Removing Fuzzies - learnings!

Projects
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So it’s easy just to ask questions on forums and then forget about it later on… I’ve had a lot of headaches removing fuzzies, denibbing or whatever you want to call it! I’m making topography maps using around 10 complex layers in steps. Here’s my tips to anyone struggling to prevent and remove them…

Prevent:

  1. Calibration of your machine. My X axis was on the wonk slightly, so was my spindle.
  2. Speeds and Feeds. High feed rate, and high spindle speed was the way to go for me.
  3. Bit. A downcut bit is by far the best, but they also need to be sharp and good quality
  4. Use harder woods with less grain pattern. Ply is a no go for me - couldn’t get decent results.

Remove. Here’s a few tools I have found to remove them effectively:

  1. Craft knife with very sharp blade.
  2. TC Scraper/Knife
  3. Filament Brush - fine (awesome!!). Very cheap (in the UK) and made of grit-impregnated nylon filaments. Work a treat and do very little damage/sanding to the piece. www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-218021-Filament-Wheel-Fine/dp/B00I1ORA8C/ref=sr_1_5?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1446279651&sr=1-5&keywords=filament+brush+fine
  4. Sanding Brush. I have one of these fitted to my pillar drill and work pretty well for general contour sanding but they sand everything and a surprising quick so you have to be careful. http://www.sandingbrush.co.uk/ Sure something similar exists the other side of the pond.

Hope that helps someone! Feel free to add in any other suggestions and tips.

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One more you might want to try. Cut a square out of a scotch brite pad, attach it to a mandrel, and chuck it in a Dremel or other rotary tool. Gets rid of the fuzzies pretty quickly.

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Scotchbrite vote here too.

Using a blow torch can work on material like acrylic but also works on bamboo. YMMV and be careful.

Cheers

Ian

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I’ll try that. I bought a sanding mop which is a similar idea but it was red and stained the wood red as it sanded it! Not very helpful!

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@AlWhitworth - thank you for sharing things that work (instead of things that don’t!). I also had great success with the scotchbright pads but THEN I found these things on Amazon. About a buck a piece but they work better than the pad cutouts and I am still using my first one:

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On hard woods, to remove fuzzies from carvings I use: