Half Sheet Sanders..obsolete?

[Ted Baca]

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a half sheet sander. I see the obvious Festool and the normal higher than I can afford price tag. I see the Porter Cable 505 and the Makita BO4900V both in my budget. The Makita appeals to me since it has a dust collection connection and thru the paper air movement. Anyone have any experience with these? Also what else is available, I can't seem to find any at Bosch, Milwaukee etc.

[Joe Jensen]

I bought Festool 1/2 sheet sander (my first Festool). It's fantastic. I bought it to get dead level table tops. It's a very fine finish sander. I built our kitchen table out of 8/4 Oak and it takes a lot of abuse. Sand it down and recoat with varnish every few years. With a 6" RO sander I (only me really) could see little variations in how the light reflected off the surface. With the 1/2 sheet I get none of that. I think a lot of this is due to the red oak having a large grain pattern and the grain density varies between the light and dark bands.

BTW, there are other options. I wanted hook and loop and Festool had that. The other I shopped had clamps for paper.

WARNING, if this is your first Festool, it will likely lead to more. I bought the Festool RS2/E and within 5 weeks I replaced the rest of the sanders with Festool. I can't believe how dust free they are compared to my old PC 6" RO and vac setup...joe

[Vince Shriver]

I have the old porter cable 1/2 sheet sander. Terrific tool; however, now that I own a couple Festool sanders, I really really miss dust collection. I'll probably see off the pc sander and replace it with another Festool.

[Rob Cunningham]

I have a Bosch 1/2 sheet sander that I use all the time. I mainly use it for narrow parts ,like rails and stiles, or table aprons. It's difficult for me to keep a ROS flat on narrow surfaces.:o

[Brian Ashton]

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a half sheet sander. I see the obvious Festool and the normal higher than I can afford price tag. I see the Porter Cable 505 and the Makita BO4900V both in my budget. The Makita appeals to me since it has a dust collection connection and thru the paper air movement. Anyone have any experience with these? Also what else is available, I can't seem to find any at Bosch, Milwaukee etc.

I've thought for a long time that the porter cable actually perform as well if not better than the modern random orbit sanders. The last shop I worked for in Canada had both and I'd keep track of the amount of work I was doing with the modern sander and the amount of work being done by the old porter cable in the hands of the guy next to me when we were sanding raised panel doors and such. And the porter cable was just as fast and used up about half the paper. These new sanders run at such an extremely high rpm that wears the paper out very quickly but don't actually do a better job at a faster rate. Obviously the quality of job and reduction of swirl marks is directly proportional to the quality of paper you use - just in case you think that that's a valid argument for modern RA sanders.

If and when I return I'll be looking for an old half sheet porter cable. They're also a heck of a lot quieter and much cheaper. And to top it off there's no fancy velcro paper to go hunting for.

[Don Morris]

I sold my 1/2 sheet sander because I just wasn't using it. I can get into corners with a profile sander, but it didn't have a Random Oscilating function which I felt was critical. I know they say the Festool is "orbital" in function. Does that mean it only goes in one orbiting direction? If that's the case, I'm not sure I would like the swirled results.

[Andrew Joiner]

The Porter Cable 505 was the standard in cabinet shops for years. I used 2 at a time. 1 in each hand for large panels. I never did a side by comparison like you did Brian, but thanks for your post.

[george wilson]

The very best half sheet sander is the Fein. Now they cost $705.00. They cut like a belt sander. And,they are getting very hard to find. I was lucky to buy one like new from a creeker. We had one down at work.

[jason lambert]

I have the festool the nice theing is they also make a steel plate you can poke holes in the paper so you can use any paper unlike the rest of the festool line, although festool paper is awesome. Most of the industyr is getting away from it the random orbital round ones are just more efficiant. I have both I love my 12 sheet samder for table tops but anything else it gets heavy.

[george wilson]

I think I'll make such a steel plate for my Fein. The pre punched paper is about $65.00 for a 50 pack.