I'm lucky and my work uses large 12" diameter scotch brite wheels. When they get down to 6" or so, they are considered worn out and are thrown away. I made a bushing to fit them to my bench grinder and now have an endless supply of free wheels!
Oh man, I love when things work out like that. One man's junk is another man's treasure. I have repurposed so many things people just give or throw away. My mind is always working with this question: Hmmm, what can I do with that? Lol I seem to always come up with something. Great score!
@@onestopfabshop3224 Many years back, I worked for an INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS Inventor of a "Trombone Valve" for the Musical Instrument with that name. At one point in his work, he did that "Figure Eight movement" that our Quinn Demonstrated so WELL! He had a 0.500 inch thick Plate Glass, with all edges Factory ground and probably 12X15 inches (or larger) as his Sanding BASE. My Point in Replying to you is, HE ONLY used the same Paper for ONE sanding, for either Aluminum OR brass ! ! ! After the days work, I would Empty his "waste paper bin" and All that 400 Grit Paper became MINE (after asking Permission First) ! ! ! He also had that Same Standard for his HOME SHOP MADE sliding table saw Blades: "X # of cuts" = NEW BLADE. I salvaged 30-40 Blades, 4 Inch Diameter, 0.060 Kerf and like 120 Teeth around the blade! BUT ~All that Stuff~ was ZERO Compared to watching a man who had the FIRST NEW Brass Valve Patent (for musical Instruments) since 1878 ! ! ! ! Weekly, our phone rang from Zurich, Switzerland, Sydney AUS, JAPAN, etc!!!!!!!!
You forgot to tell them the most important use of emery paper, taking the skin off your knuckles at an incredibly rapid rate when your hand slips off the part on which you are running eights.
I run a CNC lathe and a lot of parts that I make call for a 32 or 16 surface finish on 304 stainless. I can't tell you how many times that we've had problems with the surface finish, but I can't clean it up on the CNC lathe because of the tight tolerances and the lack of tool pressure. So, I give it to the manual lathe guy and he chucks it up and uses sandpaper to fix the surface finish. We've been able to save hundreds of parts over the years by using this method.
I dont know your parts but you could add an option stop before the cut off tool and use MDI to spin it or just switch to handle and use the continuous spin buttons and use the cloth that way then let the cut off tool run.
@@roydavis4136 Oddly enough, I finally figured that out. It depends on how bad the part is, but if it's not too bad I use automotive wet/dry sandpaper to clean it up. Thanks for the tip though.
Words from a pseudo-professional (three years full time on a lathe): I routinely use coarser grits than 320; for removing nasty tool marks and quickly zapping off a thou, 120 grit -- and sometimes even 60, believe it or not. 240 and 400 are regular finishing grades, and 600 for super-pimpin' gloss.
@@MyLonewolf25 There's a place for that, but I get plenty fine finishes for bearing surfaces, etc, with all dimensions within .0001", calibrated off gage blocks. 600 is usually overkill for that.
Scrap used with the witchcraft wheel had a nice blood sacrifice extractor dangling off the end. I am happy to see the goddess of buffing was happy with your work and no bleeding was required.
One thing they teach in metalsmithing is you sand in different directions: 120 vertical, 220 horizontal (for example) and run the 220 until you can't see the 120 scratches, and only then move to the 400. That's the most efficient way. On a lathe, you could run X grit for a bit, then stop the lathe and briefly scrub it axially to see if it has removed all the previous grit's deepest scratches.
Go buy a little one on eBay or amazon, a 9x12 is perfect for using sand paper. A Grade B plate is more than enough for most of what is needed. I always wanted a big precise granite plate, but I finally broke down about bought one of these, I use it all the time. And I don't feel bad about putting sand paper on it :) which I would have done it years ago
Haha yeah same. I guess everyone who has one does this though, Tom Lipton (Ox Tools) put out a video named 'Confessions of a surface plate abuser' not that long ago. And he's like a top tier, toolmaker level machinist. So if he does it then us lowly mortals don't have a chance in hell of resisting the temptation.
@@ericg7044 Tom Lipton did say that he has a dedicated surface plate for sanding and never brings abrasives near his trued plate(s). I'm still at the "flat wood is good enough" stage, lol, but will likely get a piece of glass soon.
Sanding Stones are my favorite. Being so cheap compared to constantly buying sandpaper and not requiring glue or tape, it give you the full surface of the stone to work.
I use the much higher grades (800, 1000, 2000) and a variety of polishing compounds for many of my projects. Of course, I cut custom motorcycle parts (grips, pegs, and such) but those are seen parts. Simple Green, soapy water are really good too for wet sanding
The best tip I received concerning the use of abrasives (in the context of woodworking, but also applies to metalworking) is not to select a grade according to the finish you want to achieve, but to always think in terms of the finish you are starting with. Thus, an abrasive should be regarded as a tool to remove the imperfections introduced by the previous tool, and that determines the selection of the grade. In the case of sanding, you therefore start with a grit that is approximately twice as fine as your existing finish whatever that may be. This will removes the optimum amount of material at the scale of the existing imperfections as fast and efficiently as possible and results in a new finish as fine as that grit. If you want to go further, you simply repeat this principle - selecting a grit size to optimally remove the marks of the previous grit, and so on and so forth. The net result is the minimum amount of material loss for any given finish in the shortest possible time.
If you want to get a good finish on a part while lapping and you don't have high grit paper, turn over the emery paper and use the back. It was a trick I was taught during hand fitting in my apprenticeship and it works well, especially on aluminium
I used to use Emery cloth when I was a kid but when I got older I began using silicone carbide sheets in various grits from 36 grit all the way up to 5000 grit. It finishes materials better and it creates a more reliable /duplicatable finish. Also, for nice finishes on the lathe don't forget your long angle lathe files. They do a very nice job but it takes a little bit of skill and technique to master their use.
