best vac for orbital sander

What are the best orbital sanders? I'm building a Peeler skiff. Also, what is the best vac for it? Does an ordinary shop vac work or do I need a 2 stage dust collecter type?  Thanks, Ken.


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RE: best vac for orbital sander

I use Porter Cable ROS, reasonably priced around $60-80 depending on the model and get a few years out of one before I have to refurb the bearings. Then they run again. Fein and Festool are probably the most durable but a bit on the pricey side. I've just added an Oneida Dust Deputy to keep the filter on my shop vac from clogging up with epoxy dust so quickly. One of the best ninety bucks I've spent. 

George K

RE: best vac for orbital sander

I have a Milwaukee ROS I bought for about $75 at Home Depot and it's been great. It has a small vacuum bag attached and that's all I've used. It filled up fairly quickly when I was sanding bare wood, but it hasn't filled up all that quickly with fiberglass sanding. I have spent well over $100 on sandpaper discs, however...which is something I didn't budget for. It uses those eight hole discs with a velcro like attachment, and you need to line up the holes in the sanding disc with the holes on the sander plate. It has a speed adjustment which works well. If you lift the sander off the wood for a few seconds, the sander starts speeding up and spinning very fast, which can gouge the wood if you put it back down when it's rotating fast. So i got in the habit of turning it off when that happened, letting it stop and then turning it back on after I had put it back on the wood. I also bought a new 3M respirator which was much more comfortable than my old one.

RE: best vac for orbital sander

+1 on the Porter Cable. As for the vac, I use a 16 gallon shopvac with a filter bag for small particulates (type used for drywall). You might need to change the bag a couple of  times. 

RE: best vac for orbital sander

I have been using a Proter Cable low profile ROS for the past few years and am very happy with it.

It has a very comfortable soft grip and is not as tippy as some of the taller ROSs. Unfortunately it is just over about $100. Make sure you get the hose that fits it as the little bag is worthless. The hose fits my Fein shop vac with no problem. You got a lot of sanding ahead of you on the Peeler. Keep at it!

RE: best vac for orbital sander

Fein on Amazon;  its $300.

RE: best vac for orbital sander

Festool has a number of sanders and vacum but they are pricey. The Festool sanders turn the vacum cleaner on and off with a soft startup and a delay shut off. Also the vacum has a suction control that prevents the sander from being pulled ont to the material when using the finer grit papers, micro cloths or polishing pads.

RE: best vac for orbital sander

The Festool vac is well worth the $$. Quiet and powerful. You won't regret it. (no, I'm not on the payroll ;-)

Dan

RE: best vac for orbital sander

I have the Bosch ROS and have been very happy with it.  I put off getting a Festool dust extractor for years, but after using one at the Wooden Boat Foundation I finally decided to get one.  It works amazingly well.  Definitely worth the money if you do any significant amount of woodworking.

RE: best vac for orbital sander

I like the Dewalt 5" orbital sander that takes the 8-hole hook and loop sandpaper.   At home I connect it to a Rigid shop vac and am happy with the arrangement. It does a good job pulling the dust away from the work.  However, I attended a course at Wooden Boat School and was pleased to discover that the Dewalt was compatible with the Festool vacuums that they use.  The Festool has a smaller size hose than my shop vac, but the Dewalt could use either size.   The Festool is definitely the fancier arrangement because the sander can control the vacuum.

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