Sanding down the bars on a Jofa Cage?

[tryandstopme 35]

I use a Jofa FM480 cage and I've noticed that the shoulder areas on my jerseys get a bit chewed up after awhile. Taking a look at the my cage, I see that almost all of the wire ends around the outer "ring" of the cage are slightly jagged feeling. There aren't any burrs or anything, but just enough of a rough edge to slightly snag a jersey and chew it up over time.

I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions on how to smooth out those wire ends a bit? Would sandpaper be the best option, and would a specific kind be better suited for the task? I've got some fine grit that is good for wood applications but I'm not sure how it would translate over to metal.

If anyone has any thoughts/suggestions I'd be greatly appreciative.

[skarbro 0]

Dremmel tool is what I would recommend.

[rachael7 1]

You won't have much effect on steel with sandpaper. Either a metal cutting file or Dremel-type tool with a stone is the way to go. Bear in mind though that you might be removing the protective finish (paint, chrome, whatever) and making a point where rust can start.

[tryandstopme 35]

Bear in mind though that you might be removing the protective finish (paint, chrome, whatever) and making a point where rust can start.

That's a great point. I suppose I could cap the filed ends with a small dab of 2 part epoxy to hopefully curb the corrosion. Appreciate everyones input!

[ricepow 14]

Unless you are really attached to the cage you could just replace it.

[tryandstopme 35]

Unless you are really attached to the cage you could just replace it.

I'm attached to the FM480 design, but not this one in particular. I don't think that the problem is a defect necessarily. I would just want to avoid buying a new FM480 and basically having the same problem. Maybe I have a small neck or something... :) For all of the other FM480 users, are the wire ends on the outer ring of the cage as smooth as a baby's behind?

[SirJW 207]

Mine does the same thing but it doesn't bother me, the jersey is just ruffled a little bit.

[tryandstopme 35]

Resurrecting this thread for a quick update. My team recently got custom jerseys, so I didn't want to ruffle the shoulders on it. The previous jerseys were cheap practice jerseys so having it look like a feather boa on the shoulders didn't bother me too much. Instead of going the sanding/grinding route I looked around the house and found a bottle of this stuff: http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/ReRACK that I had used in the past to fix some rusted out posts on the dishwasher rack. I applied multiple coats after each dried and coated all of the problem wires along the underside of the cage and so far so good. No ruffles or frays on the shoulders of the new jersey at all. I'm sure the coating won't last forever (bout 10 games on it so far and it seems to be holding up really well), but even after the work on the dishwasher rack and work on the cage, there's only about 10% of the substance gone in the bottle, so that little bottle goes a long way.

[mhkehoe 1]

Resurrecting this thread for a quick update. My team recently got custom jerseys, so I didn't want to ruffle the shoulders on it. The previous jerseys were cheap practice jerseys so having it look like a feather boa on the shoulders didn't bother me too much. Instead of going the sanding/grinding route I looked around the house and found a bottle of this stuff: http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/ReRACK that I had used in the past to fix some rusted out posts on the dishwasher rack. I applied multiple coats after each dried and coated all of the problem wires along the underside of the cage and so far so good. No ruffles or frays on the shoulders of the new jersey at all. I'm sure the coating won't last forever (bout 10 games on it so far and it seems to be holding up really well), but even after the work on the dishwasher rack and work on the cage, there's only about 10% of the substance gone in the bottle, so that little bottle goes a long way.

Nice solution for the problem. When I was using that cage, I also had the same issue. I really didn't think about the new cage not having that issue until the moment I saw this thread.

[zachary 2]

I'm attached to the FM480 design, but not this one in particular. I don't think that the problem is a defect necessarily. I would just want to avoid buying a new FM480 and basically having the same problem. Maybe I have a small neck or something... :) For all of the other FM480 users, are the wire ends on the outer ring of the cage as smooth as a baby's behind?

Same with mine but I end up gettin it to hit my bare skin on my collarbones.