Jan wrote:

For interior decorating preparation (keying gloss paintwork, removing loose
paint, rubbing down emulsion-painted walls, etc.), what type of electric
sander is best?

Should I consider orbital or random orbital? Palm size, one-third sheet or
half sheet? Or a circular abrasive sheet?

I would hope to find something suitable that did not vibrate too much, and
which would let the dust be sucked up a vacuum cleaner attachment. Is it an
advantage to have a sander with variable speed?

I have several orbital sanders (1x palm, 1x 1/3 sheet, 1x detail), a
belt sander (4") and a (recently purchased) random orbit 125mm disc sander.

The first 3 are relatively useless. Well, maybe useless is the wrong
term - they're very gentle.

The belt sander is superb. It just removes large amounts of material
very quickly. But my current favourite is the random orbit 400W tool. It
combines the power of the belt sander with the ease of use and control
of the orbital sanders. Very nice indeed.

--
Grunff