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Best random orbital sander that's not Festool? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've been using a crappy random orbit sander from Walmart for the past 5 years. It works well enough, but as I've gotten a bit older, had a few more non-woodworking related injuries, etc, the excessive vibration is really starting to get to me. I know Festool is the gold standard in terms of dust control and likely vibration, but are there any other good options that aren't $500-600?

I'm sitting here after sanding for an hour and a half or so and my hand is still tingling after 20 minutes. Clearly, I need to get a better sander, but I can't justify spending $575 on a Festool sander right now. $50-150 would be more palatable, as long as it is a clear upgrade from my current setup.

Edit:Ended up getting this Makita sander . Huge upgrade, thanks for the suggestions!

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[–] MiddleWeigh 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

In that price range I think just a better sander is your best bet. I have a Dewalt random orbital. The one with speed control. It's definitely not as vibrational as some cheap ones, and it doesn't give me too many problems, as I've got arthritis in my joints, specially my hands.

Side note, I do have the bigger festool sander and it's a game changer for larger projects. I used it to take down a pop corn ceiling and it was awesome.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (8 children)

Thanks! I've definitely heard great things about the Festool sanders, but I just bought a house a few months ago, and I have a ton of other things that I could spend that money on right now. Eventually, I'd like to get a Festool sander, a Domino, and a Sawstop, I just can't justify spending that kind of money right now when I have tools that work. I don't have arthritis in my hands (at least not yet), but it runs in my family and I have started to notice some residual pain after sanding for long periods of time. My current sander cost me around $20, so it was definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel when I bought it. Combine the pain with the fact that it's starting to not turn on consistently, it's definitely time for a new one. I'm fine with an incremental upgrade until I stop hemorrhaging money on this house and can justify dropping some cash on a Festool.

Any thoughts on Dewalt vs Makita or Bosch? The ones I've seen are all in the $60-120 range. Most of the reviews I've seen are on Reddit, and all the subs are still private

[–] TotallyNotJohnSmith 1 points 2 years ago

I can only speak to the DeWalt, but I've got the cordless one, and have used it for several batteries at a time, and it's been pretty decent on the hands, as long as you let it do the work.

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