Hi Jeff,
We will se in the future what happens.
But the sand paper for sure will make the surface of the axis more rough after some years of use. That could cause problem because in that area of the axis there is a plastic piece that by force press the axis against the steelplate, a force that you can adjust by a screw.
See int the middle of this page:
http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/...-friction.html
By the same reason I think there will be a problem to put a schrink plastic tube on the axis.
If I can replace this palstic piece with two rollerbearings on each sida of the axis center point it will be ok, but there is no space for that.
What we say, croos the fingers and hope it works :-)
/Lars