Scotch Brite/Abralon/Sandpaper - Comment

Dan Mosley

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Palm Springs, Ca
I found some interesting information on the web and thought I would post them for everybody to look at. It helped me to understand some differences in different sanding media

Scotchbrite Grit Chart
7445 - White pad, called Light Duty Cleansing - (1000) 1200-1500 grit
7448 - Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - (600-800) 800 grit.
6448 - Green (?), called Light Duty Hand Pad - (600) 600 grit
7447 - Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand - (320-400) 320 grit
6444 - Brown pad, called Extra Duty Hand - (280-320) 240 grit
7446 - Dark Grey pad, called Blending Pad (180-220) 150 grit
7440 - Tan pad, called Heavy Duty Hand Pad - (120-150)
Blue Scotch-Brite is considered to be about 1000 grit.
(The value inside the parentheses is directly from Scotchbrite)

Comment: #1 ----- There are some main differences between sandpaper and abralon. With abralon, it uses silicon carbide particles that are precision sifted to a consistent grain size. So you know for sure what you are using. With sand paper you will have imperfections in the "grit" and wears out very quickly so 320 can become 600 very quickly.
Also water/oil lubricates the sanding process well but flows thru the pads whereas, sandpaper will cake up. Therefore, again sandpaper will not give you the true grit you are looking for.

Comment #2--------as far as I thought, Abralon, scotchbrite, sandpaper etc, are all just abrasive media used for sanding/cleaning. The grit measurement system originally came from sandpaper, and then got used for polishes, and not they use the term for abralon/scotchbrite pads to give a reference to what relative "grit" it will sand to, in other words, for example, "a green scotchbrite pad gives you the equivalent finish of 600 grit wet 'n' dry sandpaper". So, really there isn't much difference between each, I would assume though that there may be some difference in finish between abralon/scotchbrite vs. sandpaper, but if you use the equivalent pad/paper, the difference would be insignificant at best.

Comment #3--------Typical wet/dry sandpaper also uses silicon carbide, same abrasive as abralon pads. I'm not sure I see how sandpaper will wear down faster than the abralon if they are both the same material. With the sandpaper, you will want to make sure you rinse it good to get the resin off the surface as the water does not flow through the sandpaper like it does with the pad.
 
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That's a handy chart. :thumb:

Just a few comments for your comments...

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Comment: #1 ----- There are some main differences between sandpaper and abralon. With abralon, it uses silicon carbide particles that are precision sifted to a consistent grain size. So you know for sure what you are using. With sand paper you will have imperfections in the "grit" and wears out very quickly so 320 can become 600 very quickly.
Also water/oil lubricates the sanding process well but flows thru the pads whereas, sandpaper will cake up. Therefore, again sandpaper will not give you the true grit you are looking for.

Some brands of sandpaper use more closely graded particles than others. In general, those are the higher-end papers. Vince's WoodNWonders used to have a very good PowerPoint presentation explaining this, but I just checked and that page is down. (His site recently had some problems, so I'm guessing he's still getting things fixed.) That said, Abralon is awesome stuff and lasts a long time. I've not used enough of it to decide if it's more cost effective than something like Vince's Blue Flex Micron disks.

Also, worn-out 320 paper is not the equivalent of a higher grit. It loses its effectiveness as it wears out, but larger grit particles still remain on the backing, so 320 grit paper will always make 320 grit scratches...just not as many of them, so you end up spending a lot more time getting the same results as with new paper.

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Comment #2--------as far as I thought, Abralon, scotchbrite, sandpaper etc, are all just abrasive media used for sanding/cleaning. The grit measurement system originally came from sandpaper, and then got used for polishes, and not they use the term for abralon/scotchbrite pads to give a reference to what relative "grit" it will sand to, in other words, for example, "a green scotchbrite pad gives you the equivalent finish of 600 grit wet 'n' dry sandpaper". So, really there isn't much difference between each, I would assume though that there may be some difference in finish between abralon/scotchbrite vs. sandpaper, but if you use the equivalent pad/paper, the difference would be insignificant at best.

I agree with you on these points. One advantage to the Scotchbrite pads is the way they conform to odd shapes.

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Comment #3--------Typical wet/dry sandpaper also uses silicon carbide, same abrasive as abralon pads. I'm not sure I see how sandpaper will wear down faster than the abralon if they are both the same material. With the sandpaper, you will want to make sure you rinse it good to get the resin off the surface as the water does not flow through the sandpaper like it does with the pad.

A lot of how long sandpaper lasts has to do with how the grit is bonded to the backing material, and what that backing material is. One of the reasons Abralon lasts so long is because they use good adhesives to attach very well-graded particles to durable backing. Vince's blue disks are similar in that respect. Also, because of the flow-through design, Abralon is less prone to clogging, which as you pointed out, reduces the effectiveness of normal sandpaper. I've seen different brands of Scotchbrite-style pads show different longevity, too. I've got some no-name white pads from Rockler that tend to wear out pretty quickly. But I've got some dark gray pads made by 3M that seem to last forever. Like sandpaper, I suspect it's all in how they stick the abrasives onto the backing media, and how durable that media is.
 
ok this is intersting but your mentioning more colors than i have ever seen,, the ones i have seen are white, gray, maroon and green. where are these others coming from and this is directed to anyone thats up on this abralon stuff.. for flat work whats your prefernce and where do you get it at.. i have used the white and the gray and those came from A&H abrasives and seem to work well.. but if there are better or more grit choices as has been shown here i could use a few more grits..thanks for the info Dan:thumb::thumb: and vaughn as well:thumb::thumb:
 
I have only bought at the HW store so far but recently found an article where the guys were talking about Mirka stuff.

I found these guys have good pricing on the Mirka Stuff and the price list is in the cat here.

Someone also mentioned to look at the Abranet type discs available from Mirka too. They are apparently much cheaper than the pads. Only thing is they fit the ROS so its not a solution for hand sanding. By comparison to LV, Homestead Finishing is half the price on the Abranet pads which LV stocks.

Here is another source for Mirka this time a sponge 3 inch pad which might suite the spinny action better.
 
Dan thanks for the info. I use the Gray, Maroon, Green and White in the scotchbrite. I also like the abralon from 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit. I really like in on small projects.
 
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