Ok so… short time follower, but these videos, ALL of your videos are “let’s make something, but wait teaching moment!” And I can’t thank you enough! Little backstory is I grew up as the son of a tool and die machinist who was a walking precision micrometer! I left for the Navy never to smell hot chips and cutting oil again! Well life is funny and has it’s ways (slight chuckle) and I found myself in a career where we often need to fabricate our own parts and yet everyone was scared of the “model shop” as we call it. With an ole Bridgeport and Monarch, long story short, I lost the opportunity to pick his brain about this stuff WAYs too early and you have been a source of knowledge and inspiration from then forward. I will be moving to the patreon side and look forward to maybe collaborating with you in the future! Thank you so much! -Jesse
One thing to note about glass is that it's a lot more flexible than one might think, we can even see it bending just a bit in the video around 14:07 This probably isn't an actual problem (barring a very bumpy table), but local glaziers might have thicker glass than what is found in picture frames available cheaply and could be worth a visit. Or phone call, given current circumstances.
I use glass, but when I decided to use glass I just waited until I saw a discarded piece of tabletop glass or some other thick stuff on Craigslist/side of the road. It was good practice for cutting thick glass by the time I had a nice square piece of the right size.
I absolutely love the detail you share in the technique, as well as the reasons why! I watch a lot of channels, but I genuinely think I learn the most from this one. Keep em coming!
I once jokingly suggested that you could be Mr Pete's daughter, well on your let's talk one to one section you sound like this old Tony's younger sister ! Really entertaining and very informative. Thank you.
If you're trying to get a really shiny finish, using 2000 grit and above, it's best to rinse off the emery before you use it, especially if you store it in the same place as the rougher stuff. It only takes a few errant coarse grains to ruin the finish.
I went to my local glass shop and asked him if he had any "drops" he could sell me. He asked what I was using it for and he hooked me up with two pieces of ¼" tempered glass cut to 10" x 12". Her even rounded the edges for me. I now have great surfaces sharpening and sanding. Another truck is to lightly wet the glass then set paper on it and it acts as a glue and holds the paper in place. 😀 I think I've watched about thirty of your videos now and some of them multiple times. I think you've earned my support. You will be the first and only creator I support in Patreon. 😀
Hi Quinn, I found you through This Old Tony. I like your video style, very laid back and welcoming. I really appreciate that you include little notes on screen/in your script about things that are otherwise never acknowledged. For example, when you said "tenths" you put the actual measurement on the screen. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Good overview. Some of us remember a time when we normally used Emery cloth, and Emery paper was the new kid on the block. The sheets were about the same size.
I've used scotch brite wheels to polish extruder tooling many times. You can use polishing compound with it to finish the polish. I made a mandrel to put small ones on my die grinder. They work great.
You are easily one of my absolute favorites among the machinists and creators here on TH-cam! You really inspire me (and thousands more around the world)! :):):):)
I love the idea of using recipe boxes for keeping different grits of abrasives! I don't machine(?), but I absolutely will be using this to organize my own hobby area!
I'm regularly using 1000 grid sandpaper for the small screws i need for my clicky pens. They need an actual mirror finish and oh boi is it sattisfying to be able to tell the color of your eyes in a 5mm diameter part :D The reason for the mirror finish is that i'm precision hotbluing them. And if you've never done it, i strongly recommend you try it some time. Just polish a part (actually it's not stricly nesessary) and heat it with a flame till it turns blue! This color makes me so happy ^^
I oven-baked a blacksmithing project I made once, and it turned out a nice blue... so satisfying!! (Edit: point being that the blue is nice even without the mirror polish factor. With it, wow, even better!)
Great video and info! I’m glad you mentioned the “not to use it more than half of the width” and showed how to hold it but one thing to add to make it more graphical is NEVER roll the cloth around the piece you’re working on! MACHINE HAVE NO HEART!!!! That was my first and only accident I’ve ever had on the lathe, on my very first day of training (OJT)! My instructor was very experienced production (speed) machinist but not really an instructor. He just forgot the fact that anyone would be TEMPTED to roll the cloth under the palm of your hand and try to take as much material as possible in the least time to impress your instructor but, as anyone can predict by now, as soon as the end of that cloth catches under itself and closes the loop, automatically will pull in itself and your fingers in the process as any untrained/unharmed person will, also automatically, grab and hold that cloth to death to soon realize that there it goes your fingers under and between the cloth! And let me tell ya, one of the most excruciating pains I’ve ever experienced when my fingernail was smashed and pulled! I was lucky that I let it go fast enough to keep my fingernail and not break my finger, but the pain stayed overnight to engrave the idea of how valuable was the safety measures and how hard and heartless is any machine! Please, keep doing your little talks about safety as most of us have never done machine work and nowadays being so easy to acquire machinery to get started, what makes it super dangerous no matter how harmless any operation may seen! Thank you!
A small add for our community - those big rubber “erasers” that we use to clean sanding belts also do a great job of cleaning a taped or glued lapping surface using emery paper.
I notice you've removed the chuck guard on the lathe, now I'm not beating you up about this coz I spent the best part of 35 years arguing with people whose "raison d'etre" was apparently to fit every conceivable type of guard on my machine til it was impossible to do the work. I solved the problem by removing the guards to do the work and refitting them when I knew an inspection was due, as a hobbyist you don't have such problems. Keep up the good work. :-)
Oh I wish that was true for hand satin finish. When I am hand sanding a knife to get a nice satin finish, if you wet the paper or run it dry, it doesn't make a difference on the finish. Wet helps avoiding galling from the paper clogging and makes it last longer
I have had good results in polishing surfaces by using Abranet sanding mesh. One advantage in using this material is that it does not clog in use. It is available in many different grades to suit different applications. Assume this is available in your neck of the woods.
I have polished many hydraulic rick hammer buts with 400 grit off of a roll. No lathe, but I would hang it vertically. Start with a piece of it wrapped around a file to take off the high spots, listening to when they got smooth, then taking a long strip and wrapping it clear around 540 degrees (282 degrees celcius) so both ends were pointing the same direction and the paper was at an angle to the bit. Then pull and "push", working my way up and down. Once things were looking pretty good, get a new piece and wrap it the opposite direction to get a cross hatch. Then keep using the same worn, loaded piece both directions until I could hear it getting real smooth. Finally spray some WD on it and keep working it until I was bored and it was shiny. The used paper really works good for getting a shine because it's like using a higher grit. I do not recommend wrapping it all the way around on a lathe.
