Need recommendation on an orbital sander.

[biscuit141]

Thinking either 5 or 6 inch. Up owing projects include sanding down two dressers and a nightstand for painting and someday sanding down all our interior doors to be restained. These are fairly large flat surfaces so I am thinking I will appreciate the larger size of the 6". Any particular brands or features to look out for? I always thought the Bosch sanders looked pretty nice.

 

[Kirbot]

Only advise I can offer is,to get a random orbital sander instead of a regular orbital.
Thats what I use anymore. Works 10x better than any orbital sander.

With the right grit paper, it can just about do the work of a belt sander, all the way down to a finishing sander.

Here's the one I use.
Worth every penny.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007XXHGO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Monte]

Bosch 3725DEVS or 3727DEVS
(swiss made)

 

[biscuit141]

Yes random orbital sander is what I want. However I do not know the difference between the two.

 

[Kirbot]

The pad is square on a regular orbital sander, and it doesn't rotate

It works much much slower

 

[hammlm]

I have had for several (7?) years, a porter cable 7335 w/ dust collection kit. I don't know how I got along without it.

Quick search makes me think it's been re-labeled as a car polisher, but I found this link to what I have:
http://www.purplewave.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?090423/9473


It's great. Variable speed. As mentioned above it can just about do what a belt sander can do (for woodworking). Not everything, but I can't think of when in the last 2-3 years I pulled out a belt sander for my ww projects. With fine paper, it creates finish-ready top surfaces with no gouging, swirls or jitter marks.

I'm sure it's not unique to PC brand, but these sanders are a great invention.

 

[shannonw]

It's the same, the only difference is the counter weight and backing plate included. The polishers come with 5" weight and some cheap foam pad, the sander model comes with a 6" weight and a sanding pad which you can use the stick on disk. Lowes has the sanding model btw. I needed a bigger sander and didn't want to wait to order the sanding disk to put on my polisher so i just went and got the upgraded model of the 7424 (labled as the sander) used it for sanding, then for polishing put my 5" weight and hook and loop plate on it.

 

[bwatteful]

+1 on the porter cable. Each company has a product they tend to excel in, and porter cable has the orbital with dust collector