Hello,

How good are random orbital sanders? I bought a Bosch green 1/3 sheet
orbital sander many years ago but it takes forever. I've read the
excellent uk.diy power tool FAQ and it agrees that orbital sanders are
slow and suggests that random orbital sanders are much faster. I
remember borrowing a random orbital sander (green Bosch 400
something?) a couple of years ago to remove some paint but I don't
remember it being that good. However it was a while ago and I can't
remember the details; perhaps my technique was wrong or I was using
the wrong type of paper?

In addition to removing paint from wood, I've also got a wall I would
like to give a quick once-over before papering, would you recommend a
random orbital sander for this or would a 1/2 sheet be better as it
would cover a bigger area at once? I don't see many 1/2 sheet sanders
for sale at the moment, have they gone out of fashion? Is it worth
buying a known brand like Bosch or do the Aldi/Titans etc. do as good
a job?

Thanks,
Stephen.

Stephen wrote:
Hello,

How good are random orbital sanders?

The mutts nuts IMO.

With a 40 disc they give excellent stock removal, approaching a belt sander
but with 100% control. You can go up to 240 grit for fine finishing.

Like garlic bread - the way forward.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:24:52 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

PEX400 probably...

Is that a good model to get or are there better ones?

The thing to remember with paint stripping, is it is never going to be
that fast however you sand it. It tends to clog paper quickly. A random
orbit at a slowish speed with a coarse (40 or 60 grit) paper will
probably work best.

Perhaps I was just impatient? I've got some skirting board to sand; I
filled over the nails and knots with wood filler but I put too much
on! What's the best device for sanding that?

Half sheet will probably give you the flattest overall result due to the
larger pad size. Other than that you are probably better off with a
random orbit.

I notice there are quarter sheet sanders now. When would you use
those? Surely for small work you would be better with a delta sander
to get into the corners?

Is the jump from 1/3 sheet to 1/2 sheet noticeable? Does it make any
difference to speed or quality of finish?

Thanks again.

John Rumm wrote:
Stephen wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:24:52 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

PEX400 probably...

Is that a good model to get or are there better ones?

Its a reasonably decent budget one. I have one, and find it ok if not
doing too much in one go.

The thing to remember with paint stripping, is it is never going to
be that fast however you sand it. It tends to clog paper quickly. A
random orbit at a slowish speed with a coarse (40 or 60 grit) paper
will probably work best.

Perhaps I was just impatient? I've got some skirting board to sand; I
filled over the nails and knots with wood filler but I put too much
on! What's the best device for sanding that?

The RO will do that nicely. The thing to remember is that you don't
always get the fastest removal rate with the maximum speed -
sometimes a slower rate, coarse paper and gentle pressure will take
off material quickly.

Half sheet will probably give you the flattest overall result due
to the larger pad size. Other than that you are probably better off
with a random orbit.

I notice there are quarter sheet sanders now. When would you use
those? Surely for small work you would be better with a delta sander
to get into the corners?

Probably nice for furniture making. Quite often you might be sanding
smaller stuff before assembly. The light easy to handle sander can be
an advantage - especially if it can be held with one had comfortably
(i.e. hand resting on, rather than needing to grip and support the
body as you would a delta)

With the exception of the Fein multimaster, most delta sanders have
fairly poor sanding performance IME. Hence they are only worth using
for the corners, and one would want to switch to something more
effective when space permits.

Never used a Fein, but my Bosch PMF180 copy is without doubt the best delta
sander I have tried - streets ahead. The rubber backing pads do wear badly
mind you - does that happen with the Fein?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:09:18 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

With the exception of the Fein multimaster, most delta sanders have
fairly poor sanding performance IME.

I've got the green Bosch one, perhaps that's why it takes me ages?

In article ,
Stephen wrote:
PEX400 probably...

Is that a good model to get or are there better ones?

I have one and it's fine. But got a larger one from Lidl for a fraction of
what it cost (many years ago) which also has far cheaper discs. I hardly
ever use the Bosch now.

--
*I pretend to work. - they pretend to pay me.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

John Rumm wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
Stephen wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:24:52 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

PEX400 probably...
Is that a good model to get or are there better ones?
Its a reasonably decent budget one. I have one, and find it ok if
not doing too much in one go.

