A Better Way to Resurface Bicycle Brake Rotors like a Pro!

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

If you don't have a drill press, this one on Amazon will do just fine and its $99. I use CL800 rotors which are $55 each. Basically, two rotors $$ = this drill press $$. www.amazon.com/WEN-4208T-2-3-Amp-5-Speed-Benchtop/dp/B08ZVT5JKC/

[@GrigoryRechistov]

If only I had a drill press in my possession… The result looks awesome though.

[@kangsterizer]

look man that adapter was a few bucks on amazon haha (yes i watched the whole thing, its cool to see i done - but indeed, if one has such a machine, i hope they weren't doing this by hand..)

[@cup_and_cone]

First, let me say I love your ingenuity. Your jig setup definitely gives a more uniform aesthetic. I have used Scotch-Brite Roloc bristle discs on a typical pneumatic die grinder with great results (can't remember which grit I had most success with, maybe 80). I'm not sure Roloc bristle discs would work on your setup due to the drill presses lack of RPM, but they are much more forgiving to surface alignment and it is easy to knock out a quick deglazing by just free handing them. A Roloc surface conditioning disc might work well on your setup; you certainly would not need to remove as much material as with the sanding disc. Either way, there are many different Roloc attachments for you to explore and perhaps that would be a good future video for finish quality and performance! 😊

[@hamishjohnson9678]

This sounds like the perfect excuse to buy a rotary table 😀

[@cpopte]

Yes sir. Subscribed. Just because you said that you do this for quality. I deeply appreciate that.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

I appreciate that. Thank you.

[@mruscfreddles80]

i recently did the same. . but used a flat stone bit. . great results. .i also indexed circular grinds. . it looked like a pocketwatch mill. . i loved the finish. . great stuff thanks!

[@paulschwark2911]

It’s smart to spend time using available tools (if you have them) to recondition a part with life remaining, vs. the energy to manufacture a new rotor. Nice work.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

You are spot on. Thank you.

[@ClydesdaleNM]

Great video!

[@shirtlessGraveler305]

I wish I had a drillpress these days no space for it. I’m so happy that at every opportunity every year of school high school and middle school that I took wood and metal shop so I have experience. I got to use one later on in life. I worked at a hydraulic hose company. I was able to go use it for personal things or to repair some tooling that we had for testing hoses but nice tutorial and I would do the same thing too. Thank you for sharing.

[@grinellsmith]

Love the lathe in the background. I bought one that looks a lot like it from an old-timer a while back and I'm just learning how to use it.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

Don't know how I missed your comment. I love that lathe. Its an old Craftsman Commercial that I put together from parts. Its a beautiful machine and works really well.

[@stephenkohler3472]

So nice! Way better than my orbital sander on a flat surface method

[@TallPaulsCycles]

I’ve been using a DA orbital sander with some 400 grit on troublesome disks for a few years now. Works a treat on those scored, glazed surfaces.

[@lonelymtbrider3369]

Wow, I have a small rotating table just like that... As well as a drill press. Got to get me some small sanding pads.😊

[@MTB2139]

Thank you for the content.

[@tedwingate]

This is a really nice setup. The VFD on the press must be nice, I rarely bother changing belt positions on mine due to the hassle.

[@sloprun]

I install a VFD on my drill press based on the recommendation from Tubalcain's video here on KZbin. The VFD was around $100.

[@donavinnezar]

i usually just set up a mandrel on my lathe at work and lightly sand it with emery cloth , it doesnt have that rotary finish but its good enough to deglaze and give me a fresh braking surface

[@Emtbtoday]

Can probably do it with the cheap dremels and the dremel bench stand also the cheap one I got a full kit for £45 and have that standing plug already might just need to make the turntable, i have the paltes and bearings to make a lazy Susan already but sandpaper and butane blow torch works for me

[@januszwidzyk4656]

Good approach to the topic, nice execution, BUT... - what is the thickness of the rotor before and after grinding? - yes, the pattern after sanding is nice, but it will disappear after one trip to the mountains ;]

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

The ICE rotors, I didn't measure the others, were 1.75mm before sanding and 1.74mm after. Not a lot of material is removed, just scuffed. Thought to measure them after I made the video and not before, which isn't great.

[@NoInterleaving]

Could you weigh the weight between that and a new one with a precision scale? I'd love to run some numbers...

[@tommays56]

Nice setup I can see this working on thick rotors but the ice-tech our already so thin

[@jimsvideos7201]

An elegant solution. A small car brake disc might be a good spacer to give clearance for all the odd hub sizes.

