Thread: ROS sandpaper disks advice required

Hi Xfigio,
Disks don't go bad, so if you can get a better deal for quantity, go for it. You will find that you will run out of the grade disk you want just before you finish the job. I bought packs of various grades from Boxmakers Brassware at the WWW Show at a good price for my Duo. The grades you should get will depend on the work you are planning to do. My most useful grades are 80, 120, 240, 360. Any finer and I prefer to use a sanding block by hand, it doesn't take long.
Cheers
Graeme

I usually start with 180, then 240, then finish.

If there are deep nicks or heavy tool marks, I'll use 80, 120, 180, 240. Usually the tools are sharp enough so I don't need the heavier grits.

So, in my shop (garage) I tend to buy more 180 and 240, less 80 and 120, and a little 400 just for fun.

The higher grades I typically use when finishing, so use wet and dry and do by hand.

Tex

Originally Posted by Xfigio

Hi all,

I'm finally making the plunge and buying my first power sander, a Metabo Duo ROS (after much recommendation in these forums). The dilemma is that I have no idea about which disks to buy. At this stage I'll be sanding tassie oak and pine, so would appreciate advice on what types of disks to get. I had a look at the Sandpaper Man's website, but again, I have no idea where to start, so a list of the items to start out with would be much appreciated.

What grades should I get, and what's a reasonable number of disks to get of each grade? I don't need five years worth, but don't want to run out after a couple of hours either.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Xfigio

I make no claim to be an expert finisher but I'll offer a few ideas and hopefully the more experienced will offer both of us some guidance.

So far I have found the white aluminium oxide sandpaper to offer the best quality-price-longevity trade off. And if you buy them in boxes of 100 sheets from trade suppliers then you get a far better deal than from the chains.

When sanding soft pine (eg baltic, radiata, WRC) then I "double" the finenesses of the sandpaper grits. (eg 100 - 200 - 400). When sanding really hard hardwoods such as Tas bluegum or messmate then I "50%" the grits (eg 80 - 120 - 180 - 260 - 400). Past 400 I use steel wool, for a really silky finish.

Since I have been bulk buying I only stock the latter five grits. For pines I just skip every second grade. I select the starting grit according to the roughness of what I am sanding.

This seems to work for me.

Cheers

Graeme