Recommendations on DA Palm Sander

[GarageGuy89]

Got a house project coming up which requires sanding roughly 1,000 linear feet of 1x2, 1x3, & 1x4's of rough lumber for trim to a smooth finish. I've almost completed cutting the rough stock to length so I'm thinking it's time to upgrade the crappy electric orbital I have.

Been planning this for quite a while and at first was going to use an electric sander but I have since upgraded my compressor to a 20+ cfm 80 gallon unit, and I hear the air tools are a bit more convenient if you have the compressor.

There is not much on the used market in my area, and even so they are priced near new. I'm basing the price off Home depots (husky) palm sander of $80 as my baseline purchase at a minimum. Is there anything else out there for less that I should be considering?

I am also aware that Dynabrade puts out a pretty badass sander that would probably last me till the grave. I can find em for about $150, if anyone thinks this is worth the purchase for the amount of sanding I have set myself up for please let me know. Obviously, me just being on this website I don't have money to burn. So if ya'll think the price is worth it let me know. Beyond this project I rarely ever do any sanding, however if the dynabrade saves my arm from going numb over the husky, I would say it's worth it.

 

[shoot summ]

Is the lumber really rough?

If so you would be better off surfacing it IMO.

 

[Davefr]

Got a house project coming up which requires sanding roughly 1,000 linear feet of 1x2, 1x3, & 1x4's of rough lumber for trim to a smooth finish. I've almost completed cutting the rough stock to length so I'm thinking it's time to upgrade the crappy electric orbital I have.

You want to sand 1000' of rough cut lumber to smooth?? Wow that will take forever with a palm sander.

You need a planer!! The sandpaper savings will pay for one!!

As far as palm DA's, I'd never recommend pneumatic over electric. I have a 5" Sioux pneumatic and a PC #333 electric. I can't discern much difference in sanding performance.

However the 15 CFM Sioux runs the compressor full time. The noise and pneumatic hose makes it a miserable PIA over electric.

 

[Joweebananas]

i have the husky sander. bought it to start out in a body shop, switched the pad to hook & loop. figured it would work till i could afford something higher priced. its been close to 2 years & this sander is still running as good as day 1. a little oil every week, dry & wet sanding, it never quits. i use it almost every day, so if you're just using it around the house a few times a year you shouldn't have to buy another sander. go with the husky.




"Wake me when the sleepers are done ignoring me, bruh. I'll be flying with a full tank of gas, on ether."

-Royce da 5' 9"

 

[GarageGuy89]

Most of it has already been passed through the jointer and/or planner. It's not rough by any means, but it is also not trim ready, whether it's been passed through the planner or not it needs some sanding to a degree.

None of it is in a state of "rough cut", like you would see with cedar fencing boards if that's what you mean.

I've done a couple test pieces and 120 grit is the coarsest I've had to go to get it paint ready. Started with 120 and worked up to a light sanding of 220 to finish it off.

 

[GarageGuy89]

You want to sand 1000' of rough cut lumber to smooth?? Wow that will take forever with a palm sander.

Yes, I will do just about anything to save money and make an excuse to buy more tools. Call me crazy.

 

[Davefr]

A good planer with sharp blades and shallow passes should get you real close to paint ready. For what's left use electric. Festool is a nice choice!!!

 

[GarageGuy89]

I've got a low grade planer, probably with dull blades, and it does not put out paint ready material.

Replacing the blades would be more then the planer. At that point I would be looking for a planer with helicoil cutting head. Out of my price range.

 

[aczr2k]

I have a Dynabrade DA, really like it, can't compare to anything else since I've only had this one.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Any good random orbit sander should do what you want. They are faster than the palm sanders that just vibrate.
I think you mean helical, not helicoil.

 

[rlitman]

...As far as palm DA's, I'd never recommend pneumatic over electric. I have a 5" Sioux pneumatic and a PC #333 electric. I can't discern much difference in sanding performance...

I'll have to disagree with you on this one.
I've got extensive experience with three random orbit sanders.

My first was a 5" Porter Cable 333 electric sander. For what it was, it was decent, and the dust collection was better than nothing. But it was woefully underpowered, and the tall stance was awful on my wrists. It also likes to free-spin too much, and can easily leave crescents on your work if you lift it.

My next, was a 6" Porter Cable 7336. That had plenty of power, but the dust collection (I had the vacuum dust skirt) sucked. Also, without through-the-pad dust collection, sanding was surprisingly slow (dust collection helps keep the grit in contact with the work). Finally, the two-handed grip was just way overtiring.

My favorite now are my 6" Dynabrade (I've got two Dynabrade Supreme models, one is the newer 12,000 OPM, and the other is the older 10,000 OPM model that I couldn't pass up for 50 bucks). They've got the power of the two handed sanders, but a super low one handed stance that is much easier on the hands than typical electric sanders. Another really nice advantage to pneumatic is that they're all naturally variable speed.

Still, if you're only planning on doing occasional wood work, electric may be a better deal for you. Bosch makes some REALLY NICE sanders. A friend has one that stops the free-spinning pad as you lift off, so there's no need to start-on/stop-off like the typical DA. Festool makes even better stuff, but that makes a Dynabrade look cheap.

