Seen a lot of buzz about random orbital sanders. Apparently they’re great, but, when I look at the price for hook & loop paper????
I have an old 1/4 sheet palm sander (dying), an ancient 1/2 sheet “vibrating” sander, a belt sander, and I could always attach a wheel to a drill/screw-gun to get a rotary sander.
Saw the above posts about palm sanders, paying attention.
Am I missing something, is it worth it?
Replies
Depends on your specific uses. I have at least one of each. But I do a lot of wood work. I still like PSA paper over H&L mostly cuz I have a LOT of it already from before the advent of H&L.
I got a free H&L Dewalt 5" a few months back, I only have 2 gits of paper for it, 100 and 150. Everything over that I switch sanders.
" I press my lips against her name"
Using Klingspor as a reference 100 grit A/O in PSA is $.20 a disc and H&L is $.24 a disc.
If I'm doing a large amount of sanding I use PSA and if it's smaller and I'm going up the grit ladder H&L is the choice. I use the PSA until it's dull and the H&L can be pulled while still useable, put aside, and used later.
Both styles of attachment lessen the circles common to plain paper used with earlier finish sanders because the "wiggle" which results in circles is eliminated. Of course old style sanders can use or be converted to PSA or H&L.
Spent H&L pads can be heated and the H&L surface pulled off to leave a foam pad for PSA.
But in the end RO's are both faster and finer.
Am I missing something, is it worth it?
As you know a palm sander is tops for final sanding the edges of boards and a few other tasks. However, for flatter surfaces the random orbit sanders are the only way to go unless time isn't a factor and you don't have anything else to do with that extra time.
I'd go so far as to say that a finish carp working for us shouldn't be using anything but a variable speed RO for 99% of all builtin and misc. finish work.
A variable speed RO can be nearly as gentle as a palm, although still harder to handle on edges due to the size and feel of the machine.
A step up in agressiveness, productivity, and ability to screw stuff up if not paying attention are the RO's with larger orbits. These include the 6" and 5" Porter Cable or Milwakee that look like mini grinders, and others along the same lines. With a variable speed it can be dialed up for material removal twice that of a normal RO. While turned down (and lots of concentration), the same machine can gently sand board edges or small pieces.
While my sander bag includes a 1/4 sheet, 5" H&L RO, a few detail sanders, and the 6" PSA Porter Cable, the one that gets used 40-to-1 over the others is the Porter Cable. The 5" RO hasn't been used in over a year except to polish metal.
Sanders are like lawnmowers, the type of machine that best fits greatly depends on how often it gets used and how important production is to you.
Good sanding
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
I didn't think the random orbit sander was going to be so handy when I bought the Makita 5 inch 8 hole H & L. We never use the 1/4 sheet sanders now. I would say it is somewhere between the 1/4 sheet orbits and a belt sander.
I just bought 150 sheets of three different grits from Essex (google sanding disks H & L 5 inch 8 hole) for 42$ delivered.