Power Pad or 3M "Stikit"?

General Discussion
1

I’m in the process of ordering supplies and I’d like to know which power pad you guys prefer:

The “Power Pad” or the 3M “Stikit” pad.

Also, If I buy only one pad, which one should I go with (soft or medium)?

Thanks, dudes.

2

I just bought a soft power pad for my sander/polisher I recently bought. After reading the archives it seemed to be the most recommended. I used them both for the first time last week and was happy with the results. Of course I had nothing to compare it too.

Frank

3

Make your own density pads out of foam padding and adding Velcro. Cut a piece of foam a little bigger than your sander’s backing pad and glue Velcro on both sides of the foam. Put the stiff bristle velcro on one side for sandpaper, and fuzzy Velcro on the other side to attach to your sander’s backing pad (backing pad also homemade). A real flexible, interchangeable system that costs well under $15.00. Works great for me…

Best,

HerbB

4

May be safer to epoxy the foam to the backing pad.

5

The answer’s obvious: get the softer pad. You can use a softer pad (good for rails) when you’re doing the deck, but you’re asking for trouble using a hard pad (good for the deck) on the rails. That is, until you have a nice light variable speed sander, but even so it still matters.

I use only 60 grit on my one pad. I do the deck and bottom with the 11 amp Milwaukee, but do the rails with the offshore-made superlight hold-in-one-hand variable speed sander. There’s an order of magnitude between those two machines! When any high spots on the rails are knocked down and all is roughed up, take the pad and hand sand the rails parallel to the stringer. Works like a champ, gives good control on edges.