It’s easy to make your own pads of any size using this method. And it’s cheap. For $10 I can make pads that would cost $60 or more, and these are more flexible, last way longer, the Velcro never wears out and you can make them any size or shape you want.

Drill a 1/8” hole into a small block of wood (this is maple) and glue in 1/8” shaft (I use CA glue). This block is 1” in diameter.

Chuck the piece into a Jacobs chuck on the lathe to shape it. I bring up the tailstock to prevent the Jacobs chuck from coming out.

Here is the piece shaped. Took 15 seconds with a skew. It’s ¾” diameter.

I’ve chucked it into the Dremel and used a taped down piece of sandpaper to ensure it runs true,

Completed and ready for the pad and Velcro

Foam knee pads from Wal-Mart ($7) and sew-on Velcro from their sewing department. Don’t use stick-on Velcro. It doesn’t last.

I use a razor knife and scissors to cut a small piece of foam. This is 3/8” thick

This is the best for gluing the parts together. Sets up quickly – in an hour you can press the glued surfaces together. Comes from Home Depot. $19, but lasts forever.

After the foam is glued in place, I trim it with the point of a skew and then glue on the hook side of the Velcro. I end up throwing away the loop sides.

The finished piece ready for a small piece of loop sandpaper. I find that the center of my larger sanding disks seldom makes contact during use, so I cut my tiny sanding disks from the centers of my used, larger disks.

With its sandpaper in place and ready for action.

A sampling of various other special sanding aids I’ve made using the same methods. The large disk on the left is 14” in diameter, and does not have a foam pad. All of these are drilled and tapped to fit my lathe spindle. The two on the left I use for sanding grooves and spirals.