Well buggar me Miss Blondie taught me something today . Using emery on a mandrel to hold small parts . I have not and do not use CA glue . . I have no surface plate but i do have a 20 mm thick Perspex that is flat I also use water on wet/dry as easy to wash in bucket of water to remove waste and keep paper clean
I've been using one for almost a year now and I love it. It's not too aggressive, and is long lasting unless you're deburring sharp edges perpendicular to wheel rotation (it will start shaving off the scotchbright; if you deburr parallel to wheel rotation first, it will leave a small groove in the wheel, but not eat the wheel as fast.) They are pricey.
I broke my knuckle getting too close to a chuck that was spinning at 2000rpm. I shook it off at the time but it really messed me up for the better part of 6 months...Now I use LONGER pieces of sandpaper/emery paper/emery cloth.
Thanks for sharing. I use often grades 300 and 600 and sometimes even 2000 grits. Hobbyist or not but your skills are far above any regular hobbyist. I have learned some tricks from you and now refurbishing my workshop to serve better.
Good presentation. I use emery as most of us do but I start out at 80 grit if I am trying to remove rust or a bad finish. I use a piece of glass also but I have glued a piece of tool box no skid liner to the bottom to keep it from sliding around. I have also used a piece of granite tile such as the kind used for countertops. I have found it to be very flat.
Very nice. I was taught the figure eight technique by my machinist/ toolmaker mentor when I first started. I spent the second half of my career computer programming so I had forgotten using the emery paper on a lathe, something I now remember doing regularly way back when. I have been using just the emery cloth on the lathe. Pretty comprehensive. Thanks!
Another excellent video ... Yes it answers the questions I had about using Emery paper. Nice that someone actually takes time to do so and it's not assumed we know the information.
Another thorough and entertaining handling of a topic - thank you. You, my dear, do not need a witch wheel to be a TH-cam hero - consider it a mission accomplished . Your figure 8s are impressive. I am secretly hoping for a triple salchow one day... 🤓
Thanks Quinn, Another great video, one trick I was told by a knife maker was to use windex (A brand of window cleaner here in Australia) As a lubricant for wet and dry emery paper. It works well an is cheap.
I used it as a coolant for drilling once. It works very well, but it also seemed to accelerate the formation of rust. Something to keep in mind if using it with carbon steel.
Hi Quinn, great content once again. If I may interject briefly, as a former fabricator in a glass fabrication plant, i can assure you that glass is not flat. It comes in various degrees of "bowing" depending on the heat treatment, size, thickness etc. Most not heat treated glass is fairly flat but thin glass of that kind is extremely flexible and it will take the average shape of the work surface you put it on. Hope this helps
You can also wrap long parts with the gritside of the emory papir against the part a few times and then clamp it down on the vise if it is a strange shaped part with only a few points of impact even with a strip of emory against the vice!
With the emery cloth put the ends in the tool holder with a spacer(to clamp down)that way you dot have to hold it and you can apply a lot of pressure, it works a treat cheers from OZ.
my go-to sanding surface is a glass cutting board. About 8 mm thick (much more sturdy than picture frame glass), and it sits on rubber feet. I place this on a plastic serving tray, so I can use lots of water without making a mess. I sand a lot of plastic, and that really clogs up the sandpaper, so just wetting the sandpaper isn't enough.
I so enjoy your channel and apologize I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to keep up. Now I have some episodes to catch up on. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
Nice summery. I often use the wet on the bottom of the paper between the glass and the paper. This makes the paper hold on to glass with surface tension.
I remember using this stuff in shop class a lot of years ago. I can't remember what grit it might have been, don't know if I even took notice back then, it was long narrow strips so I guess it was a roll of it around there someplace. I appreciate the suggestion of 320 grit as being a good place to start. On glass, no picture frames to steal any out of around here, but I *did* happen to scrap out a number of flatbed scanners a while back (all of them SCSI-interface so pretty much useless these days unless you wanted to add a SCSI card to your computer :-) and I *did* keep the glass, figuring that it might prove to be useful for something. You've just shown me what it's likely to be useful for...
Hello Quinn - have you heard of the process of fescalising? I saw a video of it somewhere on youtube and can't for the life of me remember where it is. It's where a ball bearing is pressed against a roughly machined piece and the ball flattens all the high spots. It gave a really nice finish on the example I saw.
I have three pieces of counter top scraps that I used diamond lapping compound and rubbed them together to get it flat. It ended up quite rough, but that made it prefect to lapp my CPU IHS
A tip from someone who isn’t a machinist of any kind but still loves machining: There are these rubber blocks used for cleaning the surface of skateboard griptape or belt grinder belts. You can use them to get a lot more life from your clogged up emery paper/cloth. It doesn’t stop the paper wearing down though, so you still need to watch out for the 320 becoming a 600 over time etc.
My favourite way to emery longer pieces is to clamp a band in the lathe's toolpost, start at the chuck, and just let a very fine feed rate send the emery down toward the tail.
Hi (Quin) Blondihacks Regarding Emery Paper you only need Grain 600. You make an Emery Paper eg a round bar came paper on this round bar you wrap paper around, you make 3 pieces with the same grain, you use the first one until it is worn, then you take the next one, you understand what happens. now you have 3 Emery Paper with different grains. the first is maybe grain 950 the next is maybe grain 800, you understand what happens then. You can also make these on a square rod. These I use for my jewelry, I have nothing but the 3 and one for wet polishing. These are some really good videos you make. Thumbs up all 10. HI Ivan (Denmark)
What about putting a piece of glass on the surface plate? I assume the glass is reasonably uniform in thickness, and the plate would keep it from flexing on the bench.
Hadn’t heard of the trick of doing figures of 8 when using emery paper (or sandpaper when working in wood for that matter) on a flat surface, or using a piece of glass as a flat surface - thanks for the top tips! 👍🏻
Emery paper is kinda ok to hold unusual or cast parts on the mill. I use a slip of cardboard that will squish. I also use cardboard to protect the vise jaws from rough sawn material.
