Tube Polisher Sanding Belt Materials

Tube Polishing Recommendations

The best way to remove welds before using a tube polisher is with the Cibo RCD combination discs. To put a 240 grit satin finish on the stainless tube after sanding the tig weld with the medium grade RCD disc:

• Step 1: Sand the the tube with the FF87 120 or 150 grit to leave a bright grain structure.
• Step 2: Finish with the VT, RC2 medium grade polishing belt to leave a burr free finish.

Tube Polisher Abrasive Belt Material Options

FX87: 

Is a heavy duty backed ceramic abrasive tube polisher sanding belt.  We particularly recommend the FX87 ceramics for heavier weld removal and grinding of stainless steel.  The backing of the FX87 is stiff. FX87 belts are best used on straight tubes and tubes with gentle curves.  The stiff backed FX87 is our most aggressive tube polishing belt.

FX87 is available in 36, 40, 60, 80 and 120 grit

FF87: 

Our recommendation when a flexible tube sanding belt is needed. FF87 sanding belts will go around tube corners with ease on our Finitube.   The flexible FF87 ceramic belts won’t dig into the side wall of the tube and will allow you to work easily around curves and bends. The flexibility of FF87 means that it is easy to sand the tube without leaving chatter marks.

FF87 is available in 60, 80, 120, 150, 180, 240, 320 and 400 grit.

JF4top: 

Our recommended tube polisher sanding belt for aluminium. In the coarser grits JF4top has now largely been replaced by the FF87 ceramics. In the finer grits metal fabricators use JF4top for aluminium finishing.

Jf4top is available in 120, 150, 180, 220 and 320 grit.

VT – ‘Scotch-brite’ belts’: 

Surface conditioning belts will always leave a clean, burr fee finish on the surface of any tube or hand rail. We ALWAYS recommend finishing the sanding sequence with a surface conditioning belt. SCM belts will leave a burr free satin finish .

What finish does a surface conditioning belt leave?

• Coarse (brown) conditioning belts leave a 150 / 180 grit satin finish
• Medium (maroon / red) conditioning belts leave a 240 grit satin finish
• Very Fine (blue) conditioning belts leave a 320 grit satin finish.  Our recommended finishing belt when sanding Q-rail type push-fit handrailing.
• Non-Abrasive (white) belts are designed to be used with polishing compounds to leave a mirror polished finish.

3M Trizact Tube Polisher Belts

Trizact 337DC:  Green in colour.  337DC is ideal for sanding a consistent grain finish onto stainless steel handrails.  Trizact 337DC is the best sanding belt for consistency. 337DC will give the same finish over long lengths of tube or balustrading.

Trizact 337DC is available in A300, A160, A100 and A65.

Use the A300 or A160 trizact followed by a medium conditioning belt. This will leave a burr free ‘240 grit finish.  Sand with the A65 Trizact followed by the very fine conditioning belt to leave a burr free 320 grit finish.

Trizact 237AA:  We recommend the 237AA Trizact for bright polishing tubes or handrails.  The Trizact 237AA is an aluminium oxide grain with a fine pyramidal structure. 237AA material is more flexible than the 337DC material.  It is also available in much finer grit sizes.

Trizact 237AA is available:  A160, A100, A80, A65, A45, A30, A16 and A6

How to Mirror Polishing Tubes with Trizact 237AA

To mirror polish tubes or handrails with a hand held tube polisher. We recommend the following Trizact sequence to take the surface up to a bright finish ready for final polishing: 

1. After a 180 grit sanding belt. 
2. Use the following trizact belts in sequence – Trizact 237AA, A65, A30, A16 and A6.  This sequence will leave the tube with a good reflection but it is not a mirror polished finish. 
3. To achieve a mirror polished finish use the T00 non-abrasive belts with our PV/101 and PV/102 polishing compounds.

Trizact Grit Sizing

Note:  Trizact abrasive grit sizing works in the opposite way to traditional coated abrasive belts.

• A300 grit = 80 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A160 grit = 120 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A100 grit = 220 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A80 grit   = 240 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A65 grit   = 280 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A45 grit   = 400 grit available in 337DC and 237AA Trizact material
• A30 grit   = 800 grit available in 237AA Trizact material
• A16 grit   = 1400 grit available in 237AA Trizact material
• A6 grit     = 2000 grit available in 237AA Trizact material

MF Micro Finish Tube Polisher Abrasive Belts: 

Micro Finish is quite a specialist product which leaves a much finer finish than the abrasive grit size would suggest.  Use the MF belts if you want to cheat! MF belts will leave a bright polished effect finish which does not involve using metal polishing compound.

To Create a Commercial Mirror Polishing Finish with Micro Finish Sanding Belts

This will process will leave a bright high reflection finish

1. Sand the tube with all 3 grades of conditioning belts |(coarse, medium, very fine).
2. Use the micro finish 240 with a light mist of water sprayed onto the tube.
3. If required use the 400 belt to brighten the finish further. 
4. Be impressed!!

Micro finish belts available in 240 grit, 400 grit and 600 grit

Micro finish diamond belts available in 80, 180 and 280 grit

Finimaster Velcro Tube Polisher Belts: 

Many years ago Eisenblatter developed the T-lock belt system to work on the PTX drum sanders.  A great idea but the joints break before you can use the full life of the belts. In addition the joint ‘bumps’ on every rotation making it difficult to handle and control.  To solve this problem Cibo developed the velcro belt grip system.  Switch to the Cibo system will:

• Reduce Costs
• Increase flexibility
• And improve operator comfort as the grip belts don’t bounce in use.

Velcro abrasive belts available in 60, 80, 120, 240, 320 and 400 grit.

Velcro, tex satin finishing belts available in Coarse, medium, fine, very fine and ultra fine along with a felt polishing belt.