Cutting holes in Abranet discs?

[Doug71]

My mate has acquired a load of 6 x 3 from an old farm building roof which he asked me to plane up as he wants to make a table and some benches from it. I told him there was no way it was going near my planer as it's full of nails, woodworm etc, only good for firewood in my opinion (but he wants the industrial look).

As an alternative to planing I have lent him my Rotex sander, an extractor and some 40 grit Abranet discs. I gave him a quick lesson on using it but the discs were just clogging over the extraction holes as the wood was quite soft and the 40 grit was taking it off at quite a rate. He's doing it outside so said he wasn't bothered and would wear a mask anyway so I left him to it.

I have just got home and thought if he cut some holes in the Abranet discs where the extraction holes are in the sander it would probably work, thing is I don't have the sander or any discs here to experiment with.

Has anyone had this problem or cut holes in Abranet discs to help extraction, I just wondered what would be the best way to put some holes in as the 40g ones seemed quite tough?

Any ideas appreciated, Doug

 

[Jake]

Flap disk on an angle grinder as the first pass (plus a good mask)?

 

[Rorschach]

Suitable size hole punch will do it.

 

[julianf]

Surely a powerful hand held belt sander with some coarse belts is the way to go initially?

I've cleaned up a number of old scaffold boards and the cutting power of a belt sander is a world apart from an orbital.


I use cheap belts from Toolstation and just swap them when it ceases to be as effective.

Again, I have an orbital, with (normally) arbanet, but I would never use it on the initial pass. And probably wouldn't use it at all on that sort of finish.

 

[Sideways]

An old B&D Industrial sander I once owned came with an accessory for punching paper.
The punch was a round bar with a T handle fitted.
Imagine a hole drilled through a bar at 90 degrees, using a drill the same size as the bar itself. This would cut the bar in half leaving a hollow end with two curved points. This was the shape of the sharpened end.
The paper was sandwiched between two pieces of steel sheet with the hole pattern drilled in, of a size to fit the punch.
It worked OK, and the punch touched up with wet n dry wrapped around a dowel when necessary.

 

[Doug71]

Surely a powerful hand held belt sander with some coarse belts is the way to go initially?

I've cleaned up a number of old scaffold boards and the cutting power of a belt sander is a world apart from an orbital.


I use cheap belts from Toolstation and just swap them when it ceases to be as effective.

Again, I have an orbital, with (normally) arbanet, but I would never use it on the initial pass. And probably wouldn't use it at all on that sort of finish.

I often prefer the Rotex for rough stuff like scaffold boards depending on the look required.

The belt sander only sands flat so if the wood is cupped or has high spots you can end up taking a lot of material off and still not touch some bits leaving some parts looking brand new and some still old and dirty.

I find a soft pad in the Rotex follows the shape of the wood more giving a more even finish while retaining some of the character.

Don't know if you have used a Festool Rotex or similar geared sander but if you put them in geared mode they are very aggressive, totally different to a ROS.

 

[Sean Hellman]

I often use hole punches to align holes in discs, as I often get great deals on pack that are the wrong size. When cutting any abrasive papers etc always cut from the back, paper or cloth or loop side as this saves sharpening the punch more often.

 

[Jake]

The reason I suggested a flapdisk for a first pass is that they are a hell of a lot tougher and take far more abuse than a sanding pad or disk or belt once you get bits of jagged metal involved which will just shred and ask for more please.

 

[julianf]

I often prefer the Rotex for rough stuff like scaffold boards depending on the look required.

The belt sander only sands flat so if the wood is cupped or has high spots you can end up taking a lot of material off and still not touch some bits leaving some parts looking brand new and some still old and dirty.

I find a soft pad in the Rotex follows the shape of the wood more giving a more even finish while retaining some of the character.

Don't know if you have used a Festool Rotex or similar geared sander but if you put them in geared mode they are very aggressive, totally different to a ROS.

No, ive only got one of the mirka ones - air powered. I only really use it for finishing.

I use my belt sander often. Its one of the yellow clarke contractor ones. Its fairly brutal, and will cut its way into oak given half a chance.

I often use its nose in cupping. Ive done a number of ropey old scaff boards in the past. Ive just looked up a photo of our lounge from when i first did it -

That said, none of them look excessively cupped anyway!



I normally use the belt sander for cleaning up rough sawn so i can see the grain and work out where i want to cut my parts. This can be all over the place too, with cupping, and im only wanting to clean it up, not flatten it - same as with your friends stuff.


Of course, i dont care what he gets up to, and im not trying to convince you at all, just saying what seems to work for me! : )

 

[julianf]

ps

Scaffold boards get a lot of bad press. Our house is at least a couple of hundred years old. That floor had probably been down a week when i took the photos above. In my opinion it works as well as any other option would.

I mean, sure, oak would be nicer, but i think the whole job cost me £65 and that was including the cut clasp nails (big box of them from the boot sale!)