ROS Sander Pads, Drill Holes - $$$ Sander vs $ Sander RPMs?

[Patrick Irish]

I bought an Airvantage 5" electric sander that's essentially a Mirka Ceros clone. I upgraded from a Ridgid 5" as I'm planning a Hal Taylor rocking chair build. The removable sanding pad is a nice feature and small size is nice. My concerns are below:

1. RPMs of the airvantage sander are 4k,7k,10k. It's less than my ridgid which goes up to 12k and honestly I can't tell if it's doing a better job. Anyone experience this with a mirka ceros or similar sander?

2. The holes don't line up to my current discs and I bought some abranet discs. I drilled a few holes in the pad and wondering if drilling more 1/4" holes will be a good idea, instead of throwing down $18 for this pad below. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S8DC83T...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[matt romanowski]

For the sand paper you have, use these https://www.harborfreight.com/9-piec...-set-3838.html to punch the new hole pattern and a new sanding disk as the template. I've adapted a ton of Diablo disks to my Festool that way and it works great. Do 5ish sheets at a time.

[Dave Sabo]

If your time is worth less than $18 an hour , have at it.

you've already spent $400 on a sander , isn't it kinda late to start worrying about the cost of consumables ?

[Mark Bolton]

I would agree that quibbling over 18$ seems a little crazy as does punching any type of holes. You need a configuration that is just grip, rip, and go.

As for the Ceros/Speed issue you probably need to just do some simple side by side tests to see whats actually happening because very often people become accustomed to thinking they are sanding based on sound, vibration, how hard the motor is bogged down, and so on, as opposed to the work that is actually being done. Take two boards side by side and squiggle a heavy handed pencil line down each board then sand with each sander and see which one takes the pencil away faster and what your finish/scratch is in comparison to each other.

Its often been my experience that when guys dont feel their hand shaking off the end of their arm, they dont have 3 lbs of sawdust caked in their nostrils and eyeballs, and they dont hear the loud screaming of consumer sanders, they will swear its not sanding or sanding slower. But when you test side by side they are sanding just fine or faster, with less operator fatigue, and a far cleaner shop.

Im really interested to hear your feedback on the AirVantage. A couple are on my list.