If you have followed along through parts 1 and 2, we have a dome shaped power sanding block that is now covered with a piece of hook material ready to hang on to your sanding disks.

We also have a plywood template for cutting the proper sized darts in our sanding disks so that they too will conform to the desired shape. Now I have gone through a few extra steps to use hook and loop disks for this power sander, but if you want to use PSA disks, just skip the steps in the last post and apply the disks directly onto the block, the shape of the disk won't change.

Besides being easier to changes grits with, the hook and loop system provides just a little flexibility to the sanding surface, much as a layer of foam would.

Personally, I really like the Abranet disks for this project. Being an open mesh rather than a more solid backer, they lay more flat and follow the contours better.

Cutting the disks is easier than cutting the PSA hook material was, although it will dull your knife very quickly. The process is otherwise the same, clamp the template over the disk and cut the darts from the center outwards. Be careful no to mis-align the disk and template as you turn them to cut the section covered by the clamp.

Now the disk just gets pressed onto the power sanding block. One odd trait of hook and loop is that they actually tend to engage each othe more thoroughly as they rub together. Take advantage of this by rubbing your thumbs back and forth around the disk to seat it.

Pit is hard to see from the photos, but I also positioned the sanding disk so that the seams between the sections are staggered with the seams in the hook material. This makes it less likely that a catch in on of the seams will also peel up the hook.

So there it is. That is the process I used to form disks to this profile. Use the techniques in part one for measuring the circumferences and you can do the same for a wide range of convex and even concave shapes!

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