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As mentioned by others, these discs fall off. In my first real attempt to use the coarse, it flew off at high speed, slicing my thumb to the bone requiring multiple stitches. (Actually bounced off my belt before hitting my hand holding the sander - good thing it wasn't an inch higher or lower). I've contacted microplane because I think this thing is a genuine consumer safety issue, but they have ignored me.
Within minutes on each of the three disks I tried, the velcro began to fail and couldn't hold the disk in place, making the disk completely unusable for anything but hand sanding. I saw these and thought they would be worth a try. Unfortunately, the velcro lasts just about long enough for you to try the disks, then begins to fail. Seems like a fine idea that was poorly executed. I would be willing to try them again if they improved either the quality or amount of velcro used.
I asked a sales associate if they were any good. It looked like bad tearout from a dull and badly tuned plane. This means that the Microplane discs are rather prone to falling off when you lift the sander off the workpiece. It was able to clean up the tearout rather nicely until the disc falling off the sander for the fourteenth time started getting on my nerves. I thought they seemed like they were worth a try as I have had much success with Microplane products both in my woodshop and kitchen.So now I go to use them. The first problem I found was that the gradual warp of the stainless steel discs is just slightly stronger than the holding power of the velcro backing. This seemed like a good idea when I saw it. I'll stick with a Surform rasp if I need this effect.Then I moved on to the medium.
I used a tiny chisel to get the little fragments of the Microplane disc (that were supposed to last 36 times longer than a normal sanding disc) out of the wood. Severe wood removal with no control. I will definitely keep using Microplanes, just not in conjunction with my random-orbit. If the backs of these things were completely covered in velcro rather than small pads, this would probably be a non-issue.I decided to sand some pine 2x10 stock. He said he liked them and reiterated that you should only sand bare wood. The disc worked about as well as 80 grit but accomplished the work in half the time.
At higher sander speeds, the disc can fly across the shop. The coarse disc tore the hell out of the wood. But upon closer inspection of the board, I noticed that several of the stainless steel teeth from the Microplane were embedded in it.So I gave up. The discs, I've found, are useful for hand sanding but I'll certainly never buy another set.
And when I was done, I could still use the same disc on a different project.But when restoring the butcher block's legs, the Microplane was only useful to remove the top layer of grime (without clogging, I might add). Mount a Microplane disc on that same tool, and it becomes a "finish planer," one you'd use after a planer (like the Bosch 3365 5amp Planer).Here's an example of when I use mine. It isn't. It's being marketed in three different "grits:" fine, medium, and coarse.
Think about it this way: an ordinary random orbit sander (like my Makita BO5010 2 Amp Palm Grip Random Orbit Sander with Cloth Dust Bag) with sand paper is a finish sander, the tool you'd use after a belt sander. Microplane made a mistake marketing this product as sandpaper. I needed real sandpaper to achieve an acceptable finish on the legs. The full velcro made the disc harder to remove from the tool, but it had the significant advantage of preventing dust from clogging the velcro surface on the sander; the strips make things easier, until you find that you have to scrape sawdust from the hooks and loops. I recently restored a Boos butcher block -- 4 cubic feet of hard maple -- that had been left in a garage for more than a year.
In short, the Microplane discs are useful once you've figured out when to use them.One note about the different versions of this product floating around. But second and more important, the newer discs have many more (smaller) cutting holes, making them much better tools. It doesn't behave like sandpaper nor does it yield the same results as sandpaper, despite the fact that it's used on a sander.Rather, Microplane discs transform a random orbit sander into a different type of tool. But there have been two versions (that I know about) of the fine and medium discs. Rather than blow through a small pile of sanding belts or a large pile of sanding discs, I took an 1/8 inch off each surface with my Bosch 3365, and then cleaned everything up with a single Microplane (medium grit) disc on my Makita sander.
I got a glass-smooth, *flat* surface, rather than the scratched, uneven surface I would've gotten with a belt sander, and in a fraction of the time. The first difference is that the older versions had full velcro backing, while the current ones have a half-dozen velcro strips. Unfortunately, the manufacturer hasn't come out with a new-and-improved version of the coarse grit disc, so I suggest avoiding it until they do.So I recommend the newer version wholeheartedly (specifically the medium grit), but they lose a rating star for (1) the aforementioned velcro mess, (2) the misleading marketing, and (3) the fact that if you accidentally drop your sander with a Microplane disc installed, the disc is ruined.
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