Great video. Good info. You should also mention P grade paper. People use it interchangeably but that will get you in trouble. P320 grade is not the same as 320 it's coarser. I have a conversion chart that I downloaded to help with this confusion. Just search for P grade paper conversion chart. I also use a 12"x12" piece of granite tile from the big box store, for sanding. Works great!
Totally binging on your videos right now! 100% am a surface plate abuser. I figure by the time I need that much precision, I'll probably want a better plate and can just keep using the old one for lapping. Windex works great as a lubricant for this too - also used on diamond sharpening plates for knives and woodworking tools
14:00 Sigh! What a beautiful world it would be if a country like Greece could resolve its odious debts with nutbutter! Fun Ian Fact: I have two Loonies actually. One is on my key ring and I ground one to use as a guitar pick [Oh, Cananada!]
I keep my emery cloth separate from my sand paper pile and use it when I need maximum flexibility (like lathe work). I use the sand paper to make dedicated sanding sticks by folding the entire sheet on a paint stirring stick or scrap wood and peel the old worn layers off as needed.
I lack machine tools still, but I am addicted to (mis) using what my dad calls "Emery paper", what the package calls "plumber's sand cloth" - a rather coarse Emery cloth for cleaning up copper pipes before sweating them. It's much better suited for jamming into weird little spaces and not falling apart unlike cheap paper-based abrasives. Wrap around a pencil, etc... I like to think of your channel as "aspirational content": maybe one day I'll have machine tools and (more challenging) time to use them...
Another source of glass is old scanners or multifunction printers. I have found it to be slightly thicker than cheap picture frame glass, and it has nicely chamfered edges so you are less likely to slice a finger open due to careless handling.
I love you Quinn, I have been meaning to request a video on abrasives because no one else, etc. - and you knew that even though I never got my a.... in gear to actually send that request! Amazing!
At 14:07 you can see in the reflection that the glass is not enough :-P - it bends under your finger pressure! So glass is only going to be flat when it is on something flat. How about... a surface plate? Ok, ok, now I really am going!
@@onestopfabshop3224 If I had a surface plate, I’d keep it far away from anything abrasive. At least... I’d try. Because the grit will get in between glass and plate. Grit gets _everywhere_ :) Any port in a storm, of course....
Tile stores sell granite tiles 12" x 12" and up. I also have a 18" square porcelain that seems like it's extremely flat (not surface plate flat of course). Most of these tiles are only a few bucks each.
We usualy use this technice to get the final dimensions, if we are a few microns above the desired dimensions. I find it bretter to do this, then do an other cut, and be under the desired dimensions.
I have a huge package of 3m crocus cloth paid $10 bucks for it and I know its worth a lot more! I don’t know what grit it is it only has 3M part number 2435
Here is a hobo (or cheapscake) tip- I bought 3 g640 granite tiles 200x200x50mm .. 1.5 eur each. Get yourself some corundum/garnet powder, and after 8 hours of 3 plate method - you have yorself 3 perfectly flat surfaces. I use one as a small surface plate, one for emery - and one is spare
Also thick sheets of plate glass are molecularly flat and really cheap. They serve as really good base plates for sanding, so you don't mangle up your surface plate.
Flat and hard could be 3/4” float glass. As a woodworker (sorry) it what I use for lapping plane soles and checking parts. It’s as flat as the earth apparently!
cloth holds dimension better. For close tolerances where your trying to polish down to the correct dia. having both edges of your emery cloth cutting evenly makes it much easier to get constant diameter. grit is depth of scratch, higher polish desired requires finer grit, but you knew that. good vid
I'm a pre-beginner - I guess that makes me a spectator. The beginner content is appreciated!
I'm lucky and my work uses large 12" diameter scotch brite wheels. When they get down to 6" or so, they are considered worn out and are thrown away. I made a bushing to fit them to my bench grinder and now have an endless supply of free wheels!
Oh man, I love when things work out like that. One man's junk is another man's treasure. I have repurposed so many things people just give or throw away. My mind is always working with this question: Hmmm, what can I do with that? Lol I seem to always come up with something. Great score!
@@onestopfabshop3224 Many years back, I worked for an INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS Inventor of a "Trombone Valve" for the Musical Instrument with that name.
At one point in his work, he did that "Figure Eight movement" that our Quinn Demonstrated so WELL!
He had a 0.500 inch thick Plate Glass, with all edges Factory ground and probably 12X15 inches (or larger) as his Sanding BASE.
My Point in Replying to you is, HE ONLY used the same Paper for ONE sanding, for either Aluminum OR brass ! ! !
After the days work, I would Empty his "waste paper bin" and All that 400 Grit Paper became MINE (after asking Permission First) ! ! !
He also had that Same Standard for his HOME SHOP MADE sliding table saw Blades: "X # of cuts" = NEW BLADE.
I salvaged 30-40 Blades, 4 Inch Diameter, 0.060 Kerf and like 120 Teeth around the blade!
BUT ~All that Stuff~ was ZERO Compared to watching a man who had the FIRST NEW Brass Valve Patent (for musical Instruments) since 1878 ! ! ! !
Weekly, our phone rang from Zurich, Switzerland, Sydney AUS, JAPAN, etc!!!!!!!!
@@madsighntist14 That's a cool story man. Thanks for sharing.
It's Saturday evening in Europa, and it's Blondihacks time! 😀
You forgot to tell them the most important use of emery paper, taking the skin off your knuckles at an incredibly rapid rate when your hand slips off the part on which you are running eights.
I run a CNC lathe and a lot of parts that I make call for a 32 or 16 surface finish on 304 stainless. I can't tell you how many times that we've had problems with the surface finish, but I can't clean it up on the CNC lathe because of the tight tolerances and the lack of tool pressure. So, I give it to the manual lathe guy and he chucks it up and uses sandpaper to fix the surface finish. We've been able to save hundreds of parts over the years by using this method.
