111 Re: Porter Cable Palm/Random Orbit Sander info wanted.
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This article is from the Woodworking FAQ Collection 5, by multiple authors.
111 Re: Porter Cable Palm/Random Orbit Sander info wanted.
From: talaga@e5sb.osdhw.syr.ge.com (dave talaga x2752)
>
> Did you buy the one with or without the dust collector? It it actually
> worth the $25 extra to buy the one with the dust collector and a the
> stick-on base ? I have only seen the dust collector variety in catalogs
> with the velcro-ish base.
>
> I thought the point of a power tool was to create dust & shavings...
>
I spent the 25 bucks for the dust collector. Hmm: what can I say--it sucks.
In more ways than one. It does not live up to the quality and foresight that
one generally attributes to PC, but it does remove a genrous portion of the
airborn dust.
To attach it you must remove the sander pad --no big deal, but an inconvienence,
and hook it to a vacuum of your choice. Neither of my vacuums match the PC
hose size so the duct tape gets some action. Once the thing is hooked up it
extends beyond the sander pad by enough to obscure what is actually being
sanded; plus it increases the diameter of the pad which makes it less capable
of doing close-in work. If that ain't enough, it lends a new wrinkle in the
controllability of the already cumbersome design of the sander (the sander dips
in the direction of the hose). The end result is you end up sanding by "feel"
instead of sight (my experience is you must keep this think flat , or at least
know where it's not parrallel to the surface, to keep from snading to much
off--a hard thing to do by feel).
As I said previously, it does remove most of the dust (90-100%) from the air.
Considering the amount of dust this thing produces that is no small feat (I
used an 8 amp Sharp upright, certainly not known for its suction but a whole
lot quieter than a shop-vac).
In summary: it does remove sawdust, but it is definitely an afterthought. If
you need to do alot of sanding it's worth it, but for the amount I need to do I
generally leave it on the pegboard.
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