8" Stikit Soft Disc Pad - 5/8-11 Int. Thread

Fits all standard (5/8" shaft) slow speed polishers.
Maximum operating speed - 3,000 rpm.
Ideal for use with fine grade abrasives for finish sanding topcoats on contoured or curved surfaces.

• A soft, orange foam pad with a very flexible edge - suitable for hulls and other curved surfaces
• Appoximate 45° bevel makes for a softer edge, better contact on contoured surfaces, and allows the sanded area to be "featheredged" or more easily blended
• Excellent conformability
• Blue vinyl pad face provides good disc adhesion yet allows easy removal
• Sold by the each; 1 per case


Heavy on the technical side...
Should you use a soft or firm sanding disc backing pad?
After you have decided between Stikit or Hookit, and chosen no-hole or clean sanding discs, and selected the disc diameter, you will still often be left with the choice of a firm or a soft backing pad.

• As a general rule, you should use coarser abrasive discs on firm backing pads, and finer grit discs on soft backing pads.

Soft Backing Pads
• Soft pads are not intended for use with very coarse abrasive discs, as the higher stresses induced by very coarse abrasives fatigues the foam prematurely.
• Having said that, a soft pad can be used with coarse grit discs for heavy material removal on rounded surfaces - like a sailboat hull - where it would be difficult to maintain full surface contact with a stiffer, firm backing pad.
Just don't expect the soft pad to last as long.

Firm Backing Pads
• Using coarse discs on a firm backing pad works very well, as long as the work surface is flat.
Using a firm pad on a curved surface can easily result in hard-to-remove gouges and scratch marks.
If the surface isn't flat - again, like a sailboat hull - you will generally want to use a softer pad for full surface contact, no matter what the grit of the sanding disc.
• Firm pads are also recommended for leveling uneven surfaces - such as paint brush strokes and runs.
In this application, a soft pad might simply conform to raised areas, rather than cutting them down.