[@jramirezar]

Looks nice finish, but maybe it will wear too fast the disc, I would use a 400 grit to keep minimum wear on the disc and polished finish

[@dand3975]

3M calls that conditioning disc and mandrell Roloc Auto body shops use them to scuff up bare metal surface before spring primer. I used the Roloc discs in a die grinder to resurface bike brake rotors. Your method with the drill press is a lot better. People worried about removing too much rotor thickness using 40 grit roloc, Not Ever gonna happen, drill press speed is way too slow and locking height of the drill press spindle makes this a very controlled resurfacing process.

[@rafael9948]

Awesome

[@sloprun]

Where did you buy your rotary table?

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

I got mine on eBay. Here’s a comparable one on Amazon. Far as I know, they are all made by the same manufacturer. www.amazon.com/OMEX-New-Rotary-Table-Inch/dp/B01CGB8ZXY/

[@ScrubsIsee]

As much as I like this approach - it’s academic. For the time you spend fixing an ALREADY worn disc, you can replace it with a new one. And since it is nearly always also the brake pads that are done, you have to replace both. For a private purpose, go for a grind. But for commercial bike workshops, this setup will just not work. Replacing the disc is cheaper than resurfacing it. Also there are way better discs out there than those lousy stamped ones from Shimano. Galfer, Magura and TRP provide thicker discs, that are already precision grinded.

[@onsight-records]

Maybe but WE have tons of New disk touching thé pads

[@anotheryoutuber_]

it would be rad to modify a chopped hub to clamp in the rotary table

[@jpmorgen5726]

Bead/sand blast works great.

[@MarceloAlves-tv7vf]

Continue com os vídeos pois ajuda a muitos 😉👍. Aceita produzir um vídeo focado nessa situação a seguir? PoV: E se... Você é estudante universitário e irá sair (todos os dias) de casa pela manhã as 9h e retornar para sua casa as 21h? Voce tem dentro da sua mochila de costas: 01 caderno, 01 ou 02 livros, computador portátil, 01 muda de roupa, 01 toalha de banho, itens de higiene, 01 par de tenis simples solado reto. E sim! Tudo cabe perfeitamente na sua mochila de 26L que você gostaria de carregar na bicicleta gravel e não nas suas costas por 10,8km/trecho pedalado. Problema: simplesmente até hoje você não achou no KZbin quem mostrasse no passo a passo como resolvesse esse problema, exceto por fotos num fórum brasileiro antigo na internet de ciclistas com uma bicicleta básica "tipo mtb", com um bagageiro metalico - garupa - fixado na traseira dessa bicicleta com um baú - 30L - de motocicleta.

[@alex_smallet]

Maybe fix the rotor in a drill and use sand paper mounted on a flat surface? You can even use a hand drill, which most households have.

[@jcsworkshop5906]

MTB rotors are far too thin to be resurfaced, we are talking about 0.3mm from new to throwing it in the bin. This process, if you wish to do it, can only be done by lightly sanding it by hand with fine sandpaper and thoroughly cleaning it with alcohol or brake cleaner.

[@dashofawesome64]

all Shimano rotors are 1.8mm. I would get 220 grit. I don't think you get that close that fast to 1.5mm. I replaced a rotor from a guy that used it from 2008. So it's possible.

[@januszwidzyk4656]

@@dashofawesome64 Show me at least one rotor with a thickness of 1.8mm :]]] In reality, they are 1.72mm, and if you find 1.75, it's great.

[@ivonakis]

Why shiny rotor surface is a a bad thing ?

[@dashofawesome64]

The brake material should be covered over the rotor. A shiny service prevents that.

[@jnk542]

Nice, thanks!

[@robertwyland7770]

Looks like a great way to go if you've got the gear. I will say rim brakes look better all the time.... less work

[@fighterguy0]

Where is possible to contact you?

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

Use the email on my channel's about page. That'll get you to my inbox.

[@IlPinnacolo]

I have all of these tools - I use them for auto racing. I figured out a more elegant solution for the bike rotor issue though. I'm sure you can guess what it is.

[@matter9]

What a pointlessly egotistical comment.

[@stormeporm]

print a mount for the centerlocks and the 6 bolts for your vice

[@dashofawesome64]

I would destroy a shitty hub for it.

[@jlrebor2626]

this is amazing tbh, my poor way to do it would be to just put the disk in a drill and hold the sand paper to both faces so it goes evenly

[@norevlimitr1602]

Satisfying...

