Creating DIY Sanding Sticks

My needle file sets do come with round and curved surfaces.  And these files are very fine pitch, so the scratches are quite fine, equivalent to pretty fine sandpaper.

They do not last forever.  Eventually they will get dull or clogged with stuff I cannot get all out, but they are not that expensive when I do need a new set (about once every three to four years).

Files leave to many small grooves which you have to sand anyway so why not start with sand paper.

Bill

oNmJuw[/url]Sanding Stick-01 by N. T. Izumi, on Flickr:600:0]

These are my original Mk-1 sanding sticks, made in the 1980s from ABS "T" sections.  The sandpaper was CA glued to the sticks, meaning that new ones had to be made every time they wore out.

psLd3N[/url]Sanding Stick-02 by N. T. Izumi, on Flickr:600:0]

Now I use thin and foam backed double sided tape to attach the sandpaper.  This allows easy replacement of worn paper, and allows me to reuse the sticks.  I color code mine for easy ID during builds.

pJYuzZ[/url]Sanding Stick-04 by N. T. Izumi, on Flickr:600:0]

I also use pretty much anything else to make special shaped sanders.  The teeny ones are used to get into tight areas.  The red one in the back is made from Dymo tape, the stuff used to make plastic tape labels.

psLLCB[/url]Sanding Stick-05 by N. T. Izumi, on Flickr:600:0] 

The foam tape backed stick on the right is used on curved areas like fuselages and gun barrels.  Since the foam tape I use sticks poorly to bare plastic, and really looses it's grip when wet, I CA glue it to the stick.  Thin double sided tape is used to attach sandpaper to the foam tape.  When the paper wears out, it gets stripped off, leaving the foam tape behind.

Hope this helped.

If you're going to use wet/dry sanding medium then you'll want to secure it with CA glue.

Don Stauffer

Just wondering, what is advantage of sandpaper sticks vs needle files or other miniature files?

Just wondering, what is advantage of sandpaper sticks vs needle files or other miniature files?

I concur with Real G,  double sided foam tape is the way to go. It's clean and quick and so cheap that when the sandpaper is worn you can just toss it and make another in a jiffy.

Hang on, I'll take some pics of some home made sanding sticks that have worked very well.  I use sheet plastic and structural shapes ("T") as the stick, wet-n-dry for sandpaper, and double sided and foam backed tape to stick them together. I have never really used them wet, but I think they would survive for a short time. Using tape instead of glue allows the sandpaper to get changed when worn out.  The best thing is that you can cut any shape to get into those hard to reach areas that we all encounter.  I'll take some photos showing how the sticks are made and post them tomorrow.

I do have Elmer's rubber cement.  I'll try it.

If I were you I'd use rubber cement. It isn't as messy as contact cement. It has one big weakness: it dries up and cuts loose after a few weeks. For this particular application that's actually an advantage: when the sandpaper gets worn out you can peel it off the stick.

You can get rubber cement at office supply stores, and anyplace that sells drafting supplies. Be sure to follow the instructions: brush a thin coat onto each surface, let it dry, and press them together.

OK. I will buy a contact cement.

If you want to use wet/dry sand paper, I would consider using super glue, contact cement, or some other general purpose glue. Elmer's mould attach the paper, but if it gets wet the paper  will separate from the stick. Double sided tape might work as long as you keep it dry.