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-As to performance, I am seeing no scratching, just bare wood. Not only is it fast but it is light, easy to handle, and has the feel of a substantial piece of equipment.
My current project is refinishing a 3' x 6' oak panel in the kitchen. I have been a tinkerer for the last 60 of my 77 years and I truly love my new DeWalt orbital sander.
This machine is just amazing. I was making such little progress with the antique varnish on it that I junked my 20 year old quarter sheet machine and ordered the DeWalt.-Well, the Brown truck delivered it today.
I took it out of the box and -- one hour and three 80 grit disks later, I am down to bare wood. I know these adjectives don't usually go together but for this little tool they do.-I recommend it to the brawny guy with a major project on his hands, to those less muscular females among us and to weak old men like me.
And if the 80 grit is coarse, I can hardly wait to see what the wood looks like after I go over it with finer disks.-I obviously haven't had this little wonder long enough to guarantee it won't die before its time, but as of now I can only say good things about it.
I used this sander during my deck refinishing project. It's small size made it very easy to control but it doesn't have the power of larger sanders. However, it is very capable of handling medium sized projects like my deck, where I used it to smooth the handrails, spindles and some planks in the deck. For the occasional user, this is a great machine.
I've tried a few sanders over the years (Porter Cable, Ryobi, etc.). Less expensive than Porter Cable Now in Porter Cable's defense I have not used their newest models (last two years) so they may have addressed these issues. Sander eventually burned out after a year.
Owning a woodworking business for over 20 years I've definately put them through their paces,sometimes sanding for hours at a time. Spin control(pad does not spin if not contacting a surface).More comfortable to use. and I have to say that out of all them the DeWalt has impressed me the most.
More ExpensiveDeWaltDust bag never came loose. Most of the tools I use (routers, belt sanders,) are Porter Cable which are quality tools. But the PC orbital sanders have been a major disappointment.Here is a comparision of the two.Porter Cable Dust bag repeatedly fell off while sanding.Finally had to attach it with a screw.No spin control when not in contact with the wood.Screws work loose on pad.
Still going strong after two years. And for the average person that may include occasional use either brand would suffice.If you want a orbital sander that withstands the rigors of everyday use in a commercial enviroment DeWalt is the way to go.
Very happy with this.Dust collection works great & does not vibrate that much.Lots of power.Will buy from Dewalt again.
This is what you need for any heavy sanding whether refinishing furniture or taking old paint off of a deck prior to repainting. It isn't the absolute necessity that an extra handle is for the larger 6" sanders but it would make this much more usable.One last downer is that you can catch the edge of the sandpaper so that it rotates on the pad; not good but a nuisance not a disaster.BTW you really need hearing, and eye protection; and a dust mask even if sanding wood. The dust port is round so pretty much any vacuum can be used even the large Jet shop vac.The reasons that I only gave it 4 stars are:the supplied bag is pretty small and the only way to really get most of the dust out is to blow it out with compressed air (pretty messy).
The dust collection is better than most although the bag is pretty small. It is hard to control on vertical surfaces, and I don't think that it would be very usable on above head surfaces. Can be a little fatiguing used on vertical surfaces.
The other thing is that the dust collection tube doesn't really make a good handle. Used with a good shop vac like the Fein or Festool it is excellent. But too much suction can make it very hard to use so a variable speed vacuum is a necessity.
Some sort of additional side handle would make this much easier to work with even on horizontal surfaces. Breathing fine wood dust over a long time gets you the same condition as black lung.Too bad that the case doesn't have some room for sandpaper.
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