The thing to remember with paint stripping, is it is never going
to be that fast however you sand it. It tends to clog paper
quickly. A random orbit at a slowish speed with a coarse (40 or
60 grit) paper will probably work best.
Perhaps I was just impatient? I've got some skirting board to
sand; I filled over the nails and knots with wood filler but I put
too much on! What's the best device for sanding that?
The RO will do that nicely. The thing to remember is that you don't
always get the fastest removal rate with the maximum speed -
sometimes a slower rate, coarse paper and gentle pressure will take
off material quickly.

Half sheet will probably give you the flattest overall result due
to the larger pad size. Other than that you are probably better
off with a random orbit.
I notice there are quarter sheet sanders now. When would you use
those? Surely for small work you would be better with a delta
sander to get into the corners?
Probably nice for furniture making. Quite often you might be sanding
smaller stuff before assembly. The light easy to handle sander can
be an advantage - especially if it can be held with one had
comfortably (i.e. hand resting on, rather than needing to grip and
support the body as you would a delta)

With the exception of the Fein multimaster, most delta sanders have
fairly poor sanding performance IME. Hence they are only worth using
for the corners, and one would want to switch to something more
effective when space permits.

Never used a Fein, but my Bosch PMF180 copy is without doubt the
best delta sander I have tried - streets ahead. The rubber backing
pads do wear badly mind you - does that happen with the Fein?

What the velcro covered things? They last quite well if you take care
to not overheat a corner - at which point it can start losing hooks,
and then the paper does not stay put as well.

Ah. Exactly what happens with the Bosch.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:35:52 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:
Never used a Fein, but my Bosch PMF180 copy is without doubt the
best delta sander I have tried - streets ahead. The rubber backing
pads do wear badly mind you - does that happen with the Fein?

What the velcro covered things? They last quite well if you take care
to not overheat a corner - at which point it can start losing hooks,
and then the paper does not stay put as well.

Ah. Exactly what happens with the Bosch.

I've found with mine (a cheapy Ryobi thing* bought on a whim) that it's
actually the sandpaper material which separates from the velcro backing...
I've had that happen on a couple, now (3M pads, I believe). Actual hook
portion fine, so far.

* does the dust collection actually work on the better brands / models?

cheers

Jules

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:58:47 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

To clarify, I was talking specifically about *delta* sanders there -
i.e. the ones with a small triangular pad, designed for corner work etc.

So was I! Sorry for the confusion, I have both a green Bosch 1/3 sheet
sander and a green Bosch delta sander. My earlier post was about the
1/3 sheet sander and this later post about the delta sander but I
didn't make that clear.

The green bosch is better than some of the breed

That's reassuring. Because it's small and light I have been tending to
pick that up and use it first, however, I will now follow the advice
in your earlier post and only use it for corners and use the 1/3 sheet
sander for everything else (whilst looking into the 1/2 sheet and
random orbital options).

Thanks again.

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:35:52 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Exactly what happens with the Bosch.

Is that a blue Bosch? I think there was a post here or in the FAQ
saying that the velcro backing pads must be considered a consumable. I
understand this velcro fastening is also used on the random orbital
sanders; do these suffer the same problem?

By the way, what sandpaper do you use? I have been using the
Silverline triangles from Toolstation, simply because they were cheap.
However, I find that they have to be changed frequently so I do wonder
whether it would be more economical to use a more expensive brand that
lasted longer?

Thanks again,
Stephen.

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:51:47 +0100, John Rumm wrote:
* does the dust collection actually work on the better brands / models?

On the MM its not bad if you hook up the vacuum cowel, fibre washer and
use the punched pads. Its not perfect, but is about as clean as you are
going to get a sander. There is something about the oscillatory action
(rather than orbital) that seems to throw less into the air in the first
place - it tends to pour off the thing you are sanding in a nice little
waterfall.

Yes, at least it doesn't spread it everywhere, I suppose. It's just that
given how much actually makes it into the bag on mine vs. how much I sweep
up elsewhere, I can't really see why they bothered :-)

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:39:18 -0500, Jules
wrote:

Yes, at least it doesn't spread it everywhere, I suppose. It's just that
given how much actually makes it into the bag on mine vs. how much I sweep
up elsewhere, I can't really see why they bothered :-)

I used to empty the dust box on my sander, it certainly filled up
though I can't remember if any escaped and fell to the floor. I've
since bought an adaptor to fit the sander to the vacuum and now it
catches pretty much everything.

I think I read (in the FAQ?) that the system serves two purposes: not
only to collect sawdust but also to draw air through the sander and
cool the motor.

I have had a couple of pads where the velcro stays on and the paper
falls off but I always thought they were bad batches.