Datasheet

Some
sanders
help
you
produce
a smooth, scratch-free
surface
without
going
through a
long succession
of ever-finer
sandpaper
grits.
Here's the
grit
we needed
to
sand
to before
the scratch
patterns
disappeared.
Black &
Decker RO100
Bosch
3107DVS
Craftsman
27957
Festool
ES125 E-Plus
Makita
BO5012K
Makita
BO5021K
Metabo SXE425
Milwaukee 6019-6
Porter-Cable
333VS
Ryobi RS241
-Test
conducted on
a single board of each species.
Your
results may differ.
{r
s
6
Aggtessiveness.
A random-orbit
1/
sander that takes a
healthy bite
when
H knocking down a
rnisaligned
joint
will
just
as
quickly
sand through
thin
veneer. The chart above shows
the side-
handle sanders
(Bosch
3I07DVS
and
3725DVS,
Makita BO502lK. and
Metabo
SXE425)
to be the
most
aggressive.
Such high
removal rates can
sometimes
lead to control
problems.
(Even
some
not-
so-aggressive
units
were
difficult
to keep
www.woodonline.com
in check,
wanting to
quickly
change
direc-
tions
as we shifted
pressure
to the edge of
the sanding
pad.)
[f
you're
looking
for a
do-irall
sander, remember that
you
can
dial
down the speed on
a feisty variable-
speed
model, but
you
can't
make a
lackadaisical sander more aggressive.
6
Effective
dust collection.
The
(,
best
dust-collection
method is a
af
shop
vacuum
hooked up
to a
sander's
dust
port.
That said,
we were dis-
This
photo
shows
the scratch
pat-
terns left by a
belt
sander
(top)
and
a
finish or
"pad"
sander
(bottom).
A
belt
sander
should
be used
only
in line with
the
grain.
To measure aggressiveness
and dust-
collection
capabilities,
we outfitted
each
sander
with
an 80-grit
Mirka Gold
sand-
ing disc
(from
Supergrit
Abrasives,
800
I 822-4003,
or
www.
superg
rit.com).
After weighing
a
pine
test board
and
the
sander
separately,
we
sanded
the board
for
10 minutes using only enough
hand
pressure
to keep control of
the sander,
then weighed
it
again,
as shown
above.
The difference
shows how
much
material
the
sander
abraded
away.
Without emptying
the sande/s
onboard
dust
receptacle,
we reweighed the
sander
to
see
how much it
gained.
Comparing
this weight change
to
the
amount of
material
removed
gave
us
the
percentage
of dust
collected.
We
aver-
aged the
results of three
tests, then
repeated the entire
procedure,
this time
with red oak boards.
Thrree sanders,
thriee
specialties
Random-orbit sanders
marry the orbital
action of
a finish sander
to
the
aggressiveness
of a belt sander
to create a
fast-cutting, smooth-
sanding
tool. lf we could
have only one
portable
sander
in our shop,
it
would be a
random-orbit sander,
though all
three have
their
place.
Here's
how they compare.
Belt sander
.
The fast-moving abrasive
belt
hogs
away
wood
quickly.
.
Long,
straight
scratches
(see
photo,
al righf)
make it
a
poor
candidate
for cleaning up
cross-grain
joints,
such as
those
in facejrame construction.
Finish sander
.
You
can
sand into corners
because of
the square
pad.
.
The
pad's
orbital action
creates
tiny circular scratches
(photo,
above).
With no obvious directional
scratches,
you
can sand
cross-grain
joints.
.
The small sanding
pattern
removes stock slowly,
even
with
coarse
grits.
Random-orbit
sander
.
Pad
rotation
combined
with orbital
motion blends the scratches
into a
less-detectable
pattern
than a
finish sander.
This combined
action
also
makes it more aggressive
than a
finish sander.
.
The round
pad
can't
sand
into
corners.
.
Contrary
to intuition,
these sanders
remove /ess
material when
you
bear down
on them, so a
light touch
is best.
About our
tests
65