[@ddssfsef82937rifbzkb]

this is wild. if someone is paying you to work on their bike sell them rotors

[@SonnyDarvish]

Yeah we all use sandpapers or a drill with brush attachment. But what we learned today is the method remains the same and Robert has more appropriate tools.

[@qwerty6789x]

i use a portable dremmel 😅 same result

[@Zdunchyk]

You would be better off using some kind of cone instead of a flat washer. This would allow the brake disc to be centered. To illustrate what I mean, see what solution they use when making car tires.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

Hmmm. That’s clever. I bet I could spin something out on the lathe. Thanks for the idea.

[@danielsekera3525]

No measurements?

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

Not enough material removed through sanding for a meaningful measurement. Using calipers, 1.78mm width before and after sanding.

[@TnFruit]

Why no one removed the sticker on this "old" Shimano rotor? Hope it never gets between the rotor and the pads. 😅

[@RuiSilvaPT]

Grind a bit more that it should (4:30), and you start having jerks when braking... no thank you. Nevertheless, I think it is a nice approach.

[@AppleJack76]

Nobody has time for this! Use a 3M pad (coarseness to your heart's desire), spin the wheel in the bike, and don't slice your booger hooks off.

[@KitRackhamGetMeFixed]

AVID, Brakes I must have serviced at warranty level for dealers in their thousands for many years, Hope brakes that squeal when not faced, calipers halfs with numbers not mounts... Bikes with all kinds of floating disc mounts, vented rotors and floating discs, anyone remember the lightening bolt rotors snapping?... 120 grit lowest, for the worst... like someone else has pointed out a 40 grit scratch is about 0.15mm / 150 micron which is a lot to be taking off a disc which isn't grooved heavily from wear. I'd be concerned you'll start invoking fractures if you're a seriously off-road descender, if you're a regular commuter / fool this is great! Bedded in means HIGHLY POLISHED TO MIRROR!!! Which manufacturer or anyone sells rotors with this finish??? Please just remake the video!!! Circular and even cross sanding by hand with 120 grit carbide cloth is the best for general results, your scratches looked like they really fucked up that rotor! Reminds me of the Hover Fly Mower on the lawn if you stayed in one place you got rings! I'd stick a bit of carbide cloth on the machine stand for added cleaning and add a little compressed air feed/vacuum if you want to go overboard I think that's a better solution... Cool video though, I've done similar, and you can freehand that with a flap disc and an angle grinder and get better results dude!!!

[@tekjim]

I could buy so many rotors for the cost of that press and the time spent faffing around

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

You must be getting some dirt-cheap rotors. You can get a Wen drill press on Amazon for $99. The rotors I use are $89 each. That's basically one rotor = a drill press. Are you using those basic, flat, big-box bike style rotors?

[@lolandypanda]

I think this devastating method is not about fixing a disc, it is about how to quickly get rid of it by significantly redusing its thikness below treshold. The whole point of making it by hands is to abrase the only fraction (relying on the laziness of the ppl, and also your fingers are soft which makes it slighly flexible and thus can reach micro bends... Also using a 40 grain paper is funny because it is pointles...

[@RobParkinVideo]

You could just ask him how much material gets removed with this method.

[@KoyotBravo]

Yeah... I'll stick to my sandpaper on a piece of glass.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

Do you glue it to the glass? What do you do about rotors that aren't flat? I'm curiuos about this.

[@KoyotBravo]

@@RobertAdairWorkshop First, you have to check if rotor is straight, if it is, I just lightly press in on to sandpaper sheet, you can "feel" when it's relatively flat, and work your way in about 60° steps. Just enough to clean high spots and glaze And yes, I glue the sandpaper to the glass. Double-sided tape, or sticky sandpaper. 80-120grit

[@rock_machine01]

Your chuck shaft is bent fyi.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

It's that cheap sanding disc that you're seeing wobble. The spindle on this press is true.

[@janeblogs324]

Your method wears the disc down unnecessary and wastes a huge amount of time. All you need is a wire wheel on an angle grinder or drill. You DONT even need to remove the wheel and disc from the bike, in fact it's easier to just spin the wheel while wire wheeling. The best part is you won't remove any material or thickness and assuming you run the tool at low speed the wire wheel is a non consumable

[@matter9]

Doing 1/2 the job is good enough?

[@janeblogs324]

@@matter9 you do BOTH sides of the disc. I said wire wheel, not a cup brush, not a sanding disc.

[@tekjim]

How do you wire wheel the inner face though?

[@BrickBike]

Ever watch the Red Green Show?

