Been looking at the different sanders on offer in the view to sand down some original floorboards in the bathroom. It’s not a big area so won’t need one of those massive things you can rent.

What’s best, sheet or belt sander?

I prefer rotary sanders:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/o2Cwg6]Sanding the floor[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

A belt sander is more for shaping than smoothing. If the floor is already smooth and just need stripping then its too aggressive and you’ll bite chunks out of it.

I think the most important attribute of a sander is effectively containing the dust.

AEG, Matabo and Maffel 150mm random orbit disk sanders all have the same internals, have a good dust port that fits well to an extractor and have a greater range of orbit sizes (between 2mm and 6mm) than much of the competition so you’ve got options to remove more material or work more gently. Hooked up to a good hoover you’ll be able to work pretty cleanly

The AEG is cheapest but harder to find in the UK. Probably not worth you’re while paying for the Maffel. The Matebo is in the middle and over the AEG benefits from a easier to use dust port, the AEG one takes a bit of bodging with bits of pipe and gaffa tape to get good fit.

Avoid any sanders that don’t have a standard, circular dust port. Anything a propietroy shape you’re only going to be able to use with a silly little dust bag (which is practically useless)

Any good?

http://www.diy.com/departments/jcb-corded-330w-random-orbit-sander-jcb-ros330/607568_BQ.prd

For a large areas it’s worth considering a sheet sander rather than a round one IME – then you can use a roll of sandpaper that costs bobbins rather than hook-and-loop paper that’s either over-priced or of dubious quality, also easier to get into corners. Some of them come with a punch to make the dust extraction holes.

Any good?

That dust port looks like it might be oval rather than round. If you don’t have anything to extract dust with then it doesn’t really matter though.

The best budget sander I’ve had for extraction was a 125mm royobi random orbit. Not sure if they still make the model though

this one with a round port

not this one which looks to have replaced it

not this one which looks to have replaced it

But it’s got “Cyclonic Action*”!

* which basically means about 0.001% of the sawdust does a couple of spins before settling in the dust collector.

Probably go for this.

150mm and has an adapter for vacuum.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb382sdr-random-orbit-sander-230-240v/96759

I’ve got a Makita palm sander.

It has a Velcro base and clips.

I’ve had other sanders that only have Velcro and I wouldn’t buy one without clips.

Sometimes, after a bit of usage, the sanding discs refuse to stick to the Velcro even though it isn’t worn out at all.

Sometimes, after a bit of usage, the sanding discs refuse to stick to the Velcro even though it isn’t worn out at all.

Sounds like cheap Velcro, Festool only use velcro and the sand paper sticks like araldite to the pad…

The hooks on your pad can wear/melt if the sander is used quite aggressively. To fix this, buy ‘interface’ pads. Mirka do them and they are basically an extra layer of velcro so that you don’t wear the one directly on the machine so much.

The Bosch sander we have here at College got melted by the cack-handed students enthusiastic operators and after getting sick of buying whole new discs, I just bought some self-adhesive velcro, the hook part and stuck that on. Works great now.

I think what you choose can be dictated by the state of the boards. If they are all different levels for example, then a small orbital which wacks into the raised edges of each board might get a bit annoying.

What’s the floor like condition-wise?

The hooks on your pad can wear/melt if the sander is used quite aggressively.

They’ve used cheap velcro, with a low melting point plastic….

footflaps – Member
The hooks on your pad can wear/melt if the sander is used quite aggressively.
They’ve used cheap velcro, with a low melting point plastic….

Or as many of our students seem to do, pick the sander up and start sanding without even checking that there is a disc fitted… 🙄