Sand Paper, Hook and Loop vs PSA
Oakman608
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I have a random orbital sander that accepts hook and loop sand paper. About once a year, I need to replace the platten because the hook and loop wears out, and paper will no longer stick.
I’m considering buying another sander that uses sand paper backed with pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA).
I would like to hear the relative merits and problems with each system.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Kurtis
Replies
I've used both and like the H&L approach best. Yes, you do need to replace the platten and you can, or I do, melt the H&L from time to time with too much heat from the friction. However, the PSA gets hot too and melt to the platten and the platten becomes rough with the left overs from previous sheets. The Porter Cable friction stick pads that you can get for their little sanders haven't given me that problem.
At least the way I tend to sand, I would think I'd waste an awful lot of money on disks with the PSA's. With the PSA, you're pretty much forced to do all your sanding one grit at a time vs. being able to work on one piece of wood at a time and switching through the grits before moving on to the next piece and cycling through the same grits/disks again. The PSA is pretty much a use-once-and-discard disk, vs a re-usable H&L disk.
Waddaya mean it wont fit through the door?
I was recently directed to HD for hook & Loop "conversion" parts. There are two PSA backed sheets of the hook material in each kit .... and they are now on closeout under the Makita brand for $3.98. These are 5" dia-8 hole, perfect for my Bosch random-orbit sander. I have seen similar kits for standard 1/4 sheet sanders, but not lately. The Makita hook material is not as aggressive as I'd like, but it works. I think I'll take a scraper to it, as I don't think the hooks were totally sheared and thus most remain stiff nylon loops. Anyway, might save buying the entire platten.
John
If you are new to PSA, you might like to know that they peal easier when they are warm. If you are pealing cold, and a little bit of paper gets left on the pad, you can rub the sticky side of the sheet that you just pealed across the stuck patch, and get the edge to start rolling up, and then it will come right off.
If you pick up the sander and you know it is dull, just run it against some scrap wood with a little more pressure than you would normally use to warm it up before you peal it.
Some of he shop gorillas I have worked around use too much pressure on these sanders. This causes the paper to wear out faster, without cutting any faster.
I used to leave the paper on longer than I know now that I should have, thinking that I was saving money. Now I change a lot more often. When I weigh the cost of abrasives against what I would have earned by getting the job done faster, I think I am coming out ahead now.
Being able to remove and re-use a disc more than makes up for the inconvenience of replacing the platten I'd think. My ROS is H&L and I would never trade it.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
If I have to remove PSA disks before they're worn out I fold them in half and keep them in a small box. I then have an easy supply of various grits for hand sanding.
Steve
I use the PSA discs on my 5 1/4" orbital exclusively, it seems that they grip better to the platten under adverse conditions (like paint removal, or rust scale, or uv damaged fiberglass sanding), whereas I had issues with the hl design clogging around the edges. I usually make my own psa platten using a peice of innertube, scuffed up and wiped down with acetone then bonded to the factory sanders paltten with the trusty old gluegun. Best use I have found thus far for a H&L factory platten pad..... regards, Joe.
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