After watching the video that someone (Gene?) posted demonstrating these discs, I was itching to try some out. Thsi week Taylor Tools not only has a complete stock, but a 10% off sale so I ordered some 120, 150, and 180 grit 5" discs. This is after just a brief test, and I intend to keep trying them out. But, I took a roughly 10" x 10" scrap piece of cherry that was in desperate need of cleaning and started sanding with some 120 grit Cubitron. I was using a Bosch 5" sander, hooked to a VS vac that I always slow down to the lowest speed with the sander (higher speeds suck the sander into the wood, mimicking a lot of applied pressure on the sander). To be honest, the results were disappointing. I had a good amount of dust on the non slip sanding pad I was using to hold the work piece, and the pad on the sander was actually pretty full of dust. When I picked the sander up off the wood, there was quite a pile centered where the disc was. This was also a fair amount of visible dust in the air, using cherry made it a lot more visible. Now, this is hardly conclusive and I intend to speed the vac up and try some more. With the Cubitron, I may not have the problem with higher speeds since it vents very differently than the 8 hole discs I normally use. So much for dust collection, for the sanding function these clearly cut faster than the Klingspor alum. oxide I usually use. In less than 2 minutes per side, I had the piece presentable. Anyway, if anyone want to take advantage of the Taylor sale, use the code "black10"...supposed to be good until 12/3 (and I believe it is for anything they sell).

Edit, I added a pic. You can see the dust on the sander's pad, some on the mat I used, and a pile on the wood. Like I said, this was hardly a concusive test adn i'll try a few more pieces of wood along with turning my vac up and we'll see how they do.

Edited November 23, 20214 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Thanks for the review, Fred. 

Added tags. Please feel free to add more.

Thanks for the info Fred.  Can you tell us how the venting is different for these discs?

Sorry. No tags for me Gene, I just don't see the value.

 

Cal, there are no holes on these discs....it's more like having a window screen fastened to your sander, that is the air is coming in from all around the pad. With the 8 hole discs, if those holes are on the workpiece it restricts the amount of air that the vac can draw. That results (with this model sander) in the sander being sucked into the wood. That pressure can wear out a hook pad quickly, so I've always reduced the suction from the vac. Maybe with these discs that extra suction is needed. All speculation on my part, of course.

Thanks, @Fred W. Hargis Jr, I saw where these work well for woodturning, too. Probably a different situation as to dust extraction. 

 

Test video- 

 

 

 

 

I see that Mirka Abranet has a line called "Ace" that uses the ceramic technology- https://www.supergrit.com/ace.html

Edited November 23, 20214 yr by lew

I've been using the Cubitron that has the spiral pattern holes.  I don't see airborne dust, but the ROS gathers a very fine dust on the housing.  This spiral pattern has a cotton backing, and the cotton backing fails (disk won't stick to ROS hooks) well before the grit on the working surface appears gone.  Nevertheless,  the spiral pattern version did quite well.  I'm keeping the used pads because they can be used on sanding blocks.  Grit seems impervious to wear.  The cotton backing versions were available for about 15 cents in a sample pack, but I'll never use some of the grits in the sample, so effective per disk cost might be almost $1.  50-piece boxes were available for $40, all one grit.

     Now there is a new version "710W" that is a net backing, and the grit is applied to the net in a pattern that's about 50% coverage.  I haven't had a chance to try this version, but I did buy a pack.  It's now available on Amz for 52 cents a sheet.  I think what 3M found was that they simply didn't need that much grit surface since the grit lasts so long.  I suspect the net will allow a bit better dust collection.  More later (after I'm done finishing this project!!)

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B098SPMB92/?coliid=I3LTSF9LAZCC7I&colid=13Q97CIPJQ07P&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

Executive Summary:  the 3M Cubitron does seem to be a huge improvement.

6 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Sorry. No tags for me Gene, I just don't see the value.

According to @John Morris, the tags help in searches of the forum. In this instance, for folks wanting to know about 3M sanding discs. 

He gave me the job of asking folks to please use them. Don't mean to nag. Just doing my job. 

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

According to @John Morris, the tags help in searches of the forum. In this instance, for folks wanting to know about 3M sanding discs. 

He gave me the job of asking folks to please use them. Don't mean to nag. Just doing my job. 

