[JBrooks]

An upright disk is useful for any shaping. Harbor Freight makes a disk/table belt combo at a very reasonable price for occasional use.

 

[Spanishammer]

An upright disk is useful for any shaping. Harbor Freight makes a disk/table belt combo at a very reasonable price for occasional use.

2nd this, other than the table belt being a pia to replace i have done several pads and plates on the hf machine...works great, just buy good belts and disc's from somewhere else (the ones that come with it are pretty bad).

 

[WadHopper]

For adjustable pad hardware I use a band or scroll saw to cut to the line then finish on a disk sander. "Cuts" the time in half compared to grinding it off.
For pads it's pretty much the same unless I grind pitch into the pad, then it's a belt sander for that.
Keep a wire brush handy to clean out the disk/belt.

 

[Smithy47]

I use a 4 inch wide belt sander for recoil pads and for aluminum Graco products. I use a 12 inch disc sander for sanding th e end of gunstocks. Like noted above, I always use a bandsaw to cut close to the line, then finish with the belt sander. Buy course grit and fine grit belts. Makes the sanding go much faster. Regards, Bob

 

[vatrap]

If you have a 10" or 12" table saw, use the sanding disk plate and it will give you precision depth control on the disk. Makes it easier to grind the excess, but I still use a palm sander for finish work.

 

[Jr720]

1 inch x 30 inch belt sander is what I use for aluminum plates and recoil pads turns at a higher rpm which keeps the surface a little smoother
A band saw to rough in close to the final dimensions speeds the process but I always leave at least 1/16 to finish with the sander like a previous post I use a palm sander with 220 paper to remove the saw marks then polish with 800 wet sand paper and final buff with buffing compound by hand for a mirror finish.