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Re: RO Sanders and Dust Collection
By:Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks
Date: 9/7/2015, 9:05 pm
In Response To: Re: Strip: Work in basement? (Rob)

Also, am shopping for a good, mid-range ROS that does well with managing dust. Any recommendations?

CLC has a good run down of the ROS situation here: http://www.clcboats.com/life-of-boats-blog/boat-builder-random-orbital-sander-roundup.html

While I have a couple really nice Festool Rotex sanders, I am reluctant to recommend them based on price. They are super expensive. If you are a commercial shop or use sanders a lot, the price is worth it, but for the DIY home workshop, probably not. They have very good speed control, gear driven orbital action, excellent dust collection, very low hand vibration, good ergonomics, etc. In particular, their action does not change depending on the load. In the air or pressed hard on the work surface they orbit exactly the same.

Many less expensive sanders will often spin up the whole disk when off the surface or lightly loaded then change over to a small, tight orbit when pressed to the surface. This requires a deft touch to produce good results. With practice you get used to it, but you need to be careful when first learning. Newbies tend to make horse-shoe shape divots by pressing the fast spinning sanders quickly against the surface. The solution is to only start the tool when it is already touching the surface.

I made a lot of boats with various Porter Cable sanders, but others in that price point are quite similar. There is usually a way to attach a vacuum hose to any sander that is already equipped with a dust bag. Those bags are nearly worthless, but with a port and holes through the sanding pad, a vacuum will catch most of the dust produced. I believe you can find stock adapters for most sanders or cobble something up from parts in the shop vac section of the big box store.

BTW, don't get enticed by the Festool vacuums. I don't like them at all. Overpriced, and unreliable. The Fein vacuums are better, but a good hardware store shop vac does great. The downside of the cheap shop vac is noise. I wear ear protection whenever I use mine. The key to good dust extraction is moving a lot of air quickly. This makes noise.

The Dust Deputy Dan mentioned is a good add-on. A cyclone traps most of the dust before it gets to the vacuum filter (read Dyson ads) so you maintain airflow much much longer without cleaning the filter.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Work in basement?
Rob -- 9/7/2015, 8:43 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Joe -- 9/7/2015, 10:17 am
Varnishing outside
Jaybabina -- 1/29/2016, 1:35 pm
Re: Varnishing outside
Marc Upchurch -- 1/29/2016, 4:46 pm
Re: Varnishing outside
scottbaxter -- 1/29/2016, 4:56 pm
Re: Varnishing outside
Etienne Muller -- 1/29/2016, 6:22 pm
Re: Varnishing outside
Bill Hamm -- 1/29/2016, 8:29 pm
Re: Varnishing outside
Brian Nystrom -- 1/30/2016, 12:09 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/7/2015, 10:31 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Rob -- 9/7/2015, 11:56 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Jeff Horton -- 9/7/2015, 5:07 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Shawn Jones -- 9/7/2015, 8:12 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Etienne Muller -- 1/30/2016, 5:12 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Bill Hamm -- 1/30/2016, 7:30 am
Re: RO Sanders and Dust Collection
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/7/2015, 9:05 pm
Re: RO Sanders and Dust Collection *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/8/2015, 4:23 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Paul Sylvester -- 9/8/2015, 7:09 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Nick Riccardi -- 9/7/2015, 12:00 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Dan Thaler -- 9/7/2015, 7:19 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Bill Hamm -- 9/8/2015, 2:58 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Jay Babina -- 9/8/2015, 8:03 am
Re: Strip: Work in basement? *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/8/2015, 8:37 am
Value of expensive sanders
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/8/2015, 4:17 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/8/2015, 5:00 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/8/2015, 5:20 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/8/2015, 7:46 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 9/9/2015, 12:54 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/9/2015, 8:59 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/9/2015, 9:36 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Etienne Muller -- 1/30/2016, 5:22 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 1/30/2016, 7:27 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/9/2015, 8:46 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/9/2015, 8:49 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/9/2015, 9:18 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Daniel Thaler -- 9/9/2015, 3:15 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/26/2016, 8:23 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
JohnAbercrombie -- 1/27/2016, 2:13 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/27/2016, 8:10 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/27/2016, 9:28 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/27/2016, 9:30 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 1/28/2016, 2:03 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/28/2016, 8:42 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/28/2016, 8:59 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 1/28/2016, 9:07 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
scottbaxter -- 1/28/2016, 11:34 am
Sanding Video
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/28/2016, 9:03 pm
Re: Sanding Video
Marc Donnelly -- 1/29/2016, 11:48 am
Re: Sanding Video
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/29/2016, 12:25 pm
Re: Sanding Video
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/29/2016, 11:06 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
JohnAbercrombie -- 1/27/2016, 12:25 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/27/2016, 4:03 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Dan Caouette (CSCWC) -- 1/27/2016, 6:48 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Marc Donnelly -- 1/27/2016, 7:04 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC*
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 1/27/2016, 9:40 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 1/28/2016, 2:12 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/27/2016, 11:50 am
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Etienne Muller -- 1/27/2016, 3:51 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Marc Donnelly -- 1/27/2016, 6:46 pm
Re: Value of expensive sanders
Bill Hamm -- 1/28/2016, 2:22 am
Hateful tools
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/9/2015, 11:32 am
Re: Hateful tools
Paul Sylvester -- 9/9/2015, 11:56 am
Re: Hateful tools
Jay Babina -- 9/9/2015, 2:40 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/9/2015, 3:15 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Bill Hamm -- 9/9/2015, 3:42 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Jay Babina -- 9/9/2015, 6:22 pm
Air Tools
Dan Caouette (CSCWC) -- 9/10/2015, 9:12 am
Re: Air Tools
Bill Hamm -- 9/10/2015, 2:10 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 9/9/2015, 1:24 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Bill Hamm -- 9/9/2015, 3:59 pm
Hand sanding... (pic) *PIC*
Dan Caouette (CSCWC) -- 9/10/2015, 9:18 am
Re: Hand sanding... (pic)
Bill Hamm -- 9/10/2015, 2:13 pm
Re: Hateful tools
JohnAbercrombie -- 9/9/2015, 2:04 pm
Re: Hateful tools
Bill Hamm -- 9/9/2015, 4:00 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Paul Sylvester -- 9/8/2015, 7:55 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Rob -- 9/8/2015, 8:07 pm
Re: Strip: Work in basement?
Bill Hamm -- 9/9/2015, 3:48 pm