# Making Sanding Ball Covers



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

*How to make replacement sanding ball covers*

I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
I tore up one cover and then finished with the finer ones but they did not go as fast. I was going to buy more of the coarse ones and then I thought- I can make them….so here is the approach I took to make them in case anyone else might want to make some for this system or your own ball sanding system..

This is the inflatable sanding ball and cover:








You can fill it with their air pump or your air jet at low pressure:








This is a cover that had gotten torn and I cut it apart to see how they made it.








It s made of a sandpaper cover that is glued to a cloth band down past the rubber ball area. I started by measuring all the parts and then made a mandrel to assemble the cloth ring and the whole cover on the other end.
The band is made from 5/16 cotton T shirt material and it glued to the dimension using a drop of wood glue:








I made a couple aluminum fixtures for drilling and cutting the sandpaper covers. They were made on the drill press and band saw. There were 9 5/32" holes drilled in the sandpaper blank and then the blade fixture was used to mark the shape of the 8 blades that I cut out with a scissors.

















This is the nylon assembly fixture:








I made a mask and a holding fixture to spray glue the 2 pieces:

















I load the band on the assembly fixture after the glue dries and then I put the sandpaper cover on the pilot on top to center it. Then I start bending down the blades one at a time until they are all stuck to the band and then the competed cover is slid off .

































It is best to use fabric backed sandpaper for good durability. Once you have the fixtures, you can make them for all different grits. I have seen systems that are made using a rubber ball glued onto a wood shaft and the ends of the paper are nailed into the shaft. the nails are far enough away from the round end so as not to interfere with the sanding.

I hope you get some good ideas from this. Ball sanding really makes inside contours easy to finish!!

Enjoy!!...............Jim


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Nice going!

COOL way of making them… I can see that it took a little finagalling…

Thank you.


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## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Thanks, great info.


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## doubleDD (Oct 21, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Hey Jim, my brother bought one of these Guinevere sanding ball kits recently and hasn't gotten back to me what he thought of it. He was saying he could probably make the sanding disks himself too and save some money. This is good info that I can pass down to him. So in your opinion it would be worth it to build it.


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## Woodwrecker (Aug 11, 2008)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Nice job Jim.
You just saved a bunch of guys a bunch of dough.


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## Bob Collins (Apr 25, 2008)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Thanks for sharing Jim, don't know if the balls are sold out here, must have to help your economy and buy online.
Would double sided tape help out with the set up?


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## lanwater (May 14, 2010)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


First time I hear about this system. It could be very useful. Thanks!

The consumables are definitely not cheap.

Is the nylon assembly fixture something you had on hand or is it sold with the system?


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Very creative and money saving solution Jim.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Glad you all liked this. 
Dave, this method is the cat's meow!! I cannot find a better way to sand inside radiused areas. There is no other tool I have that gets in there without putting a groove or scratch from the end of a drum. I have shaping balls with carbide fingers on them for the Dremel, but the result is not that smooth. I used them just before the sanding balls. I feel it is worth it to make the covers because I can use any grit and get a lot of them out of one sheet of paper .

Ian, I had to make that nylon fixture. Guinvere sells the covers and not the means to make them. It could be cut on the lathe out of hardwood and then waxed. I used nylon because I thought it would be easy to clean the glue off. I did not get any on it because the glue is dry when I slip the parts on to assemble.

Bob, you maybe could use double sided tape, but with my clumsy fingers and those little pieces, I think it would wind up on me with it sticky on both sides.It would be worth a try next time. I like that contact cement because it is a permanent bond. A bit messy spraying, though. Oh, Bob, I got the lathe back together last night and she works great.

Cheers…................Jim


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Looks like that'll work very well. Thnx for sharin


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Well done, great idea & result.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


I have got to get one of those sanding balls as they look like an answer to a lot of irregular sanding issues. Now that you have shown a neat way to make your own, why not!


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## kiefer (Feb 5, 2011)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Nice one Jim
Have to remember that one .


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## CampyRon (Nov 29, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Very well done Jim


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## CalebMexquite (Sep 24, 2011)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Why not just use a cabinet scraper to clean the spoons out? That's what I've used and it's a breeze.

http://www.amazon.com/Crown-376-Cabinet-Scraper-Gooseneck/dp/B001C06BLE


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Hi Caleb,
I suppose they would work but with the arthritis I have in both thumbs, it is hard to put concentrated pressure on. The drill I use with the sanding balls I can wrap my hand around and get it done quickly and without much pain.


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## B0b (Jan 13, 2011)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


If I glued a superball onto an old drill bit, could I just use contact cement to adhere the sandpaper directly to the ball, and then peel it off and replace when it wears out? It doesn't have the advantage of quickly changing grits, but for the cost savings…?


