10 - Heavy Duty Lathe Stand, страница 27

IN THE SHOP

also manufactures Norzon in various size sheets and disks.

The Norzon belts I've used are aggressive—they take Off stock quickly and are a good choice when you need to remove a lot of stock in a short period of time.

The only drawback is they cost three to five times as much as standard sanding belts. But they're worth it when you need to do heavy sanding, like leveling a workbench top.

Like the Norzon belts, 3M's Re-galite belts cost more—but only about twice the price of a standard belt. They're not as aggressive as Norzon, but that's okay.

For most sanding jobs, I pre- _

fer a belt that cuts slower and offers more control.

METAL SANDPAPER

totally different

A totally cnnerent approach to increasing the life of sanding products has been taken by two other companies: Problem Solvers and Sandvik. Both companies are using metal instead of minerals to provide the cutting action.

perma-sand. Perma-sand is made by Problem Solvers, Inc., see photo above. It's manufactured by bonding bits of tungsten carbide to a flexible steel backing, see Drawing above. The carbide used is like the tips of your saw blades and router bits. It's

FermaSand

heat-resistant, tough, and remains sharp a very long time.

Perma-sand is available in 5", 6", 7", and 8" disks. And in quarter, third, and half sheets. All are available in grits ranging from an extremely coarse 24 to a fine 320. I found the 60 to 150 grits of

New minerals and metal "sandpaper" create sanding products that last and last.

Perma-sand work best (the finer grits load up). They're especially useful for preliminary shaping and roughing work.

sandplate. Another metal "sandpaper" called Sandplate is manufactured by Sandvik, see photo below. But unlike the products mentioned above, Sandplate is designed for hand sanding, not power sanding.

Sandplate is a thin steel plate that's etched with acid to create thou

sands of small points, see Drawing below. If you were to examine Sandplate with a magnifying glass, you'd find a surface that resembles a cheese grater. The tiny points shave away material like a rasp.

Sandplate comes in various shapes and in three grits: coarse, _ medium, and fine. The adhesive-backed plates are designed for holders made by Sandvik, see photo below. But you could just as

_ easily buy a replacement

plate and attach it to a shop-made holder. As with Perma-sand, I found the lower grit Sandplates worked best.

The only drawback I've found to Perma-sand and Sandplate is they aren't readily available. (For a list of mail-order sources that carry these products, see page 31.)

a final thought. With these new products you won't be changing sandpaper every few minutes. Now you can spend more of your time in the shop building, and not sanding.

A Sandplate is made by etching a thin steel plate to produce thousands of small sharp points.

k On Perma-Sand, bits of tungsten carbide are "brazed" to a metal backing plate.

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ShopNotes

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