I dont know your parts but you could add an option stop before the cut off tool and use MDI to spin it or just switch to handle and use the continuous spin buttons and use the cloth that way then let the cut off tool run.
@@roydavis4136 Oddly enough, I finally figured that out. It depends on how bad the part is, but if it's not too bad I use automotive wet/dry sandpaper to clean it up. Thanks for the tip though.
Words from a pseudo-professional (three years full time on a lathe): I routinely use coarser grits than 320; for removing nasty tool marks and quickly zapping off a thou, 120 grit -- and sometimes even 60, believe it or not. 240 and 400 are regular finishing grades, and 600 for super-pimpin' gloss.
yes
Thank you for adding “super-pimpin’” to my day. It feels right.
I work with aluminum molds and I end up with 3000 and i start with 320 and just work up from there
600? *laughs in 1000-5000 grit*
@@MyLonewolf25 There's a place for that, but I get plenty fine finishes for bearing surfaces, etc, with all dimensions within .0001", calibrated off gage blocks. 600 is usually overkill for that.
Scrap used with the witchcraft wheel had a nice blood sacrifice extractor dangling off the end. I am happy to see the goddess of buffing was happy with your work and no bleeding was required.
One thing they teach in metalsmithing is you sand in different directions: 120 vertical, 220 horizontal (for example) and run the 220 until you can't see the 120 scratches, and only then move to the 400. That's the most efficient way. On a lathe, you could run X grit for a bit, then stop the lathe and briefly scrub it axially to see if it has removed all the previous grit's deepest scratches.
"We've all put emery paper on our surface plate." ha joke on you I don't even have a surface plate.
Go buy a little one on eBay or amazon, a 9x12 is perfect for using sand paper. A Grade B plate is more than enough for most of what is needed. I always wanted a big precise granite plate, but I finally broke down about bought one of these, I use it all the time. And I don't feel bad about putting sand paper on it :) which I would have done it years ago
Haha yeah same. I guess everyone who has one does this though, Tom Lipton (Ox Tools) put out a video named 'Confessions of a surface plate abuser' not that long ago. And he's like a top tier, toolmaker level machinist. So if he does it then us lowly mortals don't have a chance in hell of resisting the temptation.
@@ericg7044 I think the crime is doing it to a AA flat uber expensive plate. Get a cheap beater and dedicate it to that
@@ericg7044 Tom Lipton did say that he has a dedicated surface plate for sanding and never brings abrasives near his trued plate(s). I'm still at the "flat wood is good enough" stage, lol, but will likely get a piece of glass soon.
Sanding Stones are my favorite. Being so cheap compared to constantly buying sandpaper and not requiring glue or tape, it give you the full surface of the stone to work.
I use the much higher grades (800, 1000, 2000) and a variety of polishing compounds for many of my projects. Of course, I cut custom motorcycle parts (grips, pegs, and such) but those are seen parts.
Simple Green, soapy water are really good too for wet sanding
The best tip I received concerning the use of abrasives (in the context of woodworking, but also applies to metalworking) is not to select a grade according to the finish you want to achieve, but to always think in terms of the finish you are starting with. Thus, an abrasive should be regarded as a tool to remove the imperfections introduced by the previous tool, and that determines the selection of the grade. In the case of sanding, you therefore start with a grit that is approximately twice as fine as your existing finish whatever that may be. This will removes the optimum amount of material at the scale of the existing imperfections as fast and efficiently as possible and results in a new finish as fine as that grit. If you want to go further, you simply repeat this principle - selecting a grit size to optimally remove the marks of the previous grit, and so on and so forth. The net result is the minimum amount of material loss for any given finish in the shortest possible time.
Best comment, well done aporiac
Thanks for passing this along, gives me a brand new perspective on the topic.
I love the "very special moment." It brought a tear to my eye
If you want to get a good finish on a part while lapping and you don't have high grit paper, turn over the emery paper and use the back. It was a trick I was taught during hand fitting in my apprenticeship and it works well, especially on aluminium
and 10 bonus points for using the correct spelling
@@chrisd4987 I am British after all
Aluminum for us uncultured swine who throw our tea in the bay
I used to use Emery cloth when I was a kid but when I got older I began using silicone carbide sheets in various grits from 36 grit all the way up to 5000 grit. It finishes materials better and it creates a more reliable /duplicatable finish.
Also, for nice finishes on the lathe don't forget your long angle lathe files. They do a very nice job but it takes a little bit of skill and technique to master their use.
Ok so… short time follower, but these videos, ALL of your videos are “let’s make something, but wait teaching moment!” And I can’t thank you enough! Little backstory is I grew up as the son of a tool and die machinist who was a walking precision micrometer! I left for the Navy never to smell hot chips and cutting oil again! Well life is funny and has it’s ways (slight chuckle) and I found myself in a career where we often need to fabricate our own parts and yet everyone was scared of the “model shop” as we call it. With an ole Bridgeport and Monarch, long story short, I lost the opportunity to pick his brain about this stuff WAYs too early and you have been a source of knowledge and inspiration from then forward. I will be moving to the patreon side and look forward to maybe collaborating with you in the future! Thank you so much! -Jesse
One thing to note about glass is that it's a lot more flexible than one might think, we can even see it bending just a bit in the video around 14:07
This probably isn't an actual problem (barring a very bumpy table), but local glaziers might have thicker glass than what is found in picture frames available cheaply and could be worth a visit. Or phone call, given current circumstances.
I use glass, but when I decided to use glass I just waited until I saw a discarded piece of tabletop glass or some other thick stuff on Craigslist/side of the road. It was good practice for cutting thick glass by the time I had a nice square piece of the right size.
I got a piece of 30mm thick glass, that thing is never going to bend or flex. It used to be a part of some chemistry lab equipment.
Cheap beat-up old thrift shop mirrors (or expensive new ones if you like throwing money away) are often made of 1/4" glass.
I absolutely love the detail you share in the technique, as well as the reasons why! I watch a lot of channels, but I genuinely think I learn the most from this one. Keep em coming!
