Harbor Freight drywall sander?

[lynnbilodeau]

I tried a search, but came up empty.

Anyone use one of these? https://www.harborfreight.com/power...9-in-variable-speed-drywall-sander-59166.html

I have two large walls that I drywalled. Taping and mudding right now, and will need to sand smooth before I texture.

If this will help me catch most of the dust, then it is worth it to me. I have a Dewalt dust extractor I can hook it up to (DWV012).

Any input appreciated.

 

[The Cobbler]

very similar or the same sander from Princess Auto ( canada)
virtually zero dust when connected to my Fein vac, other than when you hit an outside corner and you lose vacuum . wish I had bought it years before I did

 

[david3921]

Doing a search on Amazon will get a number of sanders that are same as HF one...or very close to it. One of the reviews on HF compared it to the Wen sander here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4F598S7/?tag=atomicindus08-20

He said the HF one was cheaper with better lighting. However, the Wen comes with a triangular attachment that would work for inside corners. The HF doesn't come with this attachment. The Wen has 1194 ratings and, since it looks to be pretty much the same as the HF, you could read the reviews and get a sense of the quality of the sander.

 

[mike93lx]

I have the Wen sander.

It works decently well but can mess things up fast if you aren't careful.

If it isn't a huge area, I prefer a screen sander and I have a handheld one that hooks up to vac. Works well, is way easier to handle and is harder to mess up.

A pro will get things smoother with a knife, then either "sand" with a sponge, or just use a screen on a pole and cleanup after.

All that said, drywall work ***** and every time I touch it, I swear I am hiring out anything bigger than a patch the next time.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I have a porter cable, got it when they came out with it in the 90's, works great, the only downside to the HF may be the motor placement. Looks like the motor is in the head making it a little heavy, buy it for 129$ it's cheap enough & you could always return it. I know with the PC & a good shop vac I get almost no dust, I also use a dust devil before the shop vac, really helps keep the filter clean & longer run time.

 

[tak1313]

I used a cheap/basic one years ago. It was essentially a hand screen sander with a vacuum attachment. The hose from the hand sander went to a bucket, then to the vacuum.

You filled the bucket partially with water so as the dust came through, most would hit the water and get trapped (kind of like the Rainbow Vac if you're old enough to know what that is). A little still got through to the vac, but very little so it didn't clog the vacuum filter.

It was a little cumbersome because of the hoses and bucket, but worked well enough for home use - I'm not a pro drywall guy. Plus it was less than $40 at the time. I don't remember what brand it was though.

Edit.
Found an image, but I don't recall if this is the specific brand I used:

 

[mike93lx]

I just run a bag and filter in my shop vac with a long, flexible hose. No separator or bucket

 

[Michael_in_DE]

I got the amazon version which looks identical. Sands great, wish I had gotten it sooner. Still plenty of dust despite using shop vac with it. Still super handy.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

Bought this one. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1PKS3GC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Had very large areas to sand. Hooked it to my DeWalt dust collector, and had almost zero dust. Worth it to me.

 

[Augus7us]

I have one and i found it to be too much. It would quickly sand down to the paper. The other thing is it isnt exactly light and after a while my back and wrists were sore.

I have a cordless palm sander i found works better. But ultimately improving my drywall game made the biggest difference.

I dont know how much of a difference it made on the dust because it removed more than hand sanding. Let us know your experience with it.

 

[csp]

Love the Porter Cable, which IIRC was the original of this type. I have the PC vac that used to be made for it as well.

I had a 30 x 26' room with 12' ceilings that had to have the knockdown texture removed due to some really ****** patch work. I rented one to do it and bought a slightly used one shortly thereafter.