• Abrasive : Ceramic Alumina
• Attachment : Center Mount
• Backing Material : Screen
• Abrasive Type : Coated

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Are Norton Red Heat Screens designed to be used between coats of finish?
Yes, Norton Red Heat Screens cut faster than conventional silicon carbide but they don’t cut deeper. So you can use the same grit size and move the buffer a little faster based on your feel for the floor because of the Norton Red Heat Screens’ speed of cut – which gets the job done quicker.

Can Norton Red Heat Screens be used to scratch a pre-finished floor to prepare for re coating?
Norton Red Heat Screens will put a sufficient scratch into the pre-finished flooring but we do not endorse the procedure. The issue is the inconsistency of the floor itself as high spots in the floor tend to get over sanded and the low spots are not sanded enough so the floor is not properly prepped for the next coat of finish.

Are Norton Red Heat Screens worth the added cost in comparison to silicon carbide?
Yes, silicon carbide screens are able to sand 350 – 400 square feet depending on the wood or finish type. The Norton Red Heat screens are able to sand up to 3,000 square feet depending on the wood/finish. We confirmed this during a job at Disney’s Wide World of Sports where we sanded 18,000 square feet with only 6 Norton Red Heat screen discs.

What makes Norton Red Heat Screens last so much longer?
Longer life is attributed to many factors. First, the sharpness of the grain cuts the wood easier so it doesn’t have to work as hard allowing it to last longer. Second, the ceramic grain micro-fractures as it breaks down preserving the majority of the grain for a longer period of time. Silicon carbide macro-fractures in big chunks allowing it to only fracture 3 – 5 times versus the ceramic grain that can break down dozens of times. The third reason is the symmetrical shape of the grain which assures that a sharp point is always sticking out. This differs from silicon carbide which is a long, spindly shaped grain that can sometimes lay flat on the mesh backing.

Is the ceramic grain dissipating the heat or is the heat not a factor with low speed buffers?
The Norton Red Heat Screens will cut faster and use less power to do the same work, but because the buffer moves at such a slow rotational speed there is not a great deal of heat generated.

Why do Norton Red Heat Screens perform better on harder species of wood?
The ceramic grain works better when sanding harder surfaces such as Brazilian Walnut or Cherry and Hickory because it always has a sharp edge so it cuts the harder material easier. Norton Red Heat Screen also excels on soft woods since the open mesh allows material to pass through rather than loading on the surface.

How can the scratch pattern be finer when the grit size is the same as other screens?
The scratch pattern is determined by the shape of the grain. Since silicon carbide is a long, spindly shaped grain it can impress a much deeper scratch pattern if sticking straight out from the backing of the abrasive. The symmetrical shape of the Norton SG ceramic grain cuts very fast due to its sharpness, but it doesn’t cut very deep because the grain itself doesn’t penetrate as deep. It also takes less power to cut using ceramic grain because it doesn’t have as much friction.