I once jokingly suggested that you could be Mr Pete's daughter, well on your let's talk one to one section you sound like this old Tony's younger sister ! Really entertaining and very informative. Thank you.
Nice to see you got down to the nitty gritty of it all, I have taken quite a shine to my emory paper, cheers!
If you're trying to get a really shiny finish, using 2000 grit and above, it's best to rinse off the emery before you use it, especially if you store it in the same place as the rougher stuff. It only takes a few errant coarse grains to ruin the finish.
Hands down the best video on this topic on TH-cam. Quinn is fabulous at making these educational kind of videos, thanks so much!
I went to my local glass shop and asked him if he had any "drops" he could sell me. He asked what I was using it for and he hooked me up with two pieces of ¼" tempered glass cut to 10" x 12". Her even rounded the edges for me. I now have great surfaces sharpening and sanding. Another truck is to lightly wet the glass then set paper on it and it acts as a glue and holds the paper in place. 😀 I think I've watched about thirty of your videos now and some of them multiple times. I think you've earned my support. You will be the first and only creator I support in Patreon. 😀
Hi Quinn, I found you through This Old Tony. I like your video style, very laid back and welcoming. I really appreciate that you include little notes on screen/in your script about things that are otherwise never acknowledged. For example, when you said "tenths" you put the actual measurement on the screen. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Good overview.
Some of us remember a time when we normally used Emery cloth, and Emery paper was the new kid on the block. The sheets were about the same size.
I've used scotch brite wheels to polish extruder tooling many times. You can use polishing compound with it to finish the polish. I made a mandrel to put small ones on my die grinder. They work great.
You are easily one of my absolute favorites among the machinists and creators here on TH-cam! You really inspire me (and thousands more around the world)! :):):):)
I love the idea of using recipe boxes for keeping different grits of abrasives! I don't machine(?), but I absolutely will be using this to organize my own hobby area!
A bonanza of specific and interesting information of this topic that really makes a difference. Big smile from me!
Prettiest machinist on TH-cam❣
I enjoy your videos.
Earl
Connecticut
I'm regularly using 1000 grid sandpaper for the small screws i need for my clicky pens.
They need an actual mirror finish and oh boi is it sattisfying to be able to tell the color of your eyes in a 5mm diameter part :D
The reason for the mirror finish is that i'm precision hotbluing them. And if you've never done it, i strongly recommend you try it some time. Just polish a part (actually it's not stricly nesessary) and heat it with a flame till it turns blue! This color makes me so happy ^^
I oven-baked a blacksmithing project I made once, and it turned out a nice blue... so satisfying!! (Edit: point being that the blue is nice even without the mirror polish factor. With it, wow, even better!)
@@DavidLindes definetly true, i also love when you don't heat it evenly and you get this weird rainbow wich shows only yellow, red and blue :D
Great video and info! I’m glad you mentioned the “not to use it more than half of the width” and showed how to hold it but one thing to add to make it more graphical is NEVER roll the cloth around the piece you’re working on! MACHINE HAVE NO HEART!!!! That was my first and only accident I’ve ever had on the lathe, on my very first day of training (OJT)! My instructor was very experienced production (speed) machinist but not really an instructor. He just forgot the fact that anyone would be TEMPTED to roll the cloth under the palm of your hand and try to take as much material as possible in the least time to impress your instructor but, as anyone can predict by now, as soon as the end of that cloth catches under itself and closes the loop, automatically will pull in itself and your fingers in the process as any untrained/unharmed person will, also automatically, grab and hold that cloth to death to soon realize that there it goes your fingers under and between the cloth! And let me tell ya, one of the most excruciating pains I’ve ever experienced when my fingernail was smashed and pulled! I was lucky that I let it go fast enough to keep my fingernail and not break my finger, but the pain stayed overnight to engrave the idea of how valuable was the safety measures and how hard and heartless is any machine! Please, keep doing your little talks about safety as most of us have never done machine work and nowadays being so easy to acquire machinery to get started, what makes it super dangerous no matter how harmless any operation may seen!
Thank you!
A small add for our community - those big rubber “erasers” that we use to clean sanding belts also do a great job of cleaning a taped or glued lapping surface using emery paper.
I notice you've removed the chuck guard on the lathe, now I'm not beating you up about this coz I spent the best part of 35 years arguing with people whose "raison d'etre" was apparently to fit every conceivable type of guard on my machine til it was impossible to do the work. I solved the problem by removing the guards to do the work and refitting them when I knew an inspection was due, as a hobbyist you don't have such problems. Keep up the good work. :-)
Oh dear! I’m 66 and been using wet and dry for ever and didn’t know “wet” halved the grit.
Lovely to still be learning.
Oh I wish that was true for hand satin finish. When I am hand sanding a knife to get a nice satin finish, if you wet the paper or run it dry, it doesn't make a difference on the finish. Wet helps avoiding galling from the paper clogging and makes it last longer
I have had good results in polishing surfaces by using Abranet sanding mesh. One advantage in using this material is that it does not clog in use. It is available in many different grades to suit different applications. Assume this is available in your neck of the woods.
Is that like the stuff they use to sand drywall?
Thanks for this. I love your sense of humour - yes, I'm Canadian.
I have polished many hydraulic rick hammer buts with 400 grit off of a roll. No lathe, but I would hang it vertically. Start with a piece of it wrapped around a file to take off the high spots, listening to when they got smooth, then taking a long strip and wrapping it clear around 540 degrees (282 degrees celcius) so both ends were pointing the same direction and the paper was at an angle to the bit. Then pull and "push", working my way up and down. Once things were looking pretty good, get a new piece and wrap it the opposite direction to get a cross hatch. Then keep using the same worn, loaded piece both directions until I could hear it getting real smooth. Finally spray some WD on it and keep working it until I was bored and it was shiny.
The used paper really works good for getting a shine because it's like using a higher grit.
I do not recommend wrapping it all the way around on a lathe.
