Flap disc maintenance

[badabec]

Hello, is there a technique to ensure all the available abrasive flaps are used up?
How do I expose the remaining part of the flap? Once the initial bite has gone, I can't clear away the 'dead wood' to expose more abrasive. The disc goes blunt with at least 50% of the flap width still remaining but I can't see a way to expose it.
I find this especially with Roloc 50mm discs. The flaps are about 6mm wide, but I can never get to use all of it.

 

[brightspark]

if the abrasive is clogged run it over a polythene bag screwed up and it clears it

 

[graffian]

I know what you mean and have a bin of disks that are little use.
They have loads of visible abrasive but the surface is all shiny backing.

 

[atomant48]

Interesting point. Like you want to lift the hidden flaps up on top and then run them backwards. Must be a way.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

I usually just bin them... Not worth the time to sort them in a workshop tbh. They get billed as consumables anyway. I suppose in a home shop maybe worth it, but they're so cheap anyway?!

Would running them against a bench grinder wheel that's running work to deglaze them? In fact thinking about it I've only ever had the issue with really cheap disks. The better ones like klingspor, dronco, pferd etc I've not had it happen with.

 

[wyn]

I saw something a couple of years ago that works well for this.

Run the grinder at 90* onto a concrete floor..........it wears the backing down so you get to the thicker abrasive.
The diameter of the disc obviously gets smaller.

The pic is one i tried out.

The disc before

The position i used to wear it away

The disc after.

 

[James1979]

Search it on YouTube. There’s a few solutions but they’re all a variant on reducing the diameter of the backer.

As mine just get billed onwards it’s easier / cheaper to use them to the max and bin them rather than bill my time trying to shave them down.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Try using them briefly on some tougher metal to expose a new layer?

The trick to making a good disc is getting them tough enough so they don't wear away too quickly yet weak enough that they are constantly exposing new cutting edges as they get blunt.
If it's a repetitive job maybe try a few types of disc to see which works best but you should be able to get at least 90% use out of one.
Maybe more if you can hold the disc straighter than I can...

 

[Dcal]

But decent discs.
Pferd ones seem to cut and wear at the same rate.
They are the best I've used

 

[Dcal]

Buy

Bloody spell check.

 

[Morrisman]

Buy

Bloody spell check.

There is an edit button......

 

[123hotchef]

it does not happed so bad on the ceramic flap discs, orange ones I have but they are more expensive

 

[Gareth J]

Yea, just ham it onto a concrete block if I'm feeling stingy.

But to be honest, if you can limit using the tip/edge to hard to reach corners and use the grinder as flat as possible on flatter areas, they wear pretty sensibly anyway.

 

[Morrisman]

I usually just bin them... Not worth the time to sort them in a workshop tbh. They get billed as consumables anyway. I suppose in a home shop maybe worth it, but they're so cheap anyway?!

When they cost anywhere up to a fiver each I refuse to bin them so quickly, so I get a small pair of scissors and trim each flap back after a few weeks use.



(I may have made that up)

 

[Munkul]

sharp edges/corners will cut down flap discs better than rubbing on flat surfaces.

 

[gordon stephenson]

if the abrasive is clogged run it over a polythene bag screwed up and it clears it

As BS, to clean up clogged discs, rub the surface with a piece of hard plastic/nylon etc while running, Just takes seconds to do a great job.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

As BS, to clean up clogged discs, rub the surface with a piece of hard plastic/nylon etc while running, Just takes seconds to do a great job.

Also you can buy a special block for a few quid that's meant for belt sanders but works on all paper/cloth based abrasives.

 

[Morrisman]

As BS, to clean up clogged discs, rub the surface with a piece of hard plastic/nylon etc while running, Just takes seconds to do a great job.

Doesn’t it just melt into a hard mess?

 

[gordon stephenson]

No, Start in the centre and work outwards, As said quite a swift movement,

 

[roofman]

Just dig into the work harder and you will get your moneys worth believe me