abranet,sanding pads

[Juss1]

John have you tried it with a dc connected. I believe they were specifically designed for use with dc and might clog too easily without it. I’ve had better results than regular sandpaper I’ve used.

[jteneyck]

John have you tried it with a dc connected.  I believe they were specifically designed for use with dc and might clog too easily without it. I’ve had better results than regular sandpaper I’ve used.

I have not.  I didn't notice that the Abranet got loaded up with dust but maybe just a little is too much with it.  The Bosch sander I have, the ROS65VC has a very good on board dust canister but I'm sure it's not the same as what a DC would be.  But I'm not motivated to add a DC hose to it so I plan to stick with sandpaper for the foreseeable future.  FWIW, I never see dust blinding the sandpaper disks.  They just wear out.  

John

[Derek Cohen]

All sandpaper works best when the dust is removed as soon as possible. Disks spinning on sandpaper not only generate heat, but they also create scratches. Mesh, such as Abranet, are especially good at removing dust ... BUT dust needs a vacuum cleaner to help it on its way. Simply collecting it in a dust canister is not effective enough.

If you look at the photos I posted earlier, especially at the Mirka hand sander, you will note that both are connected to a vacuum cleaner. Even hand sanding creates a great deal of dust - unhealthy dust - and removing as much as possible improves speed of sanding as well as the final surface quality.

If your Abranet is loading up, then you are not using a vacuum cleaner with it, and not finding its potential.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[AHill]

Another plug for using a dust collector with any power sander. It's really a night and day difference. No matter how good a canister dust collector is, it's nowhere near as efficient and effective as using a dust collector. Your paper will last a lot longer (my experience is like 3-5x longer), and you'll breathe better. Another thing that helps is letting the sander do its job without putting so much pressure on the pad. There's a tendency to want to press harder to be more aggressive when using a power sander. All that does is wear out your paper sooner and make deeper scratches that are harder to remove with subsequent grits.