Sanders

[Fawteen]

Must be my year for tool purchases ":^)

My B&D quarter sheet pad sander died. This is the second one I've used up, and I don't think either of them had 5 hours of actual sanding time on them.

I'm considering moving up to a random orbit, probably either a DeWalt or a Porter-Cable.

One feller on another board complained of his random-orbit leaving more sanding marks than a pad sander. It was my understanding that the whole point of random orbit was to REDUCE sanding marks. Should I just get a better grade of quarter-sheet?

Any comments on the subject of sanding marks, as well as brands and types of sanders would be appreciated.

[egon]

It is my understanding that finish sanding should be with the grain of the wood. The orbital sander does not do this. For really smooth finishes scrapping are used.

Orbitals are used for quick smoothing and then the straight line are used for the finish.

Egon

[GaryM]

Ergon is correct. Final sanding should be done with a straightline sander. Problem is many 1/4 or 1/3 sheet sanders are orbital.

An orbital with fine paper, 320 or better, may be Ok depending on the finish to be applied. It's not as big an issue if you're going to be painting the surface as opposed to stain and varnish.

[AndyF]

I've had good luck with the Makita 1/4 sheet sanders. I had a Ryobi orbital sander and ended up selling it. I get a much better finish with the 1/4 sheet. If I was doing autobody work I would have kept the orbital sander, but for wood a regular sander gets into corners better and seems to do a better job overall.

[Fawteen]

Hmmm. Maybe I should get one of each...

[kemartin3]

Random orbitals hide scratches better than plain orbitals by trying to mimic a "truly random" movement. They're trying to trick the natural ability of our eyes to spot patterns. But a straight movement sander (your classic 1/4 sheet finish sander) will leave even fewer noticeable scratches because you can orient the movement "with the grain" as others have said.

Hope this helps,
Kevin

[fivestring]

My PC (Porter cable, not politically correct [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] 1/4 sheet works well. Like others have said, sand with the grain for final sanding using 220 to 400.

[higgy]

I use both. I use air driven orbital sanders for most of the work followed by 1/4 sheet or scraping depending on the project. Not all orbital sanders are random obrital sanders, becarful. Most that are random can be used as obital by blocking one of the pivot points in the drive system.

Obitals can give great results but the paper must be fine to give a staining type of finish.

Look up kingspore abrasives they have good information on this subject.

Dane