Abranet

[wizer]

Hello

I recently became an Abranet Groupie. I love the stuff. Alex of CHT gave me a 1000grit disc for the ROS to try and I was very impressed.

Anyway. I picked up a palm sander from chopthebass today and I want to use abranet with it. I had a look around and I think the best way to do it is use 150mm discs.

Has anyone found a good cheap source of abranet? Seems like there are some good deals on eBay.

 

[Richardhw]

screwfix sell it now, no idea if its cheap or not :?:

 

[OPJ]

eBay's the best place I've seen. You can often buy it in packs of ten there, instead of fifty! I really should try some of this for myself... :roll:

With your palm sander (Bosch?), would it not be better to buy the 115mm wide rolls and cut lengths from that, as you would do with silicon carbide or aluminium oxide? Cutting them out from 150mm discs sounds quite wasteful.

 

[wizer]

AFAIK the rolls only go down to 180g, plus a roll is £45 and a box of 50 is £13.50. So I can get a whole range for less outlay. I'm sure the roll is cheaper overall, but it means I can get a good selection without spending hundreds.

I have tried the 150mm disc in the DeWalt sander and it fits without needing to cut it (tho it does hang over the sides a bit)

:-k

 

[wizer]

ignore my last comments, I'm an idiot.

£13.50 is for the small sheets not the discs. It seems the rolls are a better option. It's just a shame they don't go down past 180g. Even the discs don't seem to come in 240g

 

[ByronBlack]

I've missed the boat on Abranet, what makes it different/better to regular disks? (not being factitious here, honestly interested to know what it is).

 

[Mr Ed]

I've been meaning to try it for a while based on other peoples comments, but not got round to it. I was planning on buying a selection of grits from CHT, but definitely interested if anyone else is cheaper.

Cheers, Ed.

 

[wizer]

Instead of having holes, the whole thing is like a mesh, so the dust can be sucked through or shook off. No clogging. It also seems to be a much better quality of grit. I took a piece of brown oak and sanded it down to 1000g and it was like glass, as if a PU finish had been applied.

 

[ByronBlack]

Instead of having holes, the whole thing is like a mesh, so the dust can be sucked through or shook off. No clogging. It also seems to be a much better quality of grit. I took a piece of brown oak and sanded it down to 1000g and it was like glass, as if a PU finish had been applied.

Sounds good! I'll have to invest in some. I've run out of disks for the Metabo ROS and have been meaning to get some, but I'll give these a go.. is 'Abranet' the brand name that I should I look for? Or the name of the actual material?

 

[wizer]

Abranet is the brand name. Made by Mirka:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/mdabite ... &_osacat=0

You could try the sanding sheets first if you just wanted to try it. They sell a hand sanding block with a dust extractor valve. But it costs the earth, I have been contemplating making my own.

 

[ByronBlack]

Cheers, Tom, I'll take a look.

Now that you mention the hand-vac one, I seem to remember that being featured in British Woodworking (or at least I think it was..)

 

[woodbloke]

I've got a selection of hand sanding sheets from CHT (down to 320g) but it still seems to leave quite a coarse finish (until the sheet is bedded in I suppose) so on the next order I'm going to get the 400g and 600g sheets as well - Rob

 

[CHJ]

I find myself using it regularly on the lathe in conjunction with normal oxide papers.
Something about the feel of the cut or maybe the effectiveness of the cut seems to depend on the wood type so oxides get selected for some tasks, can't put my finger on why I pick up one or the other. It is certainly a great addition to the blemish removal arsenal. The 400 & 600 grit versions don't seem to be quite so robust as the others and glaze more readily but then again oxides in these grits are not that long lived.

 

[DaveL]

They sell a hand sanding block with a dust extractor valve. But it costs the earth, I have been contemplating making my own.

Screwfix have it here for £29.99 as a starter kit. Block, 4 metre hose and 5 sheets of abrasive, been thinking of getting one.

 

[wizer]

I know I'm not adverse to shelling out a pound or 2, but £30 for a sanding block and a bit of hose just seems wrong.

 

[motownmartin]

They sell a hand sanding block with a dust extractor valve. But it costs the earth, I have been contemplating making my own.

Screwfix have it here for £29.99 as a starter kit. Block, 4 metre hose and 5 sheets of abrasive, been thinking of getting one.

Looks worth it, might go for 1 as well, ta Dave.

 

[DaveL]

I know I'm not adverse to shelling out a pound or 2, but £30 for a sanding block and a bit of hose just seems wrong.

You didn't go to Yandles and see them for for over £50 each, the Screwfix price is quite a good one.

 

[Aled Dafis]

A quick look on the screfix site shows that the block is only £11.99, which souds quite reasonable, but on the other hand, the hose at £9.99 sounds quite expensive.

I'll definately try the system out some day, the demos at westonbirt were very impressive.

 

[BradNaylor]

I know I'm not adverse to shelling out a pound or 2, but £30 for a sanding block and a bit of hose just seems wrong.

Tight as a gnat's chuff...

:lol:

Dan

 

[roman]

I ordered the hand sander with hose, Sponge pad and five sheets last week and have been using it to prepare painted skirtings ready for a top coat as well as sandin down lots of tetrion filler. These are two of my least favourite jobs but I have to say they were a cinch with the new kit. I was unprepared for how well it worked.£30 seems a lot til you try it.

Roman