Went from hand sanding everything to a random orbit sander and I'm never going back

For like 6 years I hand sanded every face frame and door panel because my old boss swore power sanders left swirl marks you could see in certain light. Last month I borrowed a Festool sander from a guy on a job in Denver and the finish came out cleaner than anything I ever did by hand. The dust collection was the real game changer, my shop air is actually breathable now. Has anyone else swapped out old habits after trying a tool you thought was overhyped?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben_nguyen21d ago

Your boss ever actually show you those swirl marks in certain light, or was it just something he heard from someone else? I ran into that same thing with trim guys who swore by hand sanding for years, and half of them had never even touched a decent random orbit sander. The dust collection thing is real too, my first week with a shop vac hooked up I could actually see the wall across the room again. But what grit progression are you running on your face frames now, cause that's where I still see guys messing up and blaming the tool. I switched to a Mirka and the finish is flat but I had to learn to keep the sander moving slow and let the pad do the work. Curious if you're still burning through paper like crazy or if the Festool pads last longer for you.

-1

the_anthony20d ago

Guys like that are a trip, man. I was the same way for years, swore by hand sanding on face frames until I actually borrowed a good ROS from a buddy and held a shop light to the panel. Night and day difference, and I felt kinda dumb for pushing back on the old-school guys for so long. I'm running 120 to 150 on the frames now, then 180 on the final pass before finish, but I keep the sander moving at like a slow crawl... any faster and I start seeing those little pigtails show up. Paper life is about the same honestly, but the dust collection is what saves me from changing discs every ten minutes, so I'll take it.