Sanding discs on the lathe, do you glue them on or use something like velcro?

[justinpeer]

Just spent a while cleaning old sandpaper off a sanding disk for the new-to-me lathe. Looks like it had been glued on with regular wood glue and took a long soak and judicious use of a chisel to clean all the paper and glue off. I've given it a clean with a wire brush and some fine emery and it looks like new.

However, what's the best way to attach new paper to it that allows you to change the paper/grit more easily in future as I'd want to be ale to go through a series of grits when sanding?

I've found self adhesive disks at Axminster which says they're re-usable if you heat them with a hot air gun to soften the adhesive before removal. I thought perhaps of using velcro in a similar way to the pads on a random orbit sander but haven't found anything suitable for an 8" disk.

Just wondering what folks here use for such a thing.

 

[treeturner123]

I sometime use Spraymount or similar, easy to peal off.

Phil

 

[Jacob]

lots of velcro or hook/loop options available. Useful because you can change grits easily
https://www.google.com/search?q=vel...INTY5MmowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[recipio]

Velcro is far easier and the discs seem to last forever. You will have to source the hook disc first of course. I see them on US websites.

 

[Duncan A]

150mm and 300mm Velcro pads and discs available from Charnwood at modest prices:
product/hook-loop-pad-to-convert-discs-up-to-150mm
Search on VB300 for the 300mm pads

 

[justinpeer]

Thanks every one for such helpful answers. Looking at the velcro that Charnwood sell, it looks like regular self adhesive backed hook velcro and I've remembered I have some of that in the workshop. Only 2" wide but a few strips of that should cover a 20cm disk and then I just have to buy some velcro backed sanding pads. Should have that all sorted soon. Thanks again.

 

[Sachakins]

As an aside, I find sanding with a velcro backing can unintentionally soften edges that you might want to keep crisp. I don't get that with glued on sanding disk.

Rather than sanding disk changing, I have several homemade mdf disks with screw mounts for the lathe, with different grits attached. It's faster to swap the entire disk rather than remove velcroed sanding sheets, after a short time either the backing sheet or on mdf disk velcro loses grip. Don't have that problem with separate mdf disks. Also great for adhesive sanding disks.

I am fortunate to have picked up a second hand m33x3.5 tap, so easy and cheap to make my own mounts from hardwood offcuts.
Daresay that buying 8 or more steel faceplate or face rings would be very expensive.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes. I was about to make the same point about softening edges. I have MDF discs with faceplate rings.

 

[kinverkid]

As an aside, I find sanding with a velcro backing can unintentionally soften edges that you might want to keep crisp. I don't get that with glued on sanding disk.

Rather than sanding disk changing, I have several homemade mdf disks with screw mounts for the lathe, with different grits attached. It's faster to swap the entire disk rather than remove velcroed sanding sheets, after a short time either the backing sheet or on mdf disk velcro loses grip. Don't have that problem with separate mdf disks. Also great for adhesive sanding disks.

I am fortunate to have picked up a second hand m33x3.5 tap, so easy and cheap to make my own mounts from hardwood offcuts.
Daresay that buying 8 or more steel faceplate or face rings would be very expensive.

Until I made a stand-alone disk sander I used the same method. Cheaper to buy a tap for your lathes thread and have a couple or more MDF discs with glued-on paper which is cheaper than loop-backed paper and the bonus of having a tap to make other threaded discs, jigs and holders. Another essential item is a disc-cleaning stick. Using it little and often will prolong the life of the paper.

 

[Delwood]

Until I made a stand-alone disk sander I used the same method. Cheaper to buy a tap for your lathes thread and have a couple or more MDF discs with glued-on paper which is cheaper than loop-backed paper and the bonus of having a tap to make other threaded discs, jigs and holders. Another essential item is a disc-cleaning stick. Using it little and often will prolong the life of the paper.

If you have a chuck you could turn a disc with a spigot and screw that on to the back of your MDF disc.

 

[kinverkid]

If you have a chuck you could turn a disc with a spigot and screw that on to the back of your MDF disc.

Yes you can but you cut out having to mount the chuck, swap the jaws from the ones your using to turn the project you want to sand rather than keep the jaws on the chuck and swap it for a screw on disc. It would be cheaper to use the chuck but less convenient in my opinion.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

.Another essential item is a disc-cleaning stick. Using it little and often will prolong the life of the paper.

A cartridge of silicone that's set works just as well.

 

[kinverkid]

A cartridge of silicone that's set works just as well.

Or the man made corks from wine bottles and even the sole of your old trainers.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

If you decide that velcro right for you then Axi have a range of velcro discs though I'm not sure what diameters they have. They do a 305mm one which suited my needs.
As suggested in another thread we must support our UK suppliers.

 

[justinpeer]

Thanks for all the new replies, much to think about. The lathe has an old ⅞ x 16 thread, I've found taps for between £30-65, will keep an eye out for used on ebay.

Hadn't considered that the velcro options would be less accurate, certainly something to consider.

I have a jacobs chuck so I could use a countersunk bolt through some mdf bolted tightly and hold that in the Jacobs chuck, which would be a quick and easy way to make some disks.

I also have a drum sander attachment for the lathe that needs some cleaning up but have just discovered via another thread on here that Axminster do Mirka belts that fit it, so have just had a couple of those arrive. Between the two of those I should have all the machine based sanding needs sorted and my ROS for anything larger.

 

[peterw3035]

A good alternative to tapping your own thread is to buy some large nuts with the correct thread. These can then be set into a block of wood to form a jam chuck or set in a block & then stick to the back of your mdf disks. I bought 10Nr 1inch x 8 nuts from ebay to match my lathe thread and the options are endless !!!!

 

[Orraloon]

If you have a chuck you could turn a disc with a spigot and screw that on to the back of your MDF disc.

I tried that for a while but the chuck jaws end up compressing the tenon and the disc develops a wobble. My next go was an MDF disc permanently on a face plate. Still spinning true after about 15 years. I use the velcro backed discs. I know that it can slightly round over edges but with a light touch its not really an issue. Anyhow its mostly to get rid of the nub after parting off. 120G all the time and anything after that gets hand sanded.
Regards
John

 

[recipio]

Velcro is not quite as good where absolute accuracy is needed. I make a few segmented bowls and find the joints cut on the saw are just a bit cleaner and crisper. Andrew Crawford advocates using the sander to make miter joints although he has a lathe mounted affair. Velcro discs are still great for trimming work and rounding table tops -- with a jig of course.

 

[PaulJ56]

A good alternative to tapping your own thread is to buy some large nuts with the correct thread. These can then be set into a block of wood to form a jam chuck or set in a block & then stick to the back of your mdf disks. I bought 10Nr 1inch x 8 nuts from ebay to match my lathe thread and the options are endless !!!!

That’s what I did plus they make handy jam chucks

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You can stick abrasive paper to metal faceplates - just get some craft PVA, the stuff made for kids, it's not waterproof so the faceplate can be soaked and the paper peeled off. If you're doing segmented work or similar this can be a better option as it avoids the dubbing of the edges that comes with velcro discs.