Well buggar me Miss Blondie taught me something today . Using emery on a mandrel to hold small parts . I have not and do not use CA glue . . I have no surface plate but i do have a 20 mm thick Perspex that is flat I also use water on wet/dry as easy to wash in bucket of water to remove waste and keep paper clean
I have a 12" x 12" granite slab I picked up at Tandy Leather many years ago that I use as a lapping plate. Works a treat!
Holy jeepers that scotchbrite wheel did an amazing job there
As did the Real Time Honesty Cam 3000, it has to be said :)
I've been using one for almost a year now and I love it. It's not too aggressive, and is long lasting unless you're deburring sharp edges perpendicular to wheel rotation (it will start shaving off the scotchbright; if you deburr parallel to wheel rotation first, it will leave a small groove in the wheel, but not eat the wheel as fast.) They are pricey.
I broke my knuckle getting too close to a chuck that was spinning at 2000rpm. I shook it off at the time but it really messed me up for the better part of 6 months...Now I use LONGER pieces of sandpaper/emery paper/emery cloth.
Thanks for sharing. I use often grades 300 and 600 and sometimes even 2000 grits. Hobbyist or not but your skills are far above any regular hobbyist. I have learned some tricks from you and now refurbishing my workshop to serve better.
Always enjoy the basics videos. I usually learn something new.
Thanks, and Meow to Sprocket.
Thanks Quinn, good explanation of emery paper and emery cloth in the hobby / machine shop !!!!!!!!!!!
Sandpaper is for birdcages!! Glass paper is now out of date too. If we say Emery cloth, we should say aluminium oxide paper for wood sanding!!
Very nice tips that other youtubers would never tell you about them! thank you My Queen!
Good presentation. I use emery as most of us do but I start out at 80 grit if I am trying to remove rust or a bad finish. I use a piece of glass also but I have glued a piece of tool box no skid liner to the bottom to keep it from sliding around. I have also used a piece of granite tile such as the kind used for countertops. I have found it to be very flat.
The scotchbrite material comes in belts now. It’s fantastic in my knife making hobby
Love the recipe box idea, but if you also want to keep full sheets around, you can use an accordion file! Folds up nice and compact too.
God this video was needed in the youtube machine shop world. Thanks Quinn!
A thousand thumbs up!
Very nice. I was taught the figure eight technique by my machinist/ toolmaker mentor when I first started. I spent the second half of my career computer programming so I had forgotten using the emery paper on a lathe, something I now remember doing regularly way back when. I have been using just the emery cloth on the lathe. Pretty comprehensive. Thanks!
Another excellent video ... Yes it answers the questions I had about using Emery paper. Nice that someone actually takes time to do so and it's not assumed we know the information.
Blondi - you're the best - Thanks for sharing ........ 👍👍😎👍👍
Another thorough and entertaining handling of a topic - thank you. You, my dear, do not need a witch wheel to be a TH-cam hero - consider it a mission accomplished . Your figure 8s are impressive. I am secretly hoping for a triple salchow one day... 🤓
Thanks Quinn,
Another great video, one trick I was told by a knife maker was to use windex (A brand of window cleaner here in Australia)
As a lubricant for wet and dry emery paper.
It works well an is cheap.
I used it as a coolant for drilling once. It works very well, but it also seemed to accelerate the formation of rust. Something to keep in mind if using it with carbon steel.
Hi Quinn, great content once again. If I may interject briefly, as a former fabricator in a glass fabrication plant, i can assure you that glass is not flat. It comes in various degrees of "bowing" depending on the heat treatment, size, thickness etc. Most not heat treated glass is fairly flat but thin glass of that kind is extremely flexible and it will take the average shape of the work surface you put it on. Hope this helps
You can also wrap long parts with the gritside of the emory papir against the part a few times and then clamp it down on the vise if it is a strange shaped part with only a few points of impact even with a strip of emory against the vice!
With the emery cloth put the ends in the tool holder with a spacer(to clamp down)that way you dot have to hold it and you can apply a lot of pressure, it works a treat cheers from OZ.
Awesome! Love your begginer videos !! Please do something on Polishing to mirror finish.
I use a couple of of fridge/freezer glass shelves glued together for an emery paper base.
my go-to sanding surface is a glass cutting board. About 8 mm thick (much more sturdy than picture frame glass), and it sits on rubber feet. I place this on a plastic serving tray, so I can use lots of water without making a mess. I sand a lot of plastic, and that really clogs up the sandpaper, so just wetting the sandpaper isn't enough.
I so enjoy your channel and apologize I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to keep up. Now I have some episodes to catch up on. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
Thank you, so much for these videos. You've gotta be around the one million mark of "headaches saved" and "bullets dodged".
Nice summery. I often use the wet on the bottom of the paper between the glass and the paper. This makes the paper hold on to glass with surface tension.
Just when I thought I knew all about abrasives, you've provided many great tips! Thank you.....
I remember using this stuff in shop class a lot of years ago. I can't remember what grit it might have been, don't know if I even took notice back then, it was long narrow strips so I guess it was a roll of it around there someplace. I appreciate the suggestion of 320 grit as being a good place to start.
On glass, no picture frames to steal any out of around here, but I *did* happen to scrap out a number of flatbed scanners a while back (all of them SCSI-interface so pretty much useless these days unless you wanted to add a SCSI card to your computer :-) and I *did* keep the glass, figuring that it might prove to be useful for something. You've just shown me what it's likely to be useful for...
Hello Quinn - have you heard of the process of fescalising? I saw a video of it somewhere on youtube and can't for the life of me remember where it is. It's where a ball bearing is pressed against a roughly machined piece and the ball flattens all the high spots. It gave a really nice finish on the example I saw.
I have three pieces of counter top scraps that I used diamond lapping compound and rubbed them together to get it flat. It ended up quite rough, but that made it prefect to lapp my CPU IHS
A 12 inch granite floor tile is good for putting sandpaper on.
A tip from someone who isn’t a machinist of any kind but still loves machining:
There are these rubber blocks used for cleaning the surface of skateboard griptape or belt grinder belts. You can use them to get a lot more life from your clogged up emery paper/cloth. It doesn’t stop the paper wearing down though, so you still need to watch out for the 320 becoming a 600 over time etc.
would really like to see a video on knurling, i went through the videos and didn't see one.keep it up, your videos are very helpful!
