Thread: W&B and Flap Discs

i recently ordered some 400g flap discs from widget supply. i really hate hand sanding but i have the understanding that once you get past the 400-600, it goes faster. i just cannot seem to get past that by hand. so in come the sanding disc. this W&B was in rough shape and needed some love. it is a nice thick blade but had rust where the scales hit and a couple of rough spots.

i sanded one side down for comparison and was very impressed with what 5 min will do instead of hours by hand. and with the flap disc, the blade did not get hot at all. i did not use a lot of pressure, just let the disc do the work. i plan on using toxik's home made sanding drums to go up to higher grits. this is just the beginning. after these shots were taken, i did sand the other side and re-sanded the 1st side. looks better than this now.

thoughts???

vgod

Not bad! Make sure you watch the edge! You could ruin a blade in a second if your not careful. I have a flap wheel but ive been to scared to use it so far...

okay, so last night, working on making the sanding drums from toxik's tutorial. see http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...-tutorial.html

i made about 10 600 grit drums in about 10 min. i was able to try one of them before bed. not bad. i only did one side, but i was able to visibly see the difference in this short time. tonight i should have some more time. i will be making more in the 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000 range. i should have this blade shining by tonight or tomorrow.

for my dowel, i used a carboard tube from a hanger. wrapped in blue painters tape sticky side down, then made the drums over that. i will try to take a pic and show the process.

these are very cool.

vgod

and yes, you have to watch the edge, but i was using a pretty bad blade anyway for this experiment. so if i messed it up, well, it happens.

okay, so i worked on getting my sanding drums more refined. last night i used a hanger tube. i discoverd tonight that the diameter is just to small. so i ran to home depot for a wood dowel. cut to about 10 inches, and sanded to 320 grit to smooth down and be easier to pull off the tubes.

the 1st 3 attempts at making drums taught me a couple of things. overlap your tape that you are wrapping around the dowel maybe 1/8 inch or more. this is your foundation. i was not overlapping but maybe a millimeter or so. what happens is that the seam becomes a weak point and the drum breaks apart. toxik then states that he overlapped the sandpaper just a small bit. this was not working for me. the sandpaper had nothing to stick to where it overlapped. so i just matched up the seams. hopefully you can see it in the 2nd photo.

last night i made 600 grit drums. i threw them all away. tonight i made 800 and 1500 grit. after a couple of screw-ups, i finally figured out what i did right/wrong and made some good drums. maybe 20 of each. with what i made last night, they barely worked on low speed on the dremel. tonights batches i was able to use on high speed. sped things up quite a bit.

so the 1st photo of the razor is what i did last night and then with some weak 800/1500 drums. you can see that it is getting a pretty good shine, but still needs some work. also, i did not spend enough time with the lower grit(<400) and it shows. the 4th photo is the same side with better 800/1500 drums and more time. much improved. the 3rd photo shows the tang stamp side. on this side, i went back to the 400 grit flapwheel and put in more work. then the 800, then 1500(remember i threw away the 600s). the nice thing is that i probably only used 2 drums on each grit on the last side. they lasted better than i thought.

more comments or thoughts please. i will try to work on another blade tomorrow and see about getting something higher than 1500 grit paper also.

vgod

that looking really good. I think ill try and make some of my own drums when i get ore sandpaper. Is the blue tape strong enough? Do you think another tyrr would be better?

the blue tape is working fine. i would try to make the tape no more than 1 inch wide. actually, 3/4 would probably be better. you get more wraps around your dowel. just make sure that you overlap the tape. my last few drums, i overlapped maybe 3/16 inch and this held very well. i only blew out a couple of drums in my last few batches, where with my first few trys, i was blowing out every other drum.

i will try duct tape at some point this week, just to try it. i will report back on those.

good luck and let me know how yours turn out.

vgod

vgod,
That is some good work! If you end up making it to Austin next weekend, will you bring an example of these sanding drums? When I look at all of you guy's restoration projects it really makes me want to buy a crap razor and see what I can do with it. I have taken a lot of restoration tips from this forum but this one is new.

Thanks, hope to meet you on the 19th.

adding some pics. had about 2 hours today while the kiddos were napping. made some drums, took photos.

wrap the dowel. i used a 1/2 inch dowel. i use the blue painters tape and it has been working well. this is a 2 inch roll, but i cut it into thirds. i get a better overlap and more tape support. be sure to overlap the tape. otherwise the seam will be weak when it is on the dremel drum.

next the sandpaper. do not overlap this. in fact i leave a microgap. this insures that all parts of the sandpaper touch tape.

the finished role.

removing the dowel. just twist and it comes out. again, i sanded my dowel down to 320. much smoother than when i bought it.

cutting the drums. i cut them about 1/2 inch long, maybe a hair longer. out of each 11 inch strip, i average 7 drums. this is 3 strips worth.

i bag them with markings. clockwise from top left, 600, 800, 1500.

vgod

so here is an update. i cut some scales from bocote, and shaped them up. spacer is ABS plastic with brass liner on each side of the spacer. i currently am using the adjustable pins, but i may replace them with brass pins if i decide to sell. i am currently honing out some irregularities in the edge. should finish up this weekend.

vgod

looking good! Nice to see the whole thing