What is a good random orbital sander for a advanced hobbiest woodworker?
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heydrew (
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May 5th, 2010
I am new to the woodworking hobby but getting pretty serious into it. I don’t need a professional tool, but don’t want a piece of junk. A high quality middle of the road, with good dust collection will fit the bill. Considering Bosch—i’ve liked every tool of theirs I’ve owned.
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@heydrew
Fien MultiMaster with turbo-vac.
I have a Craftsman from Sears, it’s one step up from the cheapest one they had. I paid a little extra for the variable speed feature. I’ve been pretty happy with it. It works fine; I’ve never had any problems with it. Though it’s kind of big and bulky so I am thinking about replacing it with something a little smaller. I’ll be curious to see what other people recommend.
Festool makes high quality tools. They are expensive, but the results are worth the cost. They also sell a vacum with a HEPA rated filter for dust removal. On one of my jobs, I sanded the ceiling of a million dollar model home with my sander and vacum and had zero clean up time. I also sanded 800 linear feet of wooden hand rail in a nursing home and it worked like a champ.
The drawback is that the sandpaper for the random orbit is unique, you have to buy festool brand.
I use one of the Dewalt DW 421 orbital 8 hole pad sanders. It works a treat depending on which grade of sanding paper is used. Not sure if that model is in production now as I’ve owned it over 10 yrs. But that format is still being used by Dewalt and most other tool makers. IMHO the the pads with the velcro surface are better than those with the self stick, to each his own I guess.
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