But what's not mentioned above, is that for what you're looking to do, these are all the wrong kind of sander for you.
What you want is a belt sander. That is the tool you need to flatten rough lumber into a paint finish. Not a pad sander, and not a planer.

 

[RV8guy]

I have a Dynabrade DA, really like it, can't compare to anything else since I've only had this one.

Dynabrade is the best DA sander that you can buy. A 6 inch 3/8 orbit Supreme runs around $150. I run mine hard and put it away wet and it keeps coming back for more.

 

[rlitman]

Dynabrade is the best DA sander that you can buy. A 6 inch 3/8 orbit Supreme runs around $150. I run mine hard and put it away wet and it keeps coming back for more.

I've LITERALLY done that. I did my own granite kitchen countertops, and I used my Dynabrade wet for lots of polishing. I've also used it to wet polish my vehicles, and the soft windows on my Jeep. Wet sanding was one big reason that I wanted pneumatic over electric.

 

[Hagatronics]

Buy a thicknesser. Even a cheap one will do this no problems.

 

[skruft]

What I would do at least for the first pass is run them through a stationary drum sander, one of the tools I use most, or pay someone a little to run them through one of the gigantic stationary belt sanders. That is a lot to do by hand.

If you want to do it by hand, I think the little Makita pad sanders are the best deal around. But all the pad sanders need a lot of paper changing so I would get the best paper.

 

[GarageGuy89]

What you want is a belt sander. That is the tool you need to flatten rough lumber into a paint finish. Not a pad sander, and not a planer.

Did some research on these belt sanders and drum sanders. From what I read they are used more like a planer. Getting Stock down to size, not so much finish sanding for paint grade. They are also very pricey.

I ended up getting a used husky sander for $36 on ebay. Will give it a shot with this and see where it takes me for now.

 

[rlitman]

Did some research on these belt sanders and drum sanders. From what I read they are used more like a planer. Getting Stock down to size, not so much finish sanding for paint grade. They are also very pricey...

Drum sanders are used more like planers. Large belt sanders like a Timesaver are absolutely used for finish grade work, but I was talking about a hand held belt sander.

You can get belts for a standard 3"x21" machine (mine happens to be a 3x24, which is a little harder to shop for) in grits up to 120.

 

[Irongrave]

If you only want one tool the Festool 6 inch rotex sander will do everything you need but they are not cheep.

Also any sander you get I highly recommend getting an Onidia dust deputy with a shop vac to save your lungs. 1000 ln ft is no joke to sand.

 

[GarageGuy89]

Got cha! I do have one of these, and I have used it, but it becomes a pain to hold when you've gone through a couple boards. That's why I was asking about the palm sanders. They seem to be more ergonomic as far as sanding for extended periods of time.

Never the less, I will try all the options. Thanks for the input so far guys.

 

[rlitman]

Got cha! I do have one of these, and I have used it, but it becomes a pain to hold when you've gone through a couple boards. That's why I was asking about the palm sanders. They seem to be more ergonomic as far as sanding for extended periods of time.

They each have their issues.

The belt sander is quite heavy, and requires two hands to keep it steady, which is an upper body workout. It strains your arms, shoulders, back, etc.
But it has MUCH more power and removes stock WAY faster. It is like comparing a chainsaw to a sawzall in terms of stock removal, and for the same reasons. There is so much difference, that the difference in speed easily makes up for the extra exertion. Also, because you can keep the belt moving in the direction of the grain, you can avoid scratching, and spend less time with each grit. Also, belt sanders have the potential to leave you with a flatter surface.

If you can give each board support from flexing and from being shot out like a spear (I recommend putting what you're sanding on top of a non-slip carped pad), then one pass with each grit with the belt sander may be sufficient (or multiple passes if the board is wider than the belt), and each pass may be less than 30 seconds on a 10' board.

DA/RO sanders are a workout on the wrist, fingers and forearm. Their vibration can be more harmful (better ones are better balanced) in terms of nerve damage and RSI. But overall they're less of a workout to use.
The random pattern does a better job on finer grits (180 and up), but they're prone to leaving behind swirls, especially when used with coarser grit pads (60 and down). Those swirls mean you need to spend extra time sanding them out.
The pad is always trapping dust underneath it that slows down your progress (no matter how good your dust removal is), and this sort of machine is simply not capable of transmitting as much power through the grit.

Compared to that 30 second pass with a belt sander, I'd expect it to take 2-3 minutes to get the same amount of stock removed from a 10' board with a DA.

 

[sam.coll]

Festool rotex and a vac

 

[Cypherian]

I have a dynabrade and a Clayton both work well and would serve though I think the Dynabrade is louder then the Clayton . Ensure you get the correct backer pad for what you want to do a soft one might round edges of the planned wood very easily. Oh make sure you get the vacuum attachment and hook it up it does keep them quieter . I have run both with out and the Dynabrade definitely screams more then the Clayton when not hooked to a vacuum to muffle it .

Cypher

 

[GarageGuy89]

So, I ended scoring the Husky sander for around $36 and just got around to using it the other night. All I can say is man is it an improvement to the electrical buzz bombs I have used over the years!

These pneumatic DA sanders have literally no vibration to them compared to the corded ones. I've used several different branded corded versions over the years and they all make your arm numb after a good 10 mins with them, and I was never impressed with their sanding ability.

I was blown away with the improvement of this air DA sander, especially for 36 bucks.