question about plates

[wlf89]

i just seen a post that said something about sanding plates in an x pattern to increase surface area does this help? if so how do i do it just rough it up with some 80 grit sandpaper or what?

[ridelong]

wlf89,

60 grit works nice. If you can sand the stuff before cutting it, it works so much better. Used a hand belt sander, 60 grit, on a 2 foot by 3 foot piece of 316 ss. Man, 15 minutes of sanding, and I had enough ss to make 5 sets of plates.

[c02cutter]

I have not tried this, but will break the mill finish on my plates with a DA sander. Reasons being that the mill finish has a pile of contaminates in it, and it will have a varnish that develops from the process of being milled. This very thin layer has a lot of carbon in it, so I break it. Cleaner working cell afterwards. I do not do any pattern so I can not say one works better than the other. So I will not say it is false or true. But I will say that breaking the mill varnish on 2B finish plates is correct.