# Good Sander, but not Great



## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

It almost looks like the entire dust connector would seperate from the sander to facilitate changing the paper.
No instructions in the owners manual ? Makes me wonder how much thought their designers put into the clamping device. Knowing that the dust collection / exhaust was facing rearwards , I would have made the clamps on the sides. It's not like you can only sand by pushing the tool forward….....maybe it's just me using my sander incorrectly though : ) LOL

Nice review ! Made me think twice about straying from my Porter Cable units : )


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Thanks for the review I rarely use my pad sander unless it's a project made of cherr I'm working on where swirls show from my ROS.


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## jimc (Mar 6, 2008)

Dusty56, the dust collector does disconnect but the port (in the picture, from the gray collar inward) is where the problem develops. But, like I said, if I insert the paper at the rear of the sander first, there isn't too much of a problem.

Jim


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

Yeah that's the word I was searching for 'the''port"..... : ) 
I have the PC 330 Speed-Bloc sander and although it doesn't have dust collection , it does have a little "tool" that you use to open the clamps with . It took a little getting used to , but now I'm an old pro at changing the paper ….LOL

http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-330-Speed-Bloc-Sheet-Sander/dp/B0000222Y9
This sander is like a Cadillac compared to all the others that I've tried : )


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## DaveHerron (Jan 21, 2008)

Get a bosch 1/4 sheet sander for no hassle paper changes. Only takes a second to swap grits. I rarely use my orbital sander anymore.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

I've got 3 bosch 1/4 sheet sanders… The reason I've got three of them is… They were the cheepest high quality sander I could find, but the paper holding mechanism is junk. It's two plastic parts that the sand paper rubs off quickly in use. Then the holder won't grip the sandpaper. Replacement parts are 1/2 the price of the sander and you'd need more parts pretty quick if you sand as much as I do making gunstocks. I've still got 3 working sanders that I bought from home depot on closeout for $29.00. Now I use a Dewalt 1/4 sheet sander and a cheep Harbor Freight 1/4 sheet sander (the $29.00 model - $19.00 when on sale) I can't see much difference in using them. Both of them have lasted much longer than the Bosch sanders. The Bosch sander when it held sandpaper was much better than any other sander I've used and I've tried a lot of them. I keep 3 hooked up all the time for roughing out stocks. 50 grit on my orbital sander to remove router marks quickly, then 60 grit on the Dewalt to remove the swirls from the orbital, then 100 grit on the HF sander. It takes about 30 minutes to go from rough to ready for final sanding.


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

I have the exact same one. But I do have a question for you. Do the plastic grip strips slide out of place at all? Mine do alot


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## jimc (Mar 6, 2008)

Mark - plastic grip strips? Not sure to what you are referring.

Jim


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## Carpintonto (Jan 27, 2010)

I've purchase the same machine a couple of months ago. It came in a combo with the 5" rotatory sander. Well, let me tell you that the rotatory sander died on me completely after 30 minutes of work!!!. I brought it back to the Home Depot and the tools specialist told me that every single one of them had comed back. Shocking isn't !?. The 1/4 sander kept making the sand paper sheet sliding off the cheap holders. The vibration is bad. I glued two strips of foam under those plastic holders to keep the paper in place. Even though it has has all these bad isues, it performs good on wood, and that why I have kept it. Although is a good machine, is not even close to my 1/4 paper Bosch.


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