Makita sander

[BurtEggley]

A couple years ago I bought a Makita palm sander. It came with its own bag. When I used it to sand some areas of paint, it did fine sanding the paint, but I never could figure how to make the bag work correctly. The holes in the paper are in the right place, the path is open, but sanding dust went everywhere except into the bag. This is the first one like that I have owned. All the others are older and designed to send dust everywhere. I did buy an adapter to hook the output up to a hose so a shop vac could pull from it, but it is a headache trying to sand a door frame and drag a hose around. Any suggestions?

 

[The Cobbler]

new? used? sounds like it's plugged up or the fan is not working right

 

[Beerhippie]

No, it sounds like it's working as designed--poorly. Hooking it up to a shop vac/dust collector will help. A proper hose will make all the difference in the world.

Here's what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0849L76XM?tag=atomicindus08-20

The hose is much more flexible--and longer--than the plastic hoses that come with a shop vac. It now lives on my shop vac for just that reason.

When sanding large projects--like tables or doors--I hang the hose over my shoulder to keep it out of the way and keep the weight off the sander.

You'll also want to get a filter bag for your shop vac. Another world of difference thing. Much finer dust collection than the stock filter, and much more capacity before it clogs up. Sander dust is fine stuff. Filter bags can be found at your local hardware store.

A bonus to using the vac is increased sandpaper life and a better finish--sander dust accumulating under the paper leaves marks.