Changing a Sanding Disc

I know many of us have probably seen this method or are aware of it. I know that watching some of my family members do things I have seen the "pros" do often makes it seem more doable. I used to pull the table, use a heat gun, chemicals and so forth to change out a disc. The bulk of the work came from waiting too long to do the job and from cheap discs with poor adhesive qualities. These things make removal a mess and require a lot of clean up. Better quality discs save you money by lasting longer and (more important at change time) coming off cleaner.

At any rate I just changed this disc in a matter of minutes. Peel off the old disc. Run your hand over the surface to be sure that it is clear of any residue. I then wipe mine with VM&P Naphtha but, the cleaner of your choice will do.



I peel back the top half of the plastic exposing the adhesive. I then tuck this folded back half of the disc into the machine and line up the disc. Press the exposed adhesive to get a grip.



Rotate the disc to expose the still covered adhesive portion. Peel off the rest of the adhesive covering and press into place.



I then sand something briefly and run the rubber cleaner across the surface to make sure things are seated.



All done.

Thanks Glenn. I have yet to change the paper on my sander so this will come in handy.

kinda off topic here glenn, but where do you use the disc sander vrs your edge sander?

I find the disc works better for me when rough shaping, rounding a corner or "adjusting" a miter when the material to be removed is more than I want to do completely by hand with a shooting board. The table to disc relationship can be set pretty precisely so, it is handy for accurately sizing small parts as well. I also have a sort of jig I rigged up that allows me to sand what will become exposed end grain in a manner that leads to a finished surface (G&G style finger joints for example).