I love tags!!!!! Thank you Gene! I added Bosch as well.

Thanks Fred for your thorough review and experience with this product. Appreciate you taking the time to test and make the post.

You're welcome Dave (and others)...it if was useful. No more new posts for me, I guess. But to continue this one I did order a new backing pad for my sander thinking the age of mine (it's the original, and the sander is at least 15 years old) may have inhibited the DC function. So next steps will be to try the new pad and increase the speed of the vac, then see what happens. I'm cheering for these things...but would like to see better dust collection.

Edited November 24, 20214 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Thanks Fred & Lew for the add'l info, much appreciated.

Geeze @Fred W. Hargis Jr, I hope my tag nag doesn't dissuade you from making new posts. You're input is valuable and, we certainly enjoy reading your posts and we've learned a lot from them.

Edited November 24, 20214 yr by Gene Howe

Not at all Gene, please don't take it personal.

Edited November 24, 20214 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

No more new posts for me, I guess.

 

 

Put them in Free For All.  Only place where there are---------No tags required.

4 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

You're welcome Dave (and others)...it if was useful. No more new posts for me, I guess. But to continue this one I did order a new backing pad for my sander thinking the age of mine (it's the original, and the sander is at least 15 years old) may have inhibited the DC function. So next steps will be to try the new pad and increase the speed of the vac, then see what happens. I'm cheering for these things...but would like to see better dust collection.

Hope to read your follow up results Fred. I value your input, insight, experience and truly unbiased opinion on this topic as well as so many others.

 

BTW, tag, you're it!

Edited November 24, 20214 yr by Grandpadave52
Typo

Fred I am with everyone else love to read your stuff. If the tag police come after you I will testify at the trial

Hello, I am new to this forum but came across this thread while researching the Cubitron mesh sanding disks.  I purchased a large supply of these disks based on the review done by Katz-Moses but I am having real problems with them.  The trouble is that they will not stick to the sanding pads.  I have tried them on both DeWalt and Festool sanders and the disks just do not stick, they immediately begin to wander off center and as soon as you lift the sander off the workpiece the disk goes flying off.  How were you guys able to even use these?  Does 3M have a different kind of hook & look and they only work on 3M sanders?  Nothing is mentioned about that in the product description.  I've tried contacting KM Tools several times but get no response.  I would appreciate any help because I have a lot of these disks that are worthless to me now.

That wasn't a problem for me, they stuck right to the H&L pad on my Bosch. Are you having trouble with regular discs sticking to the pad? I would suspect your pad is worn and maybe needs replacing. After that I have nothing....except maybe contact 3M.

12 hours ago, Brad Nailor said:

Hello, I am new to this forum but came across this thread while researching the Cubitron mesh sanding disks.  I purchased a large supply of these disks based on the review done by Katz-Moses but I am having real problems with them.  The trouble is that they will not stick to the sanding pads.  I have tried them on both DeWalt and Festool sanders and the disks just do not stick, they immediately begin to wander off center and as soon as you lift the sander off the workpiece the disk goes flying off.  How were you guys able to even use these?  Does 3M have a different kind of hook & look and they only work on 3M sanders?  Nothing is mentioned about that in the product description.  I've tried contacting KM Tools several times but get no response.  I would appreciate any help because I have a lot of these disks that are worthless to me now.

First Brad, welcome to The Patriot Woodworker. Glad you found us and look forward to your on-going participation as a regular here. A lot of collective knowledge, experience and just great people.

 

To your question, I have no personal experience with this specific 3M product so like Fred suggested maybe your sander(s) H&L pads are worn excessively, IDK. I certainly would reach out directly to 3M vs KMT. Perhaps you have a bad batch run?

Did you get the (first version) solid-pattern disks with the cotton backing (and holes), or the mesh-backed partial-pattern version?  I found that the original cotton-backed disks had so much grit that the front (grit) side was seemingly untouched after long use, but the cotton backing started sloughing off and wouldn't hold to the sander hooks (had a few frisbees).  I'm still using those "old" cotton back disks for hand sanding.  The new (mesh/partial grit pattern) design has "cured" that by reducing the total amount of grit (looks like about in half), to the point that the mesh is still good when the grit is gone.