What do I use to sand with?

[Shawn60]

I've tried to use a drill with a 4 1/2 inch sanding disc with adhesive backed paper and I keep tearing the paper when I catch a sharp corner or edge of some of the pieces. What are you guys using to get around this? It's also leaving gouges in the metal when the paper takes flight after catching a sharp edge.

[skiddz]

Greaseless compounds on a tight spiral wheel. Get a different wheel for each grit. These cut fast and make quick work of the initial prep of a piece.

Cartridge rolls for those tight places.

Aluminum oxide for heavy duty hand sanding or sanding with a DA or orbital sander.

Wet/dry for hand sanding from 220 to 600.

[Shawn60]

Cartridge rolls? Explain please. Also, anything I can use for initial sanding with a dremel tool? I've got a 35K rpm tool and it works great when I'm polishing with those 1/2 inch felt wheels but they only for the final polishing stages, they won't do anything to remove scratches. I've looked in Walmart/Lowes/Home Depot but I can never find cloth wheels for these things (if they make them at all). I like using it for the smaller stuff, much easier to use than a giant clumsy drill.

[skiddz]

Cartridge rolls are like sandpaper drums.. Kinda pricey and they wear out fairly fast, but they come in a ton of different grits..

I buy mine from a local tool & abrasives shop, but wish I had a better source. This guy only accepts cash and his shop looks like a tornado hit it and he sometimes has a hard time finding things.

I've found my Dremel to be of use only for some initial sanding/grinding in tight areas. I've never managed to get those little 1" wheels to put a shine on to anything.. I get better results hand sanding the tight areas or applying some of Caswell's "liquid" abrasive (that stuff you coat a wheel with and then roll it in the abrasive) to a cotton swab and chucking it up in my drill.

[Shawn60]

[I've found my Dremel to be of use only for some initial sanding/grinding in tight areas.]

That is exactly what I was thinking about using it for. I'm trying to remove some light gouges around the corners of a brake disc and carrier, where the buttons connect the two. 320 & 400 grit is enought to smooth the surface of the carrier, I can do 600 and 1000 by hand at that point before moving to the polishing compounds. I wish they would make flapwheels in finer grits. I'm thinking that would be the ticket.[/quote]