Sandpaper loading up with primer/paint

[jyarbrou]

I'm using a RTS 400 and some brilliant and granat paper (120 and 240 grit) to sand some trim that I have primed with Sherwin Williams Premium Wall and Wood primer (this also happens with paint). The primer has been there for about 30 days, so it's well cured (it happens regardless of new/old paint primer)

After about 3-4 minutes of sanding, I start to notice some pigtails in the primer and if I look at the paper, I see that it has loaded up with small clumps of primer. It almost seems that the primer has melted together into a bb sized, flat clump. The clumps are pretty well stuck but eventually I can flick them off with my fingernail and go back to sanding, or just change the paper, which seems wasteful.

I'm sanding on speed 5, anything less than that and the sander jumps all over the place. Using a CT mini, and i've experimented with every vac setting. I'm not using any pressure other than to keep the sander to the material, and i've experimented with moving the sander fast and slow across the material and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Anyone else have this problem or have any thoughts?

 

[Stephen B]

Well you have tried speed, how about your even and non excessive hand pressure on the sander? To recondition the paper try -

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[leakyroof]

Drop the Sander speed to 4, and the vac setting to the lowest it will go. Switch from the Brilliant to Granat in the same grit and see what happens. For the pigtails, I am able to usually just flick them off of Granat with a small flat blade screwdrive or the edge of a small putty knife. They don't tend to really cling well to the Granat as easily as Brilliant 2 paper.
When it was available, you had the choice of Cristal for this application too, but you had to watch the scratch pattern of it since it could be more aggressive than you'd like compared to Granat and Brilliant 2.

 

[ajmdecorators]

Try some mirka abranet mate, never had that issue with my rts using it

 

[jyarbrou]

Try some mirka abranet mate, never had that issue with my rts using it

I would but I can't find a supplier for it in the US for the RTS size.

 

[Holmz]

Try some mirka abranet mate, never had that issue with my rts using it

I would but I can't find a supplier for it in the US for the RTS size.

One can get it in rolls and cut it with scissors.
In any case what do Sherwin Williams say? Should you strip it, sand it, or scrape it?

 

[ajmdecorators]

Try www.mypaintbrush.co.uk sure I have heard them say they ship to the u.s

 

[tiralie]

Try some mirka abranet mate, never had that issue with my rts using it

Abranet works better than Granat but the holes will get clogged up.
Just take the sheet off, vacuum it at full suction and put it back on. Will last a couple cycles and then needs to be replaced. If sanding a lot of paint, the build up you are getting is fairly typical with Granat and crystal. I usually just scrape the build up off and/or use the abrasive restorer.
Tim

 

[#Tee]

I normally rub it against another piece of old sandpaper

 

[jyarbrou]

Try www.mypaintbrush.co.uk sure I have heard them say they ship to the u.s

Looks like they do ship here. Shipping is pretty costly but it doesn't seem too bad of a deal.

 

[ajmdecorators]

It's well worth it, best sandpaper by a mile and lasts ages

 

[Michael Kellough]

Dealing with wood dust is bad enough. Paint dust is far worse since it sticks to itself. Get one spec stuck to the abrasive and it quickly accumulates more to the point that it literally lifts the abrasive off the surface and all you're doing is collecting the dust.

If the abrasive provides more space (away from the surface) for paint dust to accumulate then there will be far less build-up on the surface.

Abranet is the perfect product.

 

[Holmz]

You can buy that stuff off amazon too. The rolls are not too bad in $, but the sheets can be cheaper elsewhere in the US.

The fact that the sander does not work on the slow settings is a contributing factor.

 

[aloysius]

Paper loading in paint is always going to be a problem.  Worst of all are my Duplex sanders, which use the same papers as your "400".  I have a lot of large complex Victorian mouldings to strip using profiled pads.

Never had much luck with abrasive restorer either.  With a belt sander, yes, but with orbitals, random orbitals and linear sanders it's hopeless.

I just change papers every few minutes, keeping that abrasive fresh.  I'm occasionally able to peel some of the accumulated melted paint away from the paper whilst it's still hot and relatively "plastic", but this will just as often take some of the abrasive surface with it too if it begins to harden.

Some tasks such as stripping old exterior weatherboards of acrylic paint with an angle grinder, finds this paint accumulation advantageous.  Using a super-coarse (16 or 24grit) disc would abrade the weatherboards too rapidly, whereas loading up a 16g disc with thick paint helps to melt and fling away old layers of paint without harming the timber substrate at all.  Messy, yes, but also extremely quick & effective!