![]() Better models have a foam strip to help the mask make a better seal to your face. Now protect yourself, especially your lungs: Wear a dust mask when sanding. ![]() You can also use a shop vacuum and work over its exterior, especially its air vents. The best thing you can do for it is to blow the dust out of it using compressed air (or a can of compressed air purchased at an office supply store). ![]() Sanders don’t need a lot of care, but they do need some. Scroll down to see our reviews, and keep scrolling right to the end to read a brief tutorial on how to use a sander, and how to protect yourself from the sanding dust that you'll inevitably create. Also note that a less expensive tool equipped with a high-quality abrasive sheet will prove more than adequate for most uses around the house. For homeowner-duty power tools that give nearly a professional level of performance, see the reviews of the Ryobi sanders and the Craftsman. Professional-grade models such as the sanders from Makita, DeWalt, Bosch, and Metabo-HPT vibrate less and are more durable. We examined the sanded surface under bright light to see whether the tools left swirl marks.Īny of the sanders in this test will serve a homeowner. As we worked, we assessed the sander’s vibration and whether it produced an unpleasant gyroscopic effect when we lifted it off the test board. We also carefully wiped down the work surface to get a sense of how much dust the sander missed. Next, we emptied the dust container or bag to check the volume of dust the sander collected. To put these tools through the paces, we drew rectangles on pieces of oak and maple, plywood, and softwood and sanded each rectangle with an 80-grit disc. You just need to work your way down through each grit, slowly perfecting the sanded surface. A good example of this is when you sand a piece of furniture. In these cases, cord drag isn’t an issue and there isn’t a pressing need for mobility. Select a corded tool if you spend long sanding sessions at a bench, especially if you can plug the sander directly into an outlet without an extension cord. Cordless tools are handy and more mobile when you’re climbing a ladder or a scaffold because you don’t have to contend with the weight of a cord hanging down. Select a cordless sander if you spend a lot of time on job sites and already have lots of cordless tool work going on. But when we weighed the two types of tools, we found they weigh about the same, once you factor in the cord’s heft. At the outset of the test, we wondered if the battery would cause a cordless sander to be too heavy. We evaluated both battery-powered sanders (called cordless) and corded models. For more thorough dust control, use a sander that has a round exhaust port to facilitate hooking up to a hose on a shop vacuum. Both types of sanders have a bag that will capture most of the dust the tool produces. Orbital sanders use peel-and-stick sandpaper that comes precut or that you cut to fit, or you attach an abrasive sheet to the tool with the clamps on the sander’s sides. But the square pad allows them to sand into corners.Īnother difference between these is that the random-orbit variety take sandpaper discs that attach to their bases with hooks and loops. These tools sand with a consistent orbital motion and work more slowly than random-orbit types. We also tested an orbital sander with a square pad (also called a quarter-sheet sander). This reduces the chances of leaving swirl marks on the surface and allows you to move the sander both with and across the grain. Random orbit means the pad spins and oscillates in, just that, a random orbital motion. Most of our test sanders are random-orbit types with a round pad measuring 5 or 6 inches across.
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