[@adaycj]

This is cool, and shows ingenuity. But 99% of the worlds rotors are really just a piece of steel, stamped out by a machine. There is $1 of materials. Imagine a world where you could replace this safety item for an affordable price, and manufacturers wouldn't strive to design proprietary mounting systems. If I had the equipment you have, and the rotors weren't worn too thin, I'd try your idea to make my brake services more pro.

[@zykoncito]

First step, buy a bench drill😅

[@sdanjohn]

Great but I don’t know many cyclists that own a drill press…….

[@Biffo1262]

I do but I won't be doing that. I simply do not have a problem hand glaze busting on a flat surface. Decontamination I do with brake cleaner but most squeals can be stopped using plain old water and applied pressure from the pads.

[@wraith600original1]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 £$ 5 for a rotor why bother fixing

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

You finding those rotors online that cheap? The CL800’s are $50 each. Don’t get rotors on eBay or Amazon, though. Those are all counterfeit.

[@xcracer87]

We are referring to the Shimano rotor at the beginning of the video. Very cheap for us in the industry

[@philippemariloussian5218]

Sorry to say this despite all enthusiastic comments but this is counter mechanical. Meaning if you have a bit of notions of machining …..

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

You don’t need to be a machinist to prep rotors for new pads. Mechanics do it millions of times per year.

[@victorrodriguez2806]

" the looks aren't very profesional " What a way to start a video. Who cares what the surface looks like. Do they stop the bike? The bicycle industry has fucked itself and all the riders who have loved the simplicity of the human powered machine. Why are we still clammering over disc brakes. They have been the losing additive to the consumer from the beginning . The rim brake worked just as well as the disc brake. If your under 40 years old and have never raced a bicycle above cat II then your meaningless arguments for disc brakes will be discounted. The world is changing. Maybe not for the best, though the media ( yes, even bike scripted media ) may tell you otherwise. Just remember this. We used to be able to use a a rim brake pad for years, then for less than $10 replace and go another few years. Yeah, you may have to loosen a bolt to streighten them every now and then. But we never had to make a video about it. Fuck the disc brake craze. It's done nothing bit suck the money from the consumer wallet. And made the manufacturers rich.

[@RobertAdairWorkshop]

I like your comment but I’ve got to mute it because of the f-bombs.

[@audimaster5000]

Everything will be ok. People buy Hermes purses and Swiss watches. Perspective… Also, modern disk brakes are awesome and far superior to rim pincher brakes. And in the grand scheme of things disk brakes, pads and rotors are dirt cheap. Proprietary one piece cockpit setups, proprietary seat posts, too many odd headset, hub and bottom bracket setups are arguably a significant yuck but I don’t find brakes nor the maintenance to be any burden especially for the superior performance, reliability and intuitive ‘feel’. Try em One can still find plenty of old school Chuck Taylor shoes, vinyl records and rim brake bikes (plus parts) if into antique stuff. No worries. What’s also cool is how far sandpaper technology has come in the past decade or so. Seeded gel technology, various backing materials, zirconium and ceramics ect…. I remember 1984 when the first Apple Macintosh computers were sold. And rotary telephones, microwave ovens, TV remotes, VHS players and disk brakes becoming standard on practically all modern consumer vehicles. Even light duty 1-ton class pickup trucks run disk brakes front and rear these days. Thanks

[@janeblogs324]

Rim brakes are woeful, I live in the hills at low commuter speeds where you have to stop frequently. You cannot 1 or 2 finger brake when in the hoods let alone have proper feel and modulation. Then there's the actual issue of the rim brake pads getting splinters from the aluminium rim track. Try looking at your pads and you'll see aluminium specs stuck in the pads. I've got a shed full of expensive rims with worn brake tracks because people are too lazy to buy new pads every 6 months (again I live in the Adelaide Hills and every ride you are toasting your pads) If you live in Florida and never touch the brakes or you ride criteriums sure use rim brakes all you like. Discs are a godsend, Shimano pads can be bought for $25 for 16 pairs and discs are $10 ea. But my $400 duraace rims are irreplaceable once the brake tracks wears out.

[@garync3810]

Agree with you, somewhat. I think disc are superior for bike touring. If you have a heavy bike, are toting 60 pounds of gear, and are descending a mountain in the rain...they are superior. Also, the last time I mtn biked in the mud, my rim brakes got so full of mud the wheel would hardly turn. Disc brake stays cleaner. Having said that, I prefer my rim brakes for my everyday road bike. I agree that they are soooo much easier and cheaper to maintain, and stop just fine.

[@kevinroebke8050]

Hey! I was going to post a pointless rant showcasing my ignorance, but shoot, YOU beat me to it!