Has anyone had any experience with this power drywall sander?
I’ve got a boatload of drywall joints to sand, and I frankly don’t look forward to all the arm work with my pole sander. A friend said he recently used the PC 7800 sander with the PC vac, and he loved it. Because I’ve got so much to sand, I think it would be better to just buy it and sell when I’m done, rather than renting.
Assuming a favorable response, anyone know where these can be picked up secondhand? E-Bay had a couple, but they were nearly the same cost of new ones.
Thanks
BruceM
Replies
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=52539.1
Just picked mine up at Coastal Tool.com. $399, but then you have to add shipping, and because I live in the great state of Conn, taxes, for a grand total $433. And I have to return it on Friday when cruising past Hartford because something is rubbing in the motor. Amazon.com had a competitive price as well, and free shipping. I bought from Coastal because they are within an hour, and darn good thing I did, too.
buy it...
use it...
give it to me...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Yeah, borrowed one from a friend after researching a little. So had a chance to use it on a couple of jobs
what I was told ahead of time is its either a love it or hate it thing. I concur. I can easily see how if you had little patience for getting the "finesse" of the thing, it could cause a lot of headaches.
But overall, I think I like it. I don't quite have the fine touch to use it all the way through, but I can do 80-90% of the sanding with it (and not have any dust!) and walk the walls with a pole and a spotlight for any errant spots. You do have to be careful about oversanding. It seems like applying pressure will speed things up and make it go really swell. Dont. You'll just mud again
The pads do pretty good not chewing up the paper. But if you start it in air and the edge hits the wall . . . so start it on the wall. It's a lot of $ for a sander. There's some definite pros. Speed, cleanliness. I wouldn't throw away the pole or the angled sponges, round pads don't get into corners, obviously. If you can test it out, by all means, do that first before shelling out the $. But if you hate it, sell it. Theres enough people who want it. Thats how my friend got his. Guy bought it for a basement, finished it, sold the whole package for $350. That was a deal too good to pass up.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Thanks RW for the thorough description.
Another question: did you use all the various sanding grits? When would you use the course and when would you use the most fine? For sanding down my thicker second mud coat, what grit would you use.
Also, is this sander useful in feathering down the mudding on the insider corners (where wall meets wall or wall meets ceiling). Do you have to kinda raise one edge as you push up into this mudding area or just slowly brush up and down to get the right taper?
The readily available grits here are 80, 100, 120. A box of 5 is about $30. I don't have any use for the 80, but I have 100 and 120. The 120 is all I've used. I am told you can get 220 by ordering, that seems somewhat worthwhile. You wouldn't use it a lot, but there would be occasions - feathering something slowly so you don't overdo it.
It reaches into corners pretty good, but probably falls shy of ideal. I keep angled sanding blocks around for that anyway. I like having a nice ridge where wall meets ceiling, aesthetically and for the sake of my sanity when I cut in painting.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
We love ours. We also use primarily 100 and 120 grit. We keep a pack of 80 on hand in case of needing some agressive removal but only bought one pack so must not use it much.
Like RW says it doesn't do corners all that well although it only leaves the last 1/4" or so. We just plan on sanding the corners. Take only minutes with a sanding sponge. DanT
Call the tool rental yards, I know 4 in my area that rent them. The last time I rented one of the PC DW sander it was $27 per day plus sanding disks. The Home Depot Rental around here also rents the sander.
I sanded a 900 sq.ft. basement & preped for texture in the 24 hr time frame with the sander.