Have you ever re-cut your pads?

Bence · 09-06-05, 06:08

Yesterday I discussed a few things with a pad rep. When I told him that my cutting pad began to show wear, he asked me if I cut my pads.

He said that using the rotary and a blade, just cut the worn layer off. Spin it slowly and hold the knife or blade against the material. If both the machine and the blade are fastened securely enough, it will ensure and expose a new, proper, flat surface and the pad will work ok.

Thoughts?

Setec Astronomy · 09-06-05, 06:30

In theory, that sounds fine....but it sounds like you might need to wreck a hundred pads practicing before you got the technique down...

kgb · 09-07-05, 02:35

My thoughts are that the pads are only $10 at the most and last a decent amount of time so just buy a new one.

UnsanePyro · 09-07-05, 04:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

In theory, that sounds fine....but it sounds like you might need to wreck a hundred pads practicing before you got the technique down...

Couldn't hurt if the pad was already no good anymore though. It's worth a shot.

Setec Astronomy · 09-07-05, 04:40

Sure, it couldn't hurt, I'm just saying that my gut feel is you would never get it true enough by hand to be usable, unless your 9-5 job is truing foam pads. I'm sure that some sort of fixture could be made to do this, but there will be some trial and error in the design. I'm sure the pad guys know just how to do this, as that is how they make the pads...but it is at cross purposes for them to tell us how to recondition our pads instead of buying new ones. Perhaps perusing some of the factory pictures at CMA (I think that's where the LC factory pics were) would shed some light.

Bence · 09-07-05, 05:15

He told me that I don't have to worry because of the irregularities I may cause. Of course, the better the cut, the better the finish, but waffle pads have quite big hills and valleys. Okay, these are usually fine finishing pads, but as we move on the foam ppi scale (hardness), these irregularities must be gradually smaller and the pads will work nevertheless...

Setec Astronomy · 09-07-05, 05:20

So then why do you care about "wear"? If you don't want/need a nice flat surface, why bother with truing the pad?

Bence · 09-07-05, 06:43

Because the countless little cuts compromise the cutting ability. The pad starts to become weaker. But I am sure you've observed this tendency as well. Basically I just want to restore the proper cutting power; that's it.

animes2k · 09-07-05, 01:02

how about one of these? I've got one and it works nicely, both for spurring/cleaning and reshaping/cutting as needed (when used with a rotary... pretty much useless on the PC):

DuoSpur

Brandon1 · 09-07-05, 05:38

I cut one of my old pads this afternoon. Cut about 1/2 inch off. Not exactly flat, but its really close. All I did was put the chicago on 300rpms and take a knife to the side. Worked so fast I was amazed.

Bence · 09-07-05, 05:42

Amen, bro! I tried it too, and everything is FINE! I removed only about 3 mms.

94BlkStang · 09-07-05, 07:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon1

I cut one of my old pads this afternoon. Cut about 1/2 inch off. Not exactly flat, but its really close. All I did was put the chicago on 300rpms and take a knife to the side. Worked so fast I was amazed.

Sounds like a winner and what do you have to lose if given the choice of tossing the old or recutting it for some more useful passes. Good advice today.