Stripper Disc: Getting More First Minutes Out of A Flap Disc

I still have a few pieces to cut and strip for the current project, but before I bought anything I decided to fall back on the old standby. See what the Doctorate's of YouTube University have to say. I was not impressed. Stripper discs were among the popular solutions, but nearly every one seemed to be plugging up when they actually showed them. Many seemed to be to promote one brand over another brand, and the "better brand seemed to already be partially plugging up when they would show how much better it was than the old one they were using. Well duh! The old one had been used more.

The one that sort of got my attention was an obvious SHILL for a diamond encrusted wire wheel. The thing is when I looked at what they showed it looked to me more like they had the mill scale shiny than removed it. This was WELD.COM. They shill products all the time, but generally they give good information. This time the results I saw didn't seem to match the words they were saying. Needless to say I won't be trying that diamond encrusted wire wheel unless they send me one for free. Prior to that they showed a Silicone Carbide flap disc that appeared to do a very good job with relatively low pressure. The claim was that it "picks" at the scale as opposed to being an "impact" abrasive. That may be a distinction without a difference, but the result I could clearly see on the piece of flat plate they were cleaning was the best of everything they showed. That could have just been fresh disc performance. ie: First minutes.

The only thing from all across YouTube university's "expert" pool (except weld.com) was acid. The default "cheap" acid being white vinegar. Not much help if you need to strip some long pieces, but not often enough to setup a pickling trough for the job.

A few who really bragged up a product seemed to actually struggle to just barely clean a very narrow strip along the ends prior to welding. One then went on to weld his project and atleast one bead of every corner overlapping the ends of square tube (not mitered) appeared to just be burning through uncleaned mill scale. Yes I know S6 does an ok job of burning through mill scale, but that wasn't why I watched his video.

Sigh!

This guy posted a 406 word reply to himself.

I have to be careful to avoid wordy comments too :-)

No, I shared information with people in general. Its not my fault you find it so difficult to read with your severe case of rectal cranial inversion.

No, I shared information with people in general.

-------------- Thank you, intelligent user reviews are greatly appreciated.

A big follow-on comment from the OP (original poster) can come from originally asking an open-ended question.

Invite responses which guide you to solutions nothing like what you have been doing already.

A good communicator starts with very open-ended questions, seeking very original inputs. A very honest person, very willing to see the limitations of what they have tried already, and assuming they are likely to be in the presence of others with great knowledge and deep valuable experience.

If you "seive" like this and get nothing, you might come back with a lower-level question, saying "I have got these things to partially work" and giving detail of the limitations which caused asking the questions. Asked first, that would likely condition the nature of the responses. You'd get responses to that particular approach, possibly missing my better totally different ways of doing the same task.

What you could be seeing is, at the end of the asking process, someone spending some time sharing what they find themselves so far. A moral duty to share, having asked others if they will share.

Maybe... :-)

Rich Smith

A big follow-on comment from the OP (original poster) can come from originally asking an open-ended question.

Invite responses which guide you to solutions nothing like what you have been doing already.

A good communicator starts with very open-ended questions, seeking very original inputs. A very honest person, very willing to see the limitations of what they have tried already, and assuming they are likely to be in the presence of others with great knowledge and deep valuable experience.

If you "seive" like this and get nothing, you might come back with a lower-level question, saying "I have got these things to partially work" and giving detail of the limitations which caused asking the questions. Asked first, that would likely condition the nature of the responses. You'd get responses to that particular approach, possibly missing my better totally different ways of doing the same task.

What you could be seeing is, at the end of the asking process, someone spending some time sharing what they find themselves so far. A moral duty to share, having asked others if they will share.

Maybe... :-)

Rich Smith

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This TV script writer offers advice on how to tactfully suggest changes to other peoples' ideas.

Interesting. Very clear. Very high signal-to-noise ratio. What she means really comes over.

I am intrigued how you manage to tap into so many of these generally-shared core-experience issues which are well expressed, unexpected and very interesting.

Interesting. Very clear. Very high signal-to-noise ratio. What she means really comes over.

I am intrigued how you manage to tap into so many of these generally-shared core-experience issues which are well expressed, unexpected and very interesting.

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In addition to technical work associates and hobby machinists/tinkerers (here) my social contacts included community theatre and Mensa, all of which attract well-educated people with wide ranges of interest, polymaths. That article on the Two Cultures correctly describes the breadth of American intellectual life.

My wife is on the board of a theater group, and for the most part the senior members of the board seem intelligent and capable as you describe, but sometimes practically challenged. For example they resisted hiring a grant writer for years who was willing to work on a percentage. No salary. Somebody who is very experienced as a grant writer and does it as their day job. They would research find and apply for grants with no effort by the board. I don't recall the commission rate they wanted, but it was quite small. Instead the board opted over and over again to keep 100% of nothing.

My wife is on the board of a theater group, and for the most part the senior members of the board seem intelligent and capable as you describe, but sometimes practically challenged. For example they resisted hiring a grant writer for years who was willing to work on a percentage. No salary. Somebody who is very experienced as a grant writer and does it as their day job. They would research find and apply for grants with no effort by the board. I don't recall the commission rate they wanted, but it was quite small. Instead the board opted over and over again to keep 100% of nothing.

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Yes it's good training for getting along with people who are 'different' from (rational) techie types, and useful when I became an Army sergeant.

The movies of "42nd Street" and "A Chorus Line" demonstrate the good cop/bad cop approach to herding those cats (dancers) into line. Not "Cats", they're dancers but in an entirely different sack of weirdness. After building the set I sat in rehearsals to look for things I should change, and watched how a director coaxes repeated maximum effort from actors tiring from a 12+ hour day.

I have been very busy and the project I need to strip metal for has been resting on the welding table in pieces. Not so sure I need a welding table, but it seemed like a good idea when I built it.

Anyway, I stopped by my favorite local welding shop yesterday (used to be Praxair, but now its Linde) to see what they thought was good. The manager I like was still there and he said nothing has changed but the name, so that's a good thing. Anyway, Mike said most guys like the ceramic (silicone carbide) of what he sells, but the guys who do all the tank and line maintenance at the cooling plants like the Norton paint stripper discs. I bought a couple silicone carbide flap discs and a stripper disc. I'll do a side by side (well one after another) test as soon as I have some time to get back to that project. Hopefully by this weekend. I think I still have one fresh Zirconia flap disc left as well. If I do I'll use it as a base line.

I'll let you guys know what I think. The stripper disc was about 4 times the price of the silicone carbide discs. If it lasts 4 times as long it will be worth it if only to save the time swapping discs. Interestingly the silicone carbide discs come with threaded spin on plastic hubs, but they were not any cheaper than those with similar metal hubs.

I still haven't gotten back to my welding project, but this morning while having my morning coffee and making myself some breakfast I noted Fireball Tools had decided to do a "best" mill scale remover video using all the same things I've looked at. He skipped a couple I want to try, but I'm not posting about "which one was best"... or maybe I am. Like another welding channel he claimed the diamond encrusted wire wheel was the best, and like that other welding channel what I could see of the work it did looked more like it polished the mill scale instead of cutting through it and removing it. The one big positive is he let us know what that thing costs. Almost $400. Yes four hundred dollars (a little under, but with shipping etc). That's crazy if I got that right.