Pad or Random Orbital Sander

[ed vitanovec]

I've used the Makita Pad Sander for years and plan on buying a replacement, not sure to stick with a Pad or go with an Orbital. For me its easy to cut my own sheets for the Pad, I have noticed Home Depot is carring the round discs. Not sure which sander works out the best, the Pad or Round. What about the different brands, Bosch, Dewalt, Porter Cable, fixed or variable speed? Looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Thanks! Ed

[Michael Mayo]

I have been contemplating getting an ROS sander lately so i am very interested in the responses to this question. I too have a pad sander and it has never seemed to be very efficient.

[Rory Misener]

I just bought my first ROS last week after researching for a while. It came down to the Ridgid 5" vs. the PC 333. I went with the Ridgid and I'm happy so far, although the sander has maybe 10 minutes on it at this point. It removes stock much faster than my two pad sanders and isn't nearly as bad with regard to vibration.

[Van Huskey]

The ROS is a world apart, in a good way, for general woodwork sanding chores. I am a fan of the 6" sanders since they have almost 40% more area. Make sure you consider dust collection. If you don't spring for a Festool then I suggest you get a Bosch.

[Derek Stockley]

when I bought mine, dewalt had a promo 2-pack that included both their ROS and pad sander, so I've been using both side by side for a few years now. If I had to choose only one of the two, I'd choose the ROS. The ROS leaves a much less visible scratch pattern - for projects I'm not being really fussy about, I feel I can go right from the ROS to staining and finishing. The pad sander leaves more regular, visible scratches that I can't get away without hand sanding after. The only advantage of the pad sander that I've found is that it's easier to use it on narrow surfaces (think edges, legs and 5 piece door parts) where the whole pad isn't engaged on the piece. The ROS can do edges too if you just stack a few pieces side by side so it has a surface for the whole pad. My ROS also has variable speed - I wouldn't bother with that if I had to replace it. Never turned it down once. I can't comment on brands of the sanders themselves, bit I will say that buying higher quality discs is WELL worth it unless you enjoy the time you spend with your sander.

[Charles Lent]

I have and use both a lot. The ROS cuts faster, so I use it for the bulk of the sanding. I use the pad sander for the next level of sanding. Then I have a mouse type sander that I use for the tight corners. For fine furniture work I follow up with some careful hand sanding using 220 or finer grit and I always wipe down and blow off my project between grit changes to be certain that there are no "big rocks" left over to leave scratches in the next finer next sanding step. Every time I try to skip any of these steps I hate myself later.

Charley

[Timothy Wolf]

I just went through and upgraded all my sanders, I bought the Ridgid pad sander, the Ridgid 5" Varible speed RO sander and the Ridgid multitool for corner sanding. I like the warranty, but then I found out the Ridgid Pad sander has some paper clamp issues in almost every review I've read so I took it back and got the Dewalt pad sander because it was a better feel, warrantee and higher power than the Makita pad sander for the same price. I can't afford Festool (I am a real person that does this for a hobby not professionally) but I think that would be a better upgrade for someone doing pro work. Get a good vac like the Festool or Fein (I picked one up @ woodcraft for $100 off this month) That way you have less dust to deal with. Charley gave great advice for proper sanding order. Another tool I've used while helping a friend is the Bosch 1/2 sheet sander which works really nicely on big flat pieces for a pad sander, but I couldn't afford it after I splurged on the Fein Vac.

[Paul McGaha]

Hi Ed,

I have a PC 6" Random Orbit Sander that probably gets used on every project. But I follow it with the PC Speed Block Sander. The Speed Block is less aggressive and I use as the final sanding on all my pieces.

I find both sanders to be very important. The ROS does most of the work but the speed block does the final sanding.

Hope this is helpful.

PHM

[ed vitanovec]

Paul, How do you like the Speed Block Sander, is it comfortable to hold and what about dust control?

[glenn bradley]

I rarely power sand but, a ROS is what I use if I do. Although more aggressive, the pattern will be pleasing to you as it is less noticeable than a 1/4" sheet sander. The quality of the sander will pay for itselfin savedtime and saved material to reach a given finish. The pic shows the result of one pass of two sanders on plastic that were similar in specification. The difference in the resulting surface is clear.

[Paul McGaha]

I like it a lot Ed. It's a really nice tool. Porter Cable makes some sandpaper just for it. The sandpaper has an adhesive back and comes on a roll. Just cut a piece with a pair of scizzers and slap it on the sander and you're good to go. No clamps to fool with.

I dont have any dust collection connected to it. I dont know that you can. My shop is a standard, attached 2 car garage. I have an assembly table I can roll outside easy enough and I do tasks like routing and sanding outside if at all possible. Otherwise I'll get everything in the shop dusty.

I have a shop vac connected to my 6" ROS but I still use it outside.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with the purchase.

PHM



Paul, How do you like the Speed Block Sander, is it comfortable to hold and what about dust control?