My favourite way to emery longer pieces is to clamp a band in the lathe's toolpost, start at the chuck, and just let a very fine feed rate send the emery down toward the tail.
Hi (Quin) Blondihacks
Regarding Emery Paper you only need Grain 600.
You make an Emery Paper eg a round bar came paper on this round bar you wrap paper around, you make 3 pieces with the same grain, you use the first one until it is worn, then you take the next one, you understand what happens. now you have 3 Emery Paper with different grains. the first is maybe grain 950 the next is maybe grain 800, you understand what happens then. You can also make these on a square rod.
These I use for my jewelry, I have nothing but the 3 and one for wet polishing.
These are some really good videos you make.
Thumbs up all 10.
HI
Ivan (Denmark)
What about putting a piece of glass on the surface plate? I assume the glass is reasonably uniform in thickness, and the plate would keep it from flexing on the bench.
I use a lot of 1200 grit paper plussaphire and ruby polishing stones, mostly for pivot polishing in watch repair.good show happy Thanksgiving
Great show. Learned two things I didn't know about.
Hadn’t heard of the trick of doing figures of 8 when using emery paper (or sandpaper when working in wood for that matter) on a flat surface, or using a piece of glass as a flat surface - thanks for the top tips! 👍🏻
I've been known to use the glass top stove from time to time on small parts
Emery paper is kinda ok to hold unusual or cast parts on the mill. I use a slip of cardboard that will squish. I also use cardboard to protect the vise jaws from rough sawn material.
Great video. Good info. You should also mention P grade paper. People use it interchangeably but that will get you in trouble. P320 grade is not the same as 320 it's coarser. I have a conversion chart that I downloaded to help with this confusion. Just search for P grade paper conversion chart. I also use a 12"x12" piece of granite tile from the big box store, for sanding. Works great!
Always a terrific opening line... 😄
Totally binging on your videos right now! 100% am a surface plate abuser. I figure by the time I need that much precision, I'll probably want a better plate and can just keep using the old one for lapping. Windex works great as a lubricant for this too - also used on diamond sharpening plates for knives and woodworking tools
14:00 Sigh! What a beautiful world it would be if a country like Greece could resolve its odious debts with nutbutter!
Fun Ian Fact: I have two Loonies actually. One is on my key ring and I ground one to use as a guitar pick [Oh, Cananada!]
I keep my emery cloth separate from my sand paper pile and use it when I need maximum flexibility (like lathe work). I use the sand paper to make dedicated sanding sticks by folding the entire sheet on a paint stirring stick or scrap wood and peel the old worn layers off as needed.
Do you work in Kyber or just revere those badass machinists?
*Khyber
I lack machine tools still, but I am addicted to (mis) using what my dad calls "Emery paper", what the package calls "plumber's sand cloth" - a rather coarse Emery cloth for cleaning up copper pipes before sweating them. It's much better suited for jamming into weird little spaces and not falling apart unlike cheap paper-based abrasives. Wrap around a pencil, etc...
I like to think of your channel as "aspirational content": maybe one day I'll have machine tools and (more challenging) time to use them...
This lady has "True Grit"! Sharp and goes the distance!
Very, very helpful. Thanks a lot, Colin UK 🇬🇧.
Your videos are great for learning, I've recommended them to some of our makerspace members.
Another source of glass is old scanners or multifunction printers. I have found it to be slightly thicker than cheap picture frame glass, and it has nicely chamfered edges so you are less likely to slice a finger open due to careless handling.
I love you Quinn, I have been meaning to request a video on abrasives because no one else, etc. - and you knew that even though I never got my a.... in gear to actually send that request! Amazing!
“Emery paper and -cloth
makes me the machinist I’m not...h”
I’ll see myself out!
At 14:07 you can see in the reflection that the glass is not enough :-P - it bends under your finger pressure! So glass is only going to be flat when it is on something flat. How about... a surface plate?
Ok, ok, now I really am going!
@@mumblbeebee6546 Well, it makes sense right? It would protect the surface plate. I think that's a good idea, kinda, I think.
@@onestopfabshop3224 If I had a surface plate, I’d keep it far away from anything abrasive. At least... I’d try. Because the grit will get in between glass and plate. Grit gets _everywhere_ :)
Any port in a storm, of course....
@@mumblbeebee6546 I gotcha
Good suggestion about getting granite countertop scraps. Surface finish measuring? Thank you.
Tile stores sell granite tiles 12" x 12" and up. I also have a 18" square porcelain that seems like it's extremely flat (not surface plate flat of course). Most of these tiles are only a few bucks each.
I have a chunk of that fake marble stuff I got from a counter top outfit scrap pile. 12x12. I can get a ringing finish with 600 grit.
We usualy use this technice to get the final dimensions, if we are a few microns above the desired dimensions. I find it bretter to do this, then do an other cut, and be under the desired dimensions.
I have a huge package of 3m crocus cloth paid $10 bucks for it and I know its worth a lot more! I don’t know what grit it is it only has 3M part number 2435
Here is a hobo (or cheapscake) tip- I bought 3 g640 granite tiles 200x200x50mm .. 1.5 eur each. Get yourself some corundum/garnet powder, and after 8 hours of 3 plate method - you have yorself 3 perfectly flat surfaces. I use one as a small surface plate, one for emery - and one is spare
Also thick sheets of plate glass are molecularly flat and really cheap. They serve as really good base plates for sanding, so you don't mangle up your surface plate.
Flat and hard could be 3/4” float glass. As a woodworker (sorry) it what I use for lapping plane soles and checking parts. It’s as flat as the earth apparently!
cloth holds dimension better. For close tolerances where your trying to polish down to the correct dia. having both edges of your emery cloth cutting evenly makes it much easier to get constant diameter. grit is depth of scratch, higher polish desired requires finer grit, but you knew that. good vid
Another very thorough video, Quinn. Not a lot of information out there for hobbyists on proper use of abrasives.