Line Up Sandpaper Dust Holes With Three Wall Pegs

The Problem

Hook-and-loop sandpaper for an orbital sander has a ring of dust-extraction holes that need to sit over the matching holes in the pad. Land the sheet a few millimeters off and the holes are blocked: extraction quits pulling, dust stays under the paper, and the grit loads up and burns through faster. Peeling the sheet and re-sticking it by eye, over and over, is the usual routine.

The Technique

1. Cut three short lengths of 10 mm dowel — short enough to act as stubby pegs.
2. Drill a pilot hole through each peg and screw them to a bare spot on the shop wall (or a scrap panel), arranged to match three of the holes in your sandpaper's pattern. Use a fresh sheet as the layout template.
3. To load the sander, hang a sheet on the pegs with the grit facing the wall.
4. Press the sander's pad straight onto the sheet, letting the same three pegs pass into the pad's matching holes. The pegs register the sheet to the pad, so every hole lines up.
5. Pull the sander off the wall and go to work.