Replies

1. 
   roc | Apr 13, 2012 09:27pm | #1

   If you can find one of these

   I looked at the Porter Cables and have several other PC tools but for the half sheet sander I think this Milwaukee is more comfortable to use and better designed.

   http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-6010-6-Sheet-Orbital-Sander/dp/B00004T170/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1334365380&sr=8-5

   I bought mine many years ago so I don't know where you would get one but worth the search.

   PS: I did some looking around at the various power tool manufacture's web sites and it looks like everybody has stopped making them.

   Festool has one but I read in a post from 2009 that it is over $700.

   http://www.festoolusa.com/products/orbital-sanders

   Festool sure has a sense of humor; I will give them that.

   There may be pneumatic half sheet sanders for auto body work but I bet they are pretty proud of those too and it takes a big assed compressor to keep up with one.

    

2. 
   IdahoDon | Apr 13, 2012 11:50pm | #2

   I've had a Festool that was one of the nicest sanders I've ever owned - very well built.   I think a 6" psa random orbit gives a better finish, but for what you're after i'd highly recommend the Festool.

1. 
   roc | Apr 14, 2012 05:22am | #3

   Jeeves . . . the Bentley this morning I think.

   Oh yah . . . a Bentley IS quite nice . . . but . . .

   a lowly old Jaguar will still get a guy to work in the morning IF he can see his way clear to do without the amenities of the Bentley.  

1. 
   IdahoDon | Apr 14, 2012 02:11pm | #6

   The project I purchased it for was an oak craftsman/shaker style kitchen with a lot inside corners - the festool was twice as fast as any other sander I've used in that situation and at just 10 hours of use it paid for itself! Free!  lol

   I do get what you're saying though - and I'm forever a bargain shopper....my favorite sanders were bought on clearance from Lowes for $30 each - the 6" orbital porter cable that looks like a mini-grinder - they sand flatter and smoother than almost anything else I've used....while my friends say the Festool version is much better I'll probably have the pair of porter cables until well into the 2020's.

1. 
   roc | Apr 14, 2012 08:25pm | #7

   You are right ( I like your posts in the other threads as well)

   I keep coming at most of these posts as a hobby person who is makeing stuff for at home or family.  So $700 for a sander  verses $300 or less for one that is really great is, for us hobby dudes, just not fun.

   Why ?  Because we spent thousands of dollars on our hand planes, that often get very little use but are fun to look at and fondle.

   Ha, ha, ha, ha.

   and are saving all we can to do that some more.

   :   )

1. 
   IdahoDon | Apr 21, 2012 12:11pm | #16

   The main thing I don't like about working with wood full time is that everything is production oriented - even the nicest things with the largest budgets all have to be done as quickly and economically as possible and really only less than 1% of things are really made as well as they could be. I still grin like a little kid on christmas when it's possible to work on a personal project that is done as well as I'm capable of without time or budget constraints.  It makes me look forward to changing careers so woodwork can go back to being fun.

3. 
   bones | Apr 14, 2012 07:31am | #4

   Festool

   I've got both portercable sanders and festool.  Big difference between the two. I'd go festool you get what you pay for. My PC has not been out of its case since I purchased the festool.  Added bonus, you give your lungs a break.   Very important as you get older!  Thats one filter you can't change.   

4. 
   RalphBarker | Apr 14, 2012 12:20pm | #5

   Alas, poor 505, we knew you well ;-)

   (Apologies to Will Shakespeare)

   Mine is still going strong, thankfully. The advantage of the 505 is that it runs at 22,000 opm, as I recall. The newer alternatives run at 11,000 opm, or thereabouts.

   While you are shopping, take a gander at the Bosch 1293D. My neighbor friend has one, and it's quite nice. Not a 505 in terms of speed, but it does have good dust control (a dozen or so holes across the entire pad, and an accessory to punch holes in the mounted half-sheet). $140 at Amazon.

   The variable speed on the Festool RS 2 E might be useful. Their dust-control holes are only at the edge of the pad, however, so it might be subject to central loading.

5. 
   Rob_Sp | Apr 15, 2012 09:06am | #8

   Sander

   The 505 is hard to beat. I bought a Festool a year ago( About $350, a long way from $700 but still pricey), not that I was unhappy with my 505 but I wanted the intregal dust connection. I did not like it as well as the porter cable and sold it. So I am back using a cheap plastic fan with a furnice air filter on my bench when I sand with the 505.

   It's too bad so many solid tools have been pushed out by markering's latest fads.

   Bosch maked one but I doubt it has the heft and smoothness as the 505.

   Check Ebay

   Rob

1. 
   roc | Apr 15, 2012 12:50pm | #9

   Hey there you go

   You're right

   http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&dept_id=23134

   And JWW isn't usually the cheapest price but are good people to work with if you have a beef.

   I am so used to the older pricing I knee jerked.  As I recall I looked at the five hundred dollar plus circular saw and eight hundred dollar power hand planer (and small at that ).

   Three or four H is just fine in my book for a great power sander if the OP likes it.  Shame he can't just get another 505 though.

1. 
   Westchester | Apr 15, 2012 12:59pm | #10

   spam Filter

   Won't allow me to continue ?

   Test

1. 
   Westchester | Apr 15, 2012 01:04pm | #11

   Test

   how to un-trigger the spam filter ?

1. 
   RalphBarker | Apr 20, 2012 09:15am | #12

   being captured by the CAPTCHA spam filter

   You may need to log off to clear the CAPTCHA cookies, and then log back in.

   You can also contact Gina (username geide here) to get placed on the good-guy list that supposedly bypasses the spam filter. There's a thread in the Feedback section about this.

2. 
   Westchester | Apr 20, 2012 11:33am | #13

   Spam

   Thanks Ralph - Gina worked her magic and corrected issue - if only she could fix my Rockwell sander ?

   SA

6. 
   roc | Apr 20, 2012 08:57pm | #14

   Finger on the pulse of the chatroom

    Call it . . . T.O.D. 4-20-12

1. 
   Westchester | Apr 21, 2012 07:49am | #15

   T.O.D

   if you're fresh to Gina she will increase your dues for bad behavior

   SA

7. 
   IdahoDon | Apr 22, 2012 03:02pm | #17

   At a pawn shop I ran into an almost brand new milwakee half sheet sander for $30....there was also a Porter Cable 505 that was rode hard and probably on it's last legs for the same amount.

1. 
   Westchester | Apr 22, 2012 03:17pm | #18

   Pawn

   offer them in trade roc's apple laptop and we'll throw in 2 cases of empty beer bottles for both sanders -

   SA