use them with the work rotating, because they'll dig hard if you aren't careful. Very aggressive. They come from 80 to 320 at Packards, and I think Craft Supplies carries them as well. I find that most woods don't demand more than a three and out of 150/240/320, and I sometimes go to to velcro 3" types after setting up with water before the final 320.

They are not available in open coat or stearated types, so sanding on wet wood is one cleaning after another. Since the resin is so firm, you can clean them with a file card or a brass flux brush without harming them much, but I generally sand with the white Rhyno types because they load less.

[Paul Downes]

Jerry, Yeh, I use them. I also use flap wheels that mount in a 1/4" collet. Also, roloc's come in scotch bright pads. I use all of these to speed up bowl turning on certain woods that tend to have tear-out problems. Some purists may not like using power tools on a lathe, but I've only watched one guy use a foot-powered wood lathe , so In my book he's the only purist I know.
3M also makes 1" dia.X 1" long solid scotch brite type wheels that are great for polishing in tight radii. You can shape them into whatever contour you need. SAFTEY NOTE. Always use a face shield when using these type of sanding tools. Roloc rubber backers do wear out. When the disc's start launching on a regular basis it's time to pitch them and get a new backer pad. they come in 1", 2" and 3".

[Jeff Cybulski]

Jerry, I use them as well. I'd look locally for the disc's and holder at a discount tool place (not Harbor Freight - they have a clone but the pad does not flex enough - don't ask me how I know) or an autobody supply house. I pay $.50 a piece for 80, 100 or 120. I think hand sanding when going to 220 and above gives you better results.

Jeff

[Reed Gray]

There are a couple of reasons why your discs will come off the loop. One is you may have gotten some where the adhesive didn't work well, and no matter what you do, they will come loose. Another is sanding at too high rpm. When I first started on the power sanding, I got one of the high speed Sioux drills. Well, I found out that the higher speeds don't work all that well, you can burn and glaze the wood, and you can load up the paper faster, and the discs will fly off due to the heat build up which causes the glue to fail. I now use the slower speed drill. Also a lot of pressure on the sander builds up more heat, with the same results. If you have the bowl running at high rpm to sand, you get the same thing happening again. The heat generated by sanding and pressure can also cause heat checking in the wood. I talked to Vince of VincesWoodNWonders, who sells the blue sanding discs that are on a plastic film, and not paper. His discs outlast anything else I have used about 2 to 1, and I have tried just about everything out there. He, on advice from people he has talked to said to sand, in the coarser grit range at 600 rpm or less, and as the grits go up drop the speed to 300 rpm. Always one to experiment, I tried this and was very happy with the results. There was no loss of time with the slower speeds, and the end result was just as good. Another hint he gave me was to use a firm pad on the drill for the coarser grits (to 180 or so) then switch to the soft pads. This made a big difference in sanding time, it is now faster. His firm discs have about a 1/4 inch radius on the outside edge which helps them work better on the inside of the bowl as compared to the pads that have a square edge. I had always used the softer pads because they conformed to the inside of the bowl better. Live and leard. I have never tried the locking type discs. At $1.50 per 3 inch disc compared to 20 to 50 cents per disc, I just wasn't interested. I don't think they last any longer than other discs.
robo hippy

[Bill Boehme]

I will second what Reed Gray says. Heat is what ruins hook & loop fasteners, melts glue, loads up sandpaper, glazes the wood, etc. And as Reed said too much speed and/or too much pressure is the culprit.

Sandpaper actually works much more efficiently and lasts much longer when using slow speed and very light pressure. Stop and clear the dust off the paper frequently to keep it from loading up.

Bill

[George Tokarev]

I will second what Reed Gray says. Heat is what ruins hook & loop fasteners, melts glue, loads up sandpaper, glazes the wood, etc. And as Reed said too much speed and/or too much pressure is the culprit.

Sandpaper actually works much more efficiently and lasts much longer when using slow speed and very light pressure. Stop and clear the dust off the paper frequently to keep it from loading up.


Half right. Speed has almost nothing to do with it. Friction is coefficient of friction times pressure (mass) until you get to the crossover where areodynamics start to play. After all, the rim doesn't sand worse than the center, right? Going much faster. Plus, those random orbit grex and pneumatic screamers sand at some truly amazing speeds. All tell you not to press, and for good reason.

Loading is a factor, because the dust has a higher coefficient of friction, and full-coat paper will load faster than open, and that faster than lubricated. Here you might not be able to shed the amount produced fast enough, and the problem gets worse with finer grits. Some people use lubricants to sand, and this benefits from slower speed because it loads the surface with slurry.

So seek the route to lowest friction. For me it's sanding with support off the piece, same way I cut. Letting the wood come to the grit is easier if you don't have to support your paper on the piece. Guide, don't ride the bevel is the same principle. Open coat is slower but cooler, stearated keeps the cakes down. Give some thought to that dust inside sanding leaves behind. If you throw it in toward center with the piece rotating, it'll come back out for resanding. Bottom out, even with clockwise rotation of the disk will help keep you from reworking it, and help you collect the dust off the bottom rim. Stop often and clear dust with a rag, especially between grits!