In their Gift Center, Home Depot is selling a variety pack of 50 Diablo SandNet Discs for $20. These discs are made for 5″ random orbital sanders (ROS) and will fit any hole pattern because they are a mesh material that allows air to flow through the entire disk.
The package contains:
- (10) 80-grit coarse discs
- (10) 120-grit medium discs
- (10) 180-grit fine discs
- (10) 220-grit ultra-fine discs
- (10) 400-grit micro-fine discs
- (1) application pad for attaching discs to the sander
These discs need the included adapter pad to work on an ROS. The pad sticks to the hook-and-loop base of the sander and the discs stick to the pad.
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You can buy the Diablo 50 disc assortment in-store or order online with free shipping.
Price: $19.88
Discussion
Stuart wrote about Diablo SandNet sanding discs a few years ago. I’ve run through several packages and had mixed results.
These SandNet discs excel when sanding flat boards, the dust collection is good, and the rate of material removal seems better than paper discs of comparable quality. They also don’t gum up as much as paper discs, but they can still clog. When they do clog, you can just remove the disc from the pad and vacuum it out or even rinse it in the sink.
Where I get into trouble is when I sand edges. When sanding edges, you have to be very careful to keep the pad flat against the board, otherwise the edges of the disc will fray and can start ripping. The discs do seem to last longer than paper discs, but they eventually end up looking like the above disc after a while, even if you are careful.
I’d say the claims of up to 10X longer life are overstated; these Diablo sanding discs might last somewhere around 2X longer for me compared to traditional sanding discs with paper backing.
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The adapter pad doesn’t wear like the discs do. I’ve used the same adapter pad for a few 10-packs of SandNet discs, and it still works as if I just took it out of the box.
Given that a 10-pack of SandNet discs usually costs $10 to $15 and only comes with a single grit number, $20 for a 50-pack is a good deal. I missed this deal last year because I was cheap and was waiting for them to discount the assortment even further, but they never did. I won’t make that mistake again.
The nice thing about having an assortment like this is that you get multiple grit sizes from coarse to ultra-fine in one package. It always seems like I am always missing a few grit sizes when I’m sanding, and an assortment like this can help me avoid having to skip a step or stop mid-project to head to the store.
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Koko The Talking Ape
I picked these up the other day. Excited to try them!
For me, the selling point isn’t longer disk life, it’s better sawdust clearance. Getting the dust faster out from under the disk should make sanding go faster, with less mess. Also, that dust includes abrasive particles that have been shed from the disk. Those especially need to be removed before you switch to the next finer grit.
OTOH, I don’t know for a fact that sawdust is what’s slowing down my sanding, if at all. I can’t tell. Maybe the limiting factor is the speed or power of my sander, or something else.
Re edges, yep, they’re a problem with paper sanding disks too. (I’ve heard that the fancy disks that use a plastic film or cloth backing do better.) But maybe a nice hand plane is a better tool for edges than a sander.
Big Richard
I love the mesh sanding discs, I’ve only ever used whatever brand McMaster-Carr sells, as they are about the only ones I can readily find that go to higher grits for polishing metal. They aren’t the cheapest, but you also don’t need an interface pad.
https://www.mcmaster.com/sanding-pads/clog-free-hook-and-loop-vacuum-sanding-discs/
Chris
Jonathan Katz-Moses recently updated his sanding disk comparison (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZDCRFi8dKY), and while the Diablo stuff didn’t win outright for cost/performance it did better than most. Only issue with this multi-pack is paying for all of those 400 grit pads that most people won’t use at the same rate.
Julian Tracy
I’ve bought these and don’t care for them so far. Invariably you hit the edge of something at times or something in the surface, and these discs just fail immediately.
I use all Festool sanders generally, but bought these to use for my cordless Dewalt, Still have a ton to go thru but the durability is not enough to take advantage of the long lasting abrasive
Jared
I like Diablo’s hook and loop discs – that’s what I use regularly in my ROSs. I’ll have to see if I can find these to try instead.
I also like the multi-pack aspect. I have a collection of grits now, but when you don’t, it can be a bit of a tough pill to go buy 50packs of a half dozen grits all at once.
Dave P
Everything Diablo I’ve ever had has been great, including these, with one very notable exception- their sawzall pruning blades are PURE JUNK.
Mutombo
That’s interesting, they work wonders on my oleanders
Benjamen
I’ve used the Diablo pruning blades on hard wood on the tree, and while they aren’t as good as a bowsaw for not getting clogged, they are way better than trying to use a wood cutting recip blade.
I think it’s a matter of the dryness and hardness of wood. I can see the Diablo pruning blades not doing as well on soft wet wood.
fred
I use a hand-powered Silky – have several sizes – and have never looked back. They just seem to slice through greenwood better than most others.
