Thread: Homebrew rotary tool drum sanding rolls

After completely sanding 4 blades entirely by hand (probably with a combined 20+ hours of sanding). I figured there had to be a better way.

I had used the 180 grit sanding discs that came with my dremel to start a few blades. They worked well, but really only the outer 1mm or so of the disc did any of the work. Not to mention I needed like a dozen to cover a blade. I had never used the drum sanding rolls as the grit was to coarse, but I liked the format. So, I decided to see if I could make my own little rolls for the sanding drum bit. At first I thought they'd just fly apart and catch every edge, but I figured I wouldn't know until I tried.

The results, were quite surprising. They worked well and much faster than by hand. Did a much better job than the sanding discs too. As for the integrity, as long as I kept away from any edges or corners, they were just fine.

Anyway, I was in the chat with piper. We got to talking about them and I explained how to make them. But, seeing as it might not have been so clear in just text, I told him I'd throw together a guide on how to make them. Anyway, you can checkout the guide on how to make them. Lemme know what you think.

Before I posted it here, I sent it to piper and asked him to try it to see if it would work for him. The results...

Hi there! I wanted to test your tutorial before replying; I have, and it works beautifully. Nice work! I cleaned up a blade face of an old Korn Peak last night, using 1500 grit paper, in about 30 minutes--most of that was hand-work with different papers trying to get it to mirror finish. It's pretty close!

Nice tutorial! Thanks!

[Moderator edit: ToxIc created an updated version of this tutorial, which is available here.