I never used the Makita drills, but have a friend who has one for each
grit. With the long 90 degree handle, it works fine for smaller bowls,
but on larger, deeper bowls I would think that they (handle) get in the
way. I like to work the pad almost flat, and you can keep it flat all
the way from the rim to the bottom of a big, deep bowl without any
knuckle busting. I never counted how many bowls I can get from one
drill, but 500 plus would be a good guess. I put the soft thick pads on
the mandrill so that I wear them out ($6 for a 3 inch pad) rather than
the mandril ($19 for a 3 inch). I can go through 6 or so soft pads a
year. Do you use 2 or three inch pads and discs? This does make a
difference on wear and tear.
robo hippy