Their Kantaboy – was my preferred tool for use in the Scouts for trail and site maintenance. We’d let the ranger do the chainsaw work on the really big stuff – but otherwise this was our go to saw. They have gotten pricey
https://www.amazon.com/Silky-Professional-KatanaBoy-Folding-403-50/dp/B002GKB5PQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=B002GKB5PQ&qid=1636581086&qsid=136-4853143-2169242&sr=8-1&sres=B002GKB5PQ&th=1
My Silky pole saw (when you can find one) seems to be pushing close to $400 – – while I paid under $300 for the last one I bought about 5 years ago
https://www.amazon.com/Telescoping-Hayate-20-Feet-372-42-version/dp/B0014C7Y6G
MM
I can happily second the performance of Silky Saws. They are amazing in any size or configuration. First time you use one is an epiphany. Even the small sizes like the Pocketboy are impressive, and it is not a joke to say that the larger size Katanaboys like the 650 and the 1000mm give a full-size chainsaw a run for its money. Difference is night and day vs a bow saw or a traditional crosscut saw.
Right now I have three, having given the others away to friends and relatives: Bigboy with a Fine straight blade, Bigboy with an Extra-Coarse curved blade, and the 500mm Temagari. I really need to pick up another small folding model, they are so nice to toss in a general purpose tool bag, if you just need to make a handful of cuts it saves the effort of getting out the power saw and they leave a super nice finish too.
Dave P
That’s not saying much that their so-called “pruning” blade is better than a lumber blade–not much at all…
Skil and others make a pruning blade that’s the same style as a bowsaw blade and they are fantastic. My local HD doesn’t carry the bow-saw-style anymore and these Diablos are about 10% as good…..after trying one, I threw the rest of a 5-pac of the Diablos in the trash and found more of the Skil bow-saw type.
First time Diablo has let me down. Shame on them. If I buy more Diablo stuff after this experience, shame on me.
Dave the tool
Good info regarding Diablo pruning blades however I don’t understand your commenting that your not gonna purchase anymore Diablo Products when you have been happy with their other items. No company is perfect in their offerings or products. They ALL
Produce a “lemon” occasionally. It’s only when multiple items have let me down will I drop a company from future purchases.
Big Richard
So you are talking about the carbide tipped curved tooth pruning blades, not their traditional fleam grind (bow saw style) pruning blades. The former are not good when used in a one-handed recip saw, due to only cutting on the pull stroke and the short stroke length of one-handed recip saws. They are OK on a full sized saw. But overall, I prefer the fleam grind pruning blades as well, cutting on both the push and pull stroke helps a lot when using a one-handed recip.
The carbide tipped do have a purpose, they are good for cutting away at roots in the soil, as hitting the dirt and rocks does not dull it immediately like it would with a fleam grind.
Jason
One really can’t judge an entire line on one product. Or, rather, one shouldn’t. If we did that we should just write off every brand that has ever existed, or will ever exist.
fred
I’ve been using Mirka Abranet – but may give these a try at this price $0.40/disc.
The Mirka Abranet assortments sell for over $1 per disc on Amazon and at Lee Valley
IronWood
Well, of course I just restocked my supply of Norton ProSand discs. I do really like those and they help with dust collection, but they’re running about $1-$1.50 a disc around here. I’ve wanted to try the mesh style discs for a while, but never wanted to spend much on them when the Nortons work well and are a known quantity. Might have to pick up the Diablo ones on the cheap and see if I like them.
IndianaJonesy
My experiences tend to mirror Benjamen’s, but the major pro I’ve found and what keeps me buying them is that they are great for hand sanding after they stop being usable on the ROS. Unlike paper-backed pads, they’re flexible, don’t get clogged, and still have plenty of grit left. So while 10x life on the ROS isn’t accurate, I can kind of believe that the abrasives are capable of that or at least closer to it.
I do also love the improved dust collection with these (and not having to line up holes on the universal ones that never seems to go quite perfectly for me).
Ian
I think the 10x may be more realistic when dealing with gummy materials. Fresh bondo, fresh varnish, etc.
Obviously better to wait until full cure, but not always an option
Nathan
I have a set of their 150’s that I bought for a project and one piece worked for the entire project – sanding filler, softwood primed, hardwood and first coat of urethane.
worked just great and you can clean them.
I think they work fine on the ROS and lasted longer than “some” of my paper discs. Diablo and bosch paper discs seem to last quite bit longer than some no-name stuff. and I hear norton pro sand will too but haven’t tried them.
I also think the grit matters – in that I suspect wearing down the 80’s alot faster than wearing down say the 220
Anyway I almost bought the pack and I think I might go back and get one. I would prefer to have 320 in place of the 400 but I use 400 too.