Roloc Discs - Where Were You When I Was Younger?

[CalgaryPT]

I knew about Roloc Disks a while back but I had such a huge supply of Velcro/Hook n' Loop disks in my shop I thought I'd never use them up. In the fabrication world these things are so useful you use piles of them, and I'm not exaggerating. My old ones (first two orange pics) are OK, but you're always swapping them out—sometimes every 10 mins or so on big projects. Being the knuckle dragger that I am I've got no fingernails, so I spend more time trying to pry off the old ones then actually sanding. I hate that.

Rolocs just twist onto the pad—super easy. But the best part is they twist off to swap out just as quickly. They are not that much more expensive; I got a 75 piece set (including pad) from Amazon for $35, and they were cubic zirconia (blue), not aluminium oxide. The pad attaches to a die grinder and works like a charm. Hook n' Loop has its place, but the quick change out on Rolocs is night and day if you fabricate more than machine in your shop.

 

[DavidR8]

I've been thinking about investing in a die grinder for exactly this purpose. I'm not sure my 20 gal Speedaire compressor is up to the task however.

 

[Brent H]

@David_R8 : I run the die grinder with a 30 gallon - still sucks a lot of air and probably not the greatest as there are times it bogs. An electric die grinder may be more suitable

 

[DavidR8]

Thanks @Brent H that was where I was going when looking at pneumatic grinders. Serious air hogs!

 

[CalgaryPT]

Rotary air tools are all hogs, true enough. I used to run tools on a 26 gallon tank years ago before getting a 60 gallon. Sand, pause, repeat. Even plasma cutting on the CNC I had to build pauses into the G code to account for the smaller compressor. Even now the 60 gallon will cycle a fair bit if grinding for hours.

Not sure how well the battery right angle air grinders work. I do have a straight shank electric that works like a brute. It's a Makita and I punish that thing on corner joints when welding angle iron frames. Super machine.

 

[RobinHood]

My son works in a HD shop. He says that if you can, go with cordless / hose less power tools; it reduces the tripping hazard a great deal. And he can work faster because they are so handy. I tease him that not everybody can afford SnapOn or MacTools battery powered tooling. ... so he has to make do with a lot of cords and hoses here at the home shop...

 

[Tom O]

They are great! I’m almost out of that type but have quite a few of the matted felt type left. They were last used by my son putting a pattern on aluminum.

 

[Chicken lights]

@CalgaryPT
Have you tried one of these with a flapdisc? A lot of guys around me like using them

 

[CalgaryPT]

Not exactly like that, but similar. I’ve removed most of my grinding wheels from my larger grinders now and almost exclusively use flap disks.

 

[Dabbler]

in the olden days, and flap disks for metal working were new, they were so badly built that they'd often self distruct during use without any apparent reason... No many years later, they are now my 'go to' for any surfacing operation. I love them now.

nowadays, I'm hoping to devise some kind of rolloc system for detail smoothing...

If I were wealthier, I'd just buy the M12 Fuel offset die grinder.

 

[francist]

I’ve used those Roloc discs for quite a while and they are a life saver. I saw someone using one of these the other night though and am seriously tempted. Maybe half the size of a regular die grinder and with the offset head I think would be really nice for the finer detail applications. I think it would sneak into tighter areas than my re