I am looking for a sander to do floors in particular and other joinery work. Currently interested in the Makita 9403 although it is at the top end of my budget. It’s for long term use though, renovation and housebuilding and the odd bit of pro use

Anybody using something similar?

Quite opposite requirements floors and general joinery. I use a makita 1/4 sheet for joinery finishing work. A belt sander would be no good for this, it’s better at eating material. The 1/4 sheet makita is cheap to boot. Some prefer an orbital for this work, more costly though.
I haven’t done floors myself but most will recommend hiring a dedicated unit for this.

Yep, two+ sanders required. Big 4″ belt sander for the edges of the floor (I used a 4″ Hitachi which has been good), hire in a massive one for the middle bits of floor, and a smaller orbital for joinery. A belt sander is a very rough machine and it’s easy to take too much off, especially with a big one.

As above – belt sander a bit savage for general joinery work.

I’ve got an Makita 4″ belt sander which when used with a 60 grit belt tears through wood, and a Dewalt 1/4 sheet finishing sander for general woodworking duties.

I’ve never tried one of those random orbit sanders, but apparently they give great results.

cheers all

‘Joinery’ probably wasn’t the best choice of word but I take your points about belt sanders. 1/4 sheet finishing sander looks interesting

I’ve used air powered random orbitals in a previous job, pretty impressive I thought

I have so many sanders I’ve lost count, 1/3rd and 1/2 sheet, detail sanders in various types, belt sanders etc – I used to work in a big DIY store so got quite a few dirt cheap.

I recently bought a cheap B+Q random orbital sander for £45 and its the best sander I’ve ever bought. I have rigged it so my Henry hoover extracts the dust and I can sand pretty much most things and it produces no dust. I go through a fair amount of sanding sheets but they are cheap to buy at Screwfix. The main difference I have found is that they can sand really quickly, almost as good as a belt sander, but leave no sanding marks. I’ve used mine for skirting/doors/windowledges etc. You can’t get right into corner but a small sheet sander can be used for a few seconds afterwards to get into those intricate parts.

I reckon I’d do a small/medium room floor with my sander without too much trouble if the boards were in ok condition. If the floor had cupped boards or was particularly large I’d hire in a floor sander though.

If my B+Q sander ever gives up I’d consider a more expensive one but for £45 it does an amazing job.

(one caveat – it comes with some sanding discs included but they don’t stick very well, but the Screwfix ones stick perfectly)

I’ve sanded a few floors with a 125mm Rotary sander…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oj7XQr]Festool Rotek 125 Sander[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

I wouldn’t want to do really knackered floor boards, but for a re-fresh it’s OK. Put on coarse paper and set it to coarse mode and it will eat wood like a belt sander….

http://www.sandervalk.design

Would be remiss of me not to 🙂

im in the market for a new sander. Had a macallister b&q job, perhaps 7 yrs old. not used it for a couple of yrs, plugged it in the other day, picked it up to sand some filler on a wall switched it on and BANG! it went off like a bomb. Anything that was metal inside it was now in tiny bits falling out of every vent onto the floor. It was still running in a shorted out sort of way but nothing moving. Not seen anything like it.

Anyway, i might buy a makita 1/4 sheet sander for approx £60-80 – needing it to do skirtings, door frames etc and the odd bit of prepping wood for painting. velcor pads or clip on sheets – whats best?

The one that died had a triangular snout that was handy with the velcro on pads but I could never find the right shape pads for it.