Shopsmith Forums

joedw00 wrote:I bought some of Shopsmith when one of the wood stores had them at half price. For the price I can't tell much difference in how long they last. I will check out the box stores around here. Thanks

I go through them pretty fast, especially when sanding painted material and I've never noticed any benefit in buying higher-end discs...they all seem to last and clog about the same, at least in the application I'm using them for. As a result, I switched to the 50-packs as they were much cheaper cost per disc and also gave me a good stockpile so I could quit running to the hardware store every time I needed some. I can see some applications where a higher end disc might be beneficial but in my case, it really seemed to be a waste of $$.

joedw00

Klingspor's has everything to do with sanding and woodworking, with many choices in sanding discs and sheet paper.

Here is the link to their site and they also have a great catalog. http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

Thanks for the link Brian. I will go back and look at it.

I am wondering how often we clean our abrasives with the cleaner stick?

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gstick.htm

Jim

fjimp wrote:I am wondering how often we clean our abrasives with the cleaner stick?

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gstick.htm

Jim

I am sure I don't do it enough, just when I think of it.

joedw00 wrote:I am sure I don't do it enough, just when I think of it.

I wonder how much failure to use the cleaner stick contributes to shortened life of abrasives? I use the stick frequently even on hand blocks. I get a good deal more use from my abrasives than others. I had a guest in my shop a few months ago. He asked for new sheet of sandpaper. Instead I had him use the cleaner block. He was blown away how many times he used it on one piece of paper. The same friend watched me use it on the belt sander upon which the results are far more noticeably and admitted he was sold. Okay I am cheaper than some. Jim

You can also find cheap disks at Rockler in the outlet section online.

http://woodworking.rockler.com/search?p ... discsander

I also noticed today my local store had 25 packs of 220 for $1.99 in PSA.

fjimp wrote:I wonder how much failure to use the cleaner stick contributes to shortened life of abrasives? I use the stick frequently even on hand blocks. I get a good deal more use from my abrasives than others. I had a guest in my shop a few months ago. He asked for new sheet of sandpaper. Instead I had him use the cleaner block. He was blown away how many times he used it on one piece of paper. The same friend watched me use it on the belt sander upon which the results are far more noticeably and admitted he was sold. Okay I am cheaper than some. Jim

I do use it more on the belt sander, I guess because you can see it.

I use it on my belt sanders all the time. I just usually don't think about using it on hand sanding, and I don't use power sanders that often, but it is definitely something to consider.

I have a sanding question as well (probably should start a new thread). As a general rule, what grits of sand paper do you step thru when finishing something? I know there are a lot of factors, but as a general guideline what would you recommend grit wise?

Regarding those Rockler sanding disks mentioned by letterk, the 12" variety have a ceramic grit, at least the 180 and 220 grit that I got during this sale. With free shipping on $25 or more orders, they're a bargain.