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Best file for flox

JDA_BTR

Well Known Member
Is there a rotary file that does a decent job on flox? Same for a filing paper, rasp or board? I have 80 grit paper and small sanding cylinders and a lot of elbow grease currently.
 
Without a doubt, the Permagrit tools are the gold standard for working with fiberglass and epoxy. They cut through it like butter.

Go Here:

https://www.fibreglast.com/category/s?keyword=permagrit

Well worth the cost!

+1 any other tool that touches the glass matrix dulls rapidly. In retrospect, permagrit tools would pay for themselves by the end of the build, esp a flat file style. Possibly the countersink tool.

Green 3M 80 grit sandpaper lasts pretty well for the flox and surface sanding, not so much for end grains.
 
Cloth backed Zirconia paper works great on composites and lasts just about forever. You can get it in various width/grit rolls to fit 1/4 sheet sanders and make custom length sanding blocks as long and straight as you need glued down to straight/flat boards. Wrap and glue to rounds for custom radius sanding. Wonderful stuff and the best we found for building a couple Cozy MKIV's. It was our go to abrasive and we ended up rarely using our Perma-Grit tools.
 

That link goes to fibre disks for metal conditioning.

Use 2 inch Roloc sanding disks on an angle die grinder -

https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Aluminum...1537110938&sr=8-8&keywords=Roloc+Sanding+Disc

The coarse 60 grit clog up slower - follow up with a last pass of 100 grit or so for a final smoothing.

I hacked away a lot of the -10 cabin cover drainage lip for the McMaster seals and these work fine. They are cheap enough to simply throw away.

I do have some PermaGrit tools - the sanding block is good for finally finishing a straight edge, and the cutting disk works great, but so does the similar Dremel carbide cutting disc from your local hardware store.

Get good at sanding holding the die grinder in one hand and the vacuum nozzle in the other hand. :D
 
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Cloth backed Zirconia paper works great on composites and lasts just about forever. You can get it in various width/grit rolls to fit 1/4 sheet sanders and make custom length sanding blocks as long and straight as you need glued down to straight/flat boards. Wrap and glue to rounds for custom radius sanding. Wonderful stuff and the best we found for building a couple Cozy MKIV's. It was our go to abrasive and we ended up rarely using our Perma-Grit tools.

Is that the same stuff they make belt sander belts out of?

I've used them cut up to make longer sanding blocks and also in smaller pieces for and sanding inside curves.
 
Is that the same stuff they make belt sander belts out of?

I've used them cut up to make longer sanding blocks and also in smaller pieces for and sanding inside curves.

Probably is but you can buy it by the foot in various widths and just cut what you need. No angled glue joint like in a sander belt. We would just measure out what we needed and score it on the fabric side with a razor knife, then snap the piece off. We bought 10' of 36 grit and 10' of 60 grit when we first started building 2 Cozy MKIV's. I still have a couple pieces left I am still using on the -9A even after all the -10 fiberglass work. We also used a lot of 100, 160, 200 grit body sander PSA strips and RA discs that were also Zirconia grit for finishing. We used MGS L335 epoxy for all composite fabrication because of how tough the stuff is and it will also post cure. West Systems 105 was used only for final fill/finishing because it sands so easily.
 
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