I have a few doubts about sanding paper, we have many kinds (for metals , water sand paper, white (dry) sand paper, wood sand paper etc…
What kind do you like best? I will write my preferences and please tell if there are something wrong.
Shaping the blank: block with an 40 grid for metals (not paper but fabric behind the grid)
Remove scraps and sand cloth seam after lamination: 80 grid white (dry) sand paper
Sand after hotcoating: 80grid for metals (not paper but fabric behind the grid), 220grid black water sand paper (but do not use water) 320grid black water sand paper (but do not use water).
If polished coat: 220grid black water sand paper (but do not use water) 320grid black water sand paper (but do not use water). 400grid black water sand paper (with water), 600grid black water sand paper (with water).
I’m just a shaper. I like the 3M 36 grit, but for 40-80 Indasa Rhynalox is da kine. I used to think Hermes was the best possible in that area, but the Indasa blew it away.
Probably should throw in a plug for all of 3M adhesive products so resinhead doesn’t get mad at me. Specialty glues par excellence.
hi.i have been using Abranet distibruted by a company called Mirka ,i use the 80gr for sanding and 180 and 240 for a dry matt. It is a grit on wire mesh pretty much like the screens used in the shaping bay,it comes in a disc form.Been using this for a long time now with good results.Cheers.
Uhmmm- a slightly different approach, for what it’s worth, and I know, that ain’t much;
The black papers that are used for wet or dry tend to have silicon carbide abrasive on them, which is a very hard, sharp, long lasting abrasive. I tend to use them with water whenever I can to make them last longer. I once had…and wish I could find more…some 100 grit black Norton paper, made in Brazil, with a very heavy backing that was great, it would do rough repair sanding fast and well and I was in a place with no power sanders.
Sandpapers for wood tend to be brown or reddish colored Aluminum Oxide, not as hard as silicon carbide and it doesn’t last as long, but it’s fairly cheap. You might still find what is called Garnet paper. Garnet is a fairly hard natural crystal material and it has the interesting property of breaking off in use so you have new, sharp edges on the abrasive.
The white stuff…is aluminum oxide in a different kind of adhesive. I have found that it’s inexexpensive but it doesn’t last very long as discs on a power sander. There is a similar product (the yellow stuff) that lasts longer and is also inexpensive.
For the real coarse grits, I use belt sander media stapled to a 2" x 4" piece of wood, or I’ll cut a piece of hard foam and insert the foam into the belt. I use 36 - 120 grit belts, 36, 50, 80, 120. I have one grit on one side of a 2x4 block and another grit on the other side. The foam blocks are single grit. I also have a long 2" x 6" x 30" block that I use a wider belt media, and a long 2" x 4" block. These can cut across the whole board to make a flat bottom. I use the cut offs of XPS and EPS foams to make the foam inserts. Made one with excess foam from a Poly blank.
I’ve also made some vee panels from 1" x 3" wood that are wide enough to create an inverted vee on the bottom of a board.
I use the medium to hard cushion foam you get when you buy a hard disk drive or other electronic components and spray glue my finer grit papers like 100, 120 and 220.