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Re: Value of expensive sanders
By:Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks
Date: 1/27/2016, 9:30 pm
In Response To: Re: Value of expensive sanders *PIC* (Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K)

For me, holding the top of the ROS, over the center of the sanding disk is essential.

I understand it is your way of doing it, but it has never been essential for me and need not be essential for anyone else. As I said, I never liked the high hand position you show in your photo, and I also notice you are holding on to the vacuum hose. Controlling the weight and drag of the vacuum hose is important. As long as there is a hose hanging off the sander it is out of balance and that weight needs some form of compensation. Essentially, you are compensating with a two handed grip, one on the sander, one on the hose. Balancing my hand 6 inches above a 5 inch base, with a top-heavy sander, while being pulled by the hose from below has always felt awkward to me. It is a simple stability problem that I never liked.

For me I have been able to do very well with the barrel grip style sanders. Maybe because the first ROS I bought 25+ years ago, was a barrel grip, I can find a nice balance point on the sander, that also holds the hose and centers the effort of the tool on the center of the sanding pad. And since the sander is not as tall my hands are closer to the surface. I just find a low grip on the sander gives me a more sensitive touch and a finer degree of control. And if it works for me, I imagine it can work equally well for someone else.

While I imagine that with a lighter/lower sander such as the Ceros/Deros or the Festool ETS EC125/3 will facilitate a palm-on-the-top grip, the option of being able to grasp the Festool lower down around the neck or waist would be a benefit to my way of working. I'm sure I could get used to be required to hold the top to depress the paddle switch, but I if there are other options for gripping, I feel that is a good thing. The paddle switch seems like an unnecessary old over from the pneumatic sanders that doesn't provide much benefit. Maybe if I were used to pneumatic sanders it would seem like an obvious benefit.

I've been using some Abranet sanding material as well. It is very nice for dust collection and leaves a nice finish, but there is an acknowledged issue from Mirka that it decreases the life span of the sander's pad, wearing out the hooks on the pad. They sell sacrificial interface pads specifically to protect the sander's pad. I may start to switch over even more to Abranet, but it is just one more thing to think about.

I haven't yet committed to buying another sander, and its crazy that a Festool is the "budget" option, but if one of them will do a better and/or quicker job, it may be worth it. I need to stew about it for a while longer.

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