Did some tinkering a couple of weeks ago when my nail files (which I use as sanding sticks) had worn out and my soft sanding block was scrapped for being utterly useless.
I've got a descent selection of high grade wet & dry sandpaper at home for finish sanding knife handles and similar so I first cut fitting strips and glued 600 grit on the worn out nail files. I just used spray glue and this worked really well - and they are so much better than any commercial sanding stick I've seen on the market.
I also use quite a lot of semi-soft sanding blocks for sanding surfaces that are not flat so I glued whole sheets of sandpaper to a piece of EVA foam (the puzzle piece floor mat that people use in garages and gyms) that I had at home. 240 and 600 grit. I then cut out a few different size sanding blocks and set out to test them whilst building a Tiger I tank. (I also made some 1200 grit pieces but they are only useful if you need to polish plastic I think and not for general sanding...)
EVA foam is just about perfect with regards to soft/hardness and when using wet & dry sandpaper the final product is flexible enough to conform enough to the shape you're sanding. Ordinary sandpaper is a bit too stiff so the sanding block isn't flexible enough, but wet & dry worked great!
I've been using these contraptions ever since and they are working so well I though I'd share.
This is probably something most of you have figured out already, but in case someone hasn't - get a tile of EVA foam and make sanding sticks/blocks to last a couple of years for virtually no money at all - and the quality is much better than any commercial product I've tried so far!
Also the ability to cut out whatever shape/size you need for the moment is a huge bonus. I've got a few triangular shaped sanding blocks I'm using for those hard to reach areas and it's almost too easy now
This is the 10 mm EVA foam I'm using.
I hope this was a useful tip for someone!
Bonus tip: You can make a couple of custom nail sanding blocks for your other half in any shape to score some brownie points You can even find EVA foam in different colours to really make them look extra fancy!
I've got a descent selection of high grade wet & dry sandpaper at home for finish sanding knife handles and similar so I first cut fitting strips and glued 600 grit on the worn out nail files. I just used spray glue and this worked really well - and they are so much better than any commercial sanding stick I've seen on the market.
I also use quite a lot of semi-soft sanding blocks for sanding surfaces that are not flat so I glued whole sheets of sandpaper to a piece of EVA foam (the puzzle piece floor mat that people use in garages and gyms) that I had at home. 240 and 600 grit. I then cut out a few different size sanding blocks and set out to test them whilst building a Tiger I tank. (I also made some 1200 grit pieces but they are only useful if you need to polish plastic I think and not for general sanding...)
EVA foam is just about perfect with regards to soft/hardness and when using wet & dry sandpaper the final product is flexible enough to conform enough to the shape you're sanding. Ordinary sandpaper is a bit too stiff so the sanding block isn't flexible enough, but wet & dry worked great!
I've been using these contraptions ever since and they are working so well I though I'd share.
This is probably something most of you have figured out already, but in case someone hasn't - get a tile of EVA foam and make sanding sticks/blocks to last a couple of years for virtually no money at all - and the quality is much better than any commercial product I've tried so far!
Also the ability to cut out whatever shape/size you need for the moment is a huge bonus. I've got a few triangular shaped sanding blocks I'm using for those hard to reach areas and it's almost too easy now
This is the 10 mm EVA foam I'm using.
I hope this was a useful tip for someone!
Bonus tip: You can make a couple of custom nail sanding blocks for your other half in any shape to score some brownie points
You can even find EVA foam in different colours to really make them look extra fancy!