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Hi Bob. After looking at different designs, I would take about 1" rubber ball and cut a flat on it and then glue it to round piece of wood with a 1/4 rod glued in the center. Make a pattern out of thin cardboard for the sand paper so it goes over the end of the ball and then has 8 strips that come back over the wood. Drill little holes in the paper and screw the strips to the wood. I'll bet that would last a long time and be replaceable. 
Oh and post it here when you get 'er built!! I have been thinking about that for larger sizes than I have


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## vanzemaljac (Oct 24, 2008)

Slovenian said:


> *How to make replacement sanding ball covers*
> 
> I was having a problem finding a method to easily sand out the inside business areas of wooden spoons I was making. Hand sanding was fine for the final finish but to shape sand and smooth out all the rough marks was too tedious.
> I saw the Guinevere Inflatable Sanding Balls on line and broke down and bought one and a set of 3 covers. The inflatable ball is $40 and the covers are 3 for $10. Man was that the answer to that spoon sanding. I did 16 of them in less than and hour !!!!!!!!
> ...


Thank you shared for many practical and good idea…


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

*Another easier method for making sanding balls*

Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)

Here is a simpler way of making sanding balls without having to use that inflatable mandrel. I cut the pattern that same size as when I made the cover for the Guinevere inflatable sanding mandrel, but I just hold them on with an O ring this way. In the future. I'll cut the flutes longer on the sandpaper covers for more material to hold onto.

I began by buying a rubber ball at a dime store here in town. Actually , I could not find a ball anywhere so I bought this old toy- paddle with a ball on as string and just used the ball. I cut it in half and made two sanders with it. I sanded the cut very smooth so it would have good surface contact and glued the half to a round piece of wood with a groove cut on the side and 1/8" hole in the end away from the glues surface.









I epoxied a 1/8 piece of steel in the one end so I can use it in my Dremel. The ball was too big in diameter so after it was mounted, I sanded it to shape (3/4" diameter) with a ball shape on the end.

Then I just centered the cover on the ball and rolled the O ring down over it and it works real good. I had to experiment with the groove location so the ends would not slip out of the O ring under pressure. Making the fingers longer should eliminate that .


















Using this method, you can quickly make balls of any diameter for various jobs and just use regular cloth backed sand paper. You can also make mandrels of any diameter for collets in a Fordham, Wecheer, etc.

A word of caution, start with the Dremel on slow speed. I have a model 4000 and I cannot sand with it over 15 on the dial. I started on high and it turned into a fan right now!!


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## IzzySwan (Aug 7, 2013)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thats great! Shop made solutions at its best..


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## tyvekboy (Feb 24, 2010)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks for posting that idea. Now I'm going to try make me some.


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## HillbillyShooter (Feb 15, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Great idea which I'll keep in mind for the time when it's need arises. Thanks for the post and sharing!


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## Denvy (Jul 17, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...












Jim, thanks for posting the pic and info about your new tiny sander tip…Very Useful in final sanding procedures.
Normally I make tools like that with grits from 150, 220, 320, 400, 600. With that range of grits, a fine finish can be applied. Keep up your great posts. (ps. glad you have nothing else to to but post neat stuff.)


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Now that's cool!!

Thanks for posting this. Just been thinking about how to do this so I could sand the inside of a small vessel.


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## RobynHoodridge (Jan 9, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Good thinking.
I see you also use surgical clamps. They're SO useful!


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks , guys. Maybe someone else needs one of these sanding balls. They sure helped me finish a lot of concave sanding problems,

Hi Denver- hey nice chess set!! I'm retired now and make all the stuff I dream of needing in the shop!!

Hi Robyn, I have all sizes of hemostats. They are so useful in the shop or work on mowers or cars. I had these out to replace a small piece that broke out of the bottom of my last turning. I had to carefully position it in the epoxy. I did not see them in the pictures until I posted them. I should have put them away!

Cheers, Jim


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## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip.


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Looks like a good solution Jim. Thanks for sharing.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Another great tip Jim. Thanks.


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## doubleDD (Oct 21, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


I really like the idea of the 0 ring. This opens up a can of worms for a lot of different sanding gadgets. Good thinking.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


COOL…


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## Truefire (Mar 20, 2007)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Now that's a super cool idea! One I would love to use provided clearance from you…...lol….chris


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Gr8 idea Jim.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks, Joel, Tony, Mike, Dave, Joe Chris and Roger

I had two occasions to use the O ring sanding ball already and I like it better than the inflatable one. Make one and you'll love it. It solved a lot of sanding problems I had!! Post it if you do and let everyone know where you find those rubber balls. I looked all over and no hone had them .

Chris, you can make anything I post always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I don't usually have any plans.

I think a 1/2" one and 1" one might round out a good collection of them.

cheers, Jim…........Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Thuzmund (Dec 9, 2013)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


A great use of old wrecked drill bits


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## Grumpymike (Jan 23, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


hemostats!? ... I always called 'em roach clips … and I do use 'em in the shop like an extra set of fingers.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks Thuzmund and Mike.

Hi Mike. I have them in all sizes and in most every tool box and tackle box. They sure come in handy.

cheers, Jim


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


So clever Jim!
Really a lovely idea.
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## irtamos (Oct 21, 2012)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Well done.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Slovenian said:


> *Another easier method for making sanding balls*
> 
> Poor man's sanding ball (or cheap man's sanding ball)
> 
> ...


Thanks, Mads and Irtamos!!

Cheers, Jim


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