Thread: A Sander.

Bunnings have plenty of cheap ones

Festool, Bosch Blue & Metabo all make well regarded Random orbit sanders.

Dependent on age & useage of course, you will be buying a quality second hand tool as opposed to a dodgy new one.

The former tool generally requires a vac attachment, whereas the latter 2 are more self contained. The former also requires specialist abrasive papers (different non-standard hole pattern).

Not that there's anything actually wrong with them, but Makita aren't generally highly regarded for their sanders.

Hi Ratbag,
Sorry, but my Brain hurts too.
No Idea what you are on about.
Put it in English, as I'm now regarded as an Old Man.

Hi Lewis,

What jobs are you planning to do?
When you say that you are planning to do work "on" the house perhaps a ROS isn't really what you need. You are not sanding weatherboards are you?

Hi Michael,
Yes, I am doing the Weather Boards. Sid said that was the right Machine to do them with.
I have all the paper I'll need, as I raid a few bins here & there.
Do you have another Solution ??.

I see you liked the Parrot Joke ??.

Hi Lewis,

I thought the parrot joke was fairly good ...... reminded me a little of listening to Colin on a Thursday night.

I take it that you intend just to sand a few problem areas of your weatherboards and not strip them all back.

If this is the case a belt sander would make short work of it however if you have a large area to do it would get quite heavy holding it up on the side for extended periods of time. I have an older Makita belt sander which is quite heavy, but perhaps they are lighter now with all of the plastic they use. They will also be fairly powerful and would require care that it doesn't get away from you.

The orbital sander would be lighter and easier to handle than the belt sander but a little slower. I am not sure what is currently on the market but you wouldn't need a "random" orbital sander for your type of work. The "random" orbit is handy to ensure the sanded surface doesn't get the sanding swirl small scratch marks, but on painted weatherboards it wouldn't make a difference either way. It may be cheaper to get something without the "random" function, but perhaps now even the basic range feature "random" function. I know with my random sander that the pad moves in an elliptical pattern which is great to avoid scratches but would be a pain with the edge of the sanding pad constantly banging into the edge of the weatherboard above, damaging the edge of the sandpaper and the pad. Not having used a non-random sander I am not sure if they just keep a circular path, but if they do it would be easier to sand up to the edge of the board.

As it is outside I wouldn't be too concerned about dust extraction and would just wear the 3M mask and allow the wind to do the work. Good dust extraction helps extend the life of the paper, and is good for your health, however based on what you are doing I don't think it would help too much at all. If you have the paper it would be worth checking which models it would fit ..... Bunnings have a 450W Ozito for around $50 which wouldn't be great to use for extended period of time (perhaps excess vibration on your hands) but if you don't have too much to do most likely will see the job through. I would normally go for a better quality unit but I cant see you getting much use from it in your regular woodworking!

Cheers

M.

A couple of years ago when I had the painters in to do the exterior boards on my second storey, they used 'palm sanders' which are much lighter than the others mentioned above but of course only do a smaller area at a time. They might be worth a look as I think you can use any sandpaper in them.
Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi Ratbag,
Sorry, but my Brain hurts too.
No Idea what you are on about.
Put it in English, as I'm now regarded as an Old Man.

Festool, Metabo & Bosch Blue are good sanders. Makita (generally) arent.

A good quality second hand sander is better than a crap new one.

Festool sanders need Festool papers & discs. The others use hardware store papers & discs.

Festool sanders really need to be connected to a vacuum cleaner. The others perform almost as well with their own branded dustbags & filters.

My original answer was in English. It is incorrect and unkind to infer that I lack communication skills.

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi Michael,
Yes, I am doing the Weather Boards. Sid said that was the right Machine to do them with.
I have all the paper I'll need, as I raid a few bins here & there.
Do you have another Solution ??.

I see you liked the Parrot Joke ??.

Most painters I know use a small variable-speed angle grinder to prepare weatherboards for painting. It's worked well for me in the past too. Variable speed is better because you can slow it down to be less aggressive, and it makes less mess too. I've found 24grit (very, very coarse) discs work well, but you need an extremely light touch to avoid sanding the wood away. Less course discs (36 or 40 grit) reduce the risk of damage, but increase the time taken.

I've found that the discs clog up fairly fast, which is a good thing as the friction of paint on the disc rubbing against the paint on the weatherboards helps to melt the paint which is flung away by the disc with no wood damage at all!

An angle grinder, a backing disc the same size and a handful of discs is all that's needed to do a whole house! It isn't the neatest way to strip paint, but it's the fastest method by a country mile!

Mini Grinders are one of the cheapest power tools available. One of the most versatile too. I've used mine as a grinder, cutter, sander, carver, polisher, floorboard, tile and metal saw.

Good Morning Issatree

What is the condition of your weatherboards and the paint thereon?

If its waterbased paint that's going powdery ontop, I just give it a good blast with the Karcher, and then slap on some more Solarguard.

If its oil based paint that's blistering and lifting from the substrate then I prefer to burn it off and start again.

Only do any sanding if I am hiding holes with bog, or if waterbased paint is really flakey. Then I prefer to use a ROS with a good dust system - Festool or Metabo seem best, but not cheap. Smoothness is a bonus.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Hi to all you who have Replied,
I should have started this from the Start.
Our Home sits on a Flat piece of land.
Problem is that, Under the House, is lower than the outside, as at sometime it has been built up.
So when it rains heavily, the water settles under the House, Runs up the Red Gum Stumps, gets to the Weather Boards, & virtually, the water reaches up to the Guttering, resulting, most of the boards are wet, gets under the Paint, which falls off. So some Boards have no Paint on them at all, & some have Dry Rot.
I have lifted the house with a Hydraulic Jack, cut the Nails, & put some Aluminum, between the Stump & the Joice ?? so far. I then used some metal, & screws to Fix the House to the Stumps.
So I have to clean quite a few Boards up, as you can imagine.
My Mate had a look today & seems to think an Angle Grinder with a Rubber Disc with those Heavy Stiffer Sanding Discs wood be the go.
So maybe the ROS is now on the outer ???.
What Say You

Grinder is the way to go.

Check your messages

Hi Lewis,

If you have a large area to do the ROS may be painfully slow. The grinder with sander attachment would be much quicker ..... You will need to make sure you have good control of the grinder to prevent the disk digging into the boards.

Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

Hi Lewis,

If you have a large area to do the ROS may be painfully slow. The grinder with sander attachment would be much quicker .....

Good Morning

Triton used to make a Random Orbital Sander attachment to go into an angle grinder. Works very fast. Not sure if still available.



Fair Winds

Graeme