Official Luthiers Forum!

Having moved from the DC area to Fla. I am in the process of setting up my shop. I had a friend of mine run off a couple 24" dishes but I haven't been able to find the 24" PSA sand paper disc's to use with them. Any help there? The dishes are plain MDF not water resistant, how should prep them? Thanks in advance, John

John,

Paint the mdf blanks with a few coats of Zinzer's shellac. When I built mine I bought the sanding paper disks from John Hall (Bluescreek).

Steve

Besides John Hall, industrial supply houses like McMaster, Grainger, and MSC will have them.

Living in a humid climate, you should definitely seal them.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
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Steve & Kevin, thanks for your advice now I can move along on my build. John

The 24" round sandpaper is a luxury. Using 5 standard size sheets with a light spray of adhesive and with one cut sheet in half is much cheaper and works well.

I use the 2 3/4" wide, adhesive-backed sand paper in a roll from Mirka. I coat the dish with shellac, lay the strips side by side, and trim the edges with a razor knife. I have never had a problem with the strips coming loose. Takes about 5 minutes to replace it. I always have some rolls on hand in various grits. Very handy for sticking on a flat block for general sanding, on a PVC pipe for curved areas, on a long flat board for truing edges, on a radius block for bridges, on craft sticks for working on a dove tail, and it is what I use to wrap the drum in my thickness sander.

James

Hey, John, if you haven't already started sealing your dishes, let me suggest that you glue size them first. Just paint them with a bit of white or yellow glue that has been thinned with water. Not too much water--a little bit does the trick. Seems to me this seals MDF better and faster. Then you can go over them with some shellac or what have you, with much less strike-in. As for the abrasive, I just cut pieces out of belt sander belts, because that's what I can buy at my local fixer-upper store.
Patrick

2sand.com Got my 24" disks for about $8. Talked to the owner and he set me up with the right paper etc. Not adhesive backed though. Have one at 80 grit glued to the disk and the use a 150 one just laid on top for the final pre-glue tune up.
Sealed my disks with epoxy resin.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.