orbital disc sander vs regular half sheet?

looking at a sander to replace my half sheet, i mainly use it for smoothing wood, and wondering if a orbital disk sander may be the way to go for a better finish?

if so, any recomendations?

I love my orbital compared to cheap half sheet ones I used to use. More even finish, more comfortable to use. less faff with sheets and clips.

Mine wasnt cheap though, it’s a Hilti.

+1 for disk and ease of changing sheets. Takes seconds so I tend to use the correct grade rather that what is already fitted.

Slightly confused – most half sheets are orbitals…. Orbitals don’t go round and round – it just describes the shape of the tiny ‘vibration’ motions. We’ve got Makita 9046s with a big 5mm orbit for removing material quickly and Makita BO4900s with a 2.5mm orbit which gives a better finish. Not sure if I would recommend as we have broken two drives between motor and pad in the last 12 months (4 machines) and the cost of repair from makita was about the same price as a new machine.

Personally wouldn’t go near the velcro backed tear off type sheet machines but that’s because of the the amount of use the department’s machines go through and how much cheaper rolls of glass paper are to bespoke pads.

I was assuming the OP meant the difference between a “bog standard” sheet orbital sander and a disc Random Orbital sander.

yep, thats what i meant.

Been using one of these for around eight years. Super piece of kit and easy enough to tape to a vac ghetto style. But at £140ish, not cheap. Cheaper ones will die on you but if you’re only using now and again, a green Bosch one might do the job. Much better finish than a square sheet one IME. DON’T EVER use it without the sheet on by accident. 😳

just a quick follow up in case anyone ever finds this thread and is curious… bought a cheap ryobi orbital sander with a 15quid off voucher jewsons gave me just to see how it was and my word what a difference to a half sheet sander. way faster, better finish by miles, and easier to use. wish i’d bought one when i started making boards. definitely will be upgrading to a quality one presently. great bit of kit!