Sander advice

Mike29

New member
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
477
Reaction score
4
Location
Illinois
Having never used one before, anyone recommend a good sander that would help me work on the inside floor of the cabinet and then the new wood bases I am building? I have been doing Bondo work with a block by hand, and that is fine, I want to go buy one and wanted to see if anyone has a recommendation.

Thanks!
 
Ha just thinking about this. The Sander is the MOST IMPORTANT part of our hobby. My trusty sander -

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-D26451...XHGO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304528669&sr=8-1

Bought in 2001 - has been my longest lasting friend and made alot of machines look nice while at it.

Thats my recommendation - as i said nearly 10 years later works as good as it did from day one and tears anything down that i hit it up with.
 
I have the Porter and Cable version only with a square base. It's easier to get into corners and you can buy full sheets of sand paper and tear them into quarters to save money.
 
Sorry guys. Yeah the sander i have sucks :)

As good as it is, i cant get into corners!

I was thinking about buying the B&D mouse, seems like a cheap solution. For now, by hand is fine.
 
I bought one of the mouse sanders and it does alright but you'll go through quite a bit of paper, and since it is velcro back, it is expensive. I bought just a cheap 1/3rd sheet b&d at walmart and it does pretty good. I can runt it down where two boards make 90 degree angles, then i use the mouse to get into the very corners.
The dewalt shown above is a random orbital sander so it is a better sanding pattern, but again, special paper.
 
Ha just thinking about this. The Sander is the MOST IMPORTANT part of our hobby. My trusty sander -

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-D26451...XHGO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304528669&sr=8-1

Bought in 2001 - has been my longest lasting friend and made alot of machines look nice while at it.

Thats my recommendation - as i said nearly 10 years later works as good as it did from day one and tears anything down that i hit it up with.

I also have the square version of this, i bought it recently to redo a room in my house. (mostly spackle sanding) I had originally bought the Ryobi Corner Cat but the velcro on the bottom of the pad started coming off in less than 4 hours of use. Neither one collects spackle dust that well but the Dewalt works much better, and it uses regular sand paper sheets as well.

honestly i think doing it by hand worked better but for cutting down large areas or big high spots power sander is the way to go.

just my $.02

also you can sand bondo down early (spackle also) before it completely dries and it cuts down much faster tho you'll load up your paper real quick.

if your working outside, and have a decent compressor, i recommend a bluepoint random orbit tho a round pad sander won't help much in corners (for corners stick to a square pad).


Update: this is the one i have

DeWalt_D26441K_14_Sheet_Palm_G.jpg


http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

50$ with case.
 
Last edited:
If money is no object (I do NOT own this..)

32242-02-200.jpg


Festool 6'' Dual Mode Sander RO 150 FEQ with New T-Loc Systainer

only $525
 
My advice would be to pay the extra $20 bucks to step up from something like a Ryobi/Black & Decker to a Bosch/Porter Cable quality unit. The entry level stuff tends to break and the higher end stuff tends to last. I've had my Porter Cable 5" random orbital sander for almost 15 years and it still works perfectly.
 
I would go with a 5 or 6 inch random orbit sander. I have had a Rigid brand for the past 4 years.. works great. While it cant get into corners you
wont have to worry about sanding with the grain. I totally sanded down my
berzerk in 3 hours with it the other day.

attachment.php
 
I own two. A porter cable with a circular surface like the first sander shown. This is for the large areas. I also have a small black and decker with a pointed tip that works great for corners and small areas.
 
I have a cheapo Rigid, its got a dust catch and i can unscrew it and hook my vacuum up to it for ultimate dust control, bought it at depot its never let me down, takes special pads or u can just buy sheets and cut them to size...
 
Yeah, I have a Rigid random orbital as well. I'm always amazed at the material removal this thing is capable off with coarse pads, and what a nice finish it can produce with fine ones. The square ones are ok, but the ability to get into tight corners doesn't trump the capabilities of the random orbitals. Best solution is to have both.
 
Back
Top Bottom