Advice on Sanders

[GT]

As Christmas is nearly upon us the good lady has asked what I would like Santa to bring me. Thinking about this for a long time I said " How about a sander". Not the most romantic of suggestions but DIYers are DIYers. She then said OK which one? and this stumped me. My first thought was the Black & Decker Mouse but I thought I would ask the you guys for some impartial advice. Just need the sander for general maintanence sanding down doors or skirting board or filler for thos dodgy walls of mine. Any help much appreciated

[Grunff]

I have several sanders, including little detail sanders, orbital sanders and a belt sander. If I had to have just one, the belt sander would be it. It saves the most amount of time because it really, really sands.

[Andy Hall]

I have a variety of them for different purposes, e.g. a Makita belt sander, a Metabo random orbit sander, and a Makita palm sander.

I also have an old Black and Decker Multisander which mainly gets used when decorating.

A Mouse type of sander is OK for small amounts of work but will take a long time and not give brilliant results on larger areas.

If I had to pick a minimal number of these, I would probably pick the random orbit sander and the palm sander.

I also tend to prefer sanders where the paper is attached with a hook and loop arrangement (you just lay the paper on) rather than clamp arrangements.

One thing to watch with some of the DIY grade tools, especially anything proprietary like multisanders, is that special sheets are used and the manufacturers are not above razor blade marketing. The abrasives can get expensive on these whereas with more generic tools, they are a fair bit cheaper..

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Dave Plowman]

IMHO, the only one really worth having is a random orbit type. It's also the most expensive.

[Christian McArdle]

Sanders are all different. From coarse to fine, we have:

1. Drum (for large floor areas)
2. Rotary (for small floor areas)
3. Belt (for large surfaces)
4. Orbital (for smoothing large surfaces)
5. Detail (for little corners)

If I only had one sander, it would be a belt sander. The finer stuff can be done by hand. The coarser stuff you hire when needed.

Belt sander (you'll be all day with an orbital)

Orbital sander (the belt sander will leave marks that an orbital won't)

Christian.

[Phil]

I've had a B&D Mouse which blew up after very little light use. I was just giving a finishing sand to the panels on a pine door, so not exactly heavy duty use.

I've also got a B&D 3-in-1 Multi-Sander (or some such name) which has a reversible base that's square at one end and pointed at the other. I would advise against this as the sanding pads, which attach by hook and loop, have perforations to allow the tip of the pad for the pointed end to be replaced - basically the top diamond part. The problem is these the tip always falls off after a few minutes so is utterly useless.

I would suggest a proper delta sander for the pointy stuff and standard shape sander for regular work. The 3-in-1 is too much of a compromise, giving the worst of both worlds.

Phil

[Mark S.]

I have a big mouse/Ferm one, Ferm single sheet one and a Bosch orbital.

After about two minutes with the Ferm ones I chuck them down in disgust and get the Bosch out. It's got variable speed so apart from fiddly bits I end up using it for everything.

You get what you pay for and I'll never buy another cheap sander again.

Mark S.

[Witchy]

Our little mouse is still going strong after loads of skirting boards/doors/walls/architraves etc. The only complaint I've got is the positioning of the power switch, which is right where my index finger usually ends up.....

Next thing on the shopping list is a belt sander.....

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs