Fixed my random orbital sander

[Dave Cav]

I have an old 5" Makita random orbital sander that I've had forever, or at least ten or fifteen years. It was the only ROS I had and it's been my main go-to sander for finishing. The other day it started vibrating like crazy and then the entire rubber pad flew off. Apparently the rubber got old and cracked and and just gave up. The pad was glued to the rotating metal backing plate, and all that was left were some shreds of rubber. I was right in the middle of a project, so went over to the orange Borg and got a nice yellow 5" DeWalt ROS which is about twice as powerful and half as loud, and it has a dust collection bag that actually works, so I have a new favorite portable tailed tool. While there I looked at the DeWalt, Ryobi and P-C sanders, and they all had replaceable pads. Today I got a 5" P-C pad and used JB Quick to glue it to the backing plate on the Makita (after wire brushing all the remainder of the old pad off). After a couple of hours for the epoxy to set up, it seems to work just fine. Now I have two random orbital sanders!

[Gene Michael]

The pad on my old Makita went bad too. So, ordered one off of the net. It came with a preglued back, so it was a simple peel the backing and stick it in place procedure. The following month, the pressure clips that hold the sandpaper on gave up on the edges and began shredding paper. Went to Ace and found a DeWalt on sale for half price. Like you, I found it a more powerful, yet quieter sander.