Hermes self adhesive sanding discs

[Glynne]

I have a SIP disc sander which uses self adhesive discs (as opposed to Velcro).
Changing the discs is a real pain as the abrasive peels off leaving both backing paper and adhesive.
You can get rid of the paper easily enough by spraying water and using a decorators scraper but then you have a horrible mess of sticky adhesive left on the metal disc.
I managed to shift most of this with cellulose thinners but wondered if anyone has a better method of cleaning before sticking on a new abrasive disc?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I used to use normal alox off a roll on a metal plate on my lathe, stuck with NON water resistant PVA. I just peeled the abrasive off and soaked the disc in water and then washed it clean. The Resin W in the green bottle is water soluble.

 

[Mike.S]

I have read (but not tried) that heating the disc with e.g. a hot air gun softens the adhesive, making removal easier, and that orange oil cleans off the adhesive. Either or both may be worth trying.

 

[Glynne]

Thanks Mike.
I neglected to mention that I tried both as an intermediate measure - the heat gun works to a point where you can get some of the adhesive off but the orange oil (if that is the same as Wilkinson's orange cleaner) didn't touch it.
It may well be that you have to do a bit of several things to clear it all off and there is no silver bullet, but it was worth asking.
Cheers.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Can't you fit a self adhesive Velcro hook pad to the sander and then use Velcro discs?

Regards Mick

 

[Glynne]

I probably could Mick but as I use it a lot for sanding mitres for boxes, I'm not sure whether the 2 layers (hook & eye) would affect the accuracy.