Official Luthiers Forum!

Why is it that random orbit sanders seem to be so short lived ? They all seem to fail in the same way... the brake that stops the pad from spinning up fails so that when you lift them up, the pad spins full speed and them makes a big divot when you set them down. pad also spins to fast of the workpiece, making the sander buck up and down out of control when you go over the edge.

I've gone thru 3 Porter cable 333s -anti spin-up is a small plastic belt that can easily be replaced IF YOU CAN GET THE PART ! I've run the local tool repair center out of belts and they now say they can't get any more as they are discontinued. recent versions of this sander are built no where near as well as they used to be, so I switched to Ridgid with their lifetime warranty. First, it is almost impossible to get warranty service from them, so I go to Depot and beg them to exchange for a new one. now I've killed 4 of them.

is there a sander that lasts ?
is hooking the exhaust to me fein vacuum the cause of the problem ?

I just want a decent sander that will last more than a few months.

-jd

Yes, but you have to get away from cheap electrics and get into pneumatics . There are several out there that are good long lasting units . however u will spend upwards of $200.00 for a good one .
Sioux makes a decent one , dynabrade , florida pneumatic , the hugher priced chicago pneumatics are ok , dont get cheap ones. The problem u will run into is weight . Pneumatics are usally heavier , and u need a good dry air source .

I have a couple portr cable units and have had very little problems , however i have a thickness sander that does bulk of my sanding .

Dont know if ive helped or not , simple thing is , under $100.00 and your gonna have same problems . there pretty much ALL imports now .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Or get a Festool, cheaper in the long run.

$2.15 and 21 in stock here:
http://www.ereplacementparts.com/belt-random-orbit-p-64242.html

We use the Bosch 5 and 6 inch sanders on our construction jobs and find they are a good bang for the buck. They are about half the price of festool and pretty well made.

_________________
http://goatrockukulele.com

+1 on the Bosch, I've had mine four years now. It seems to be doing just fine, model #1295D. Highly recommended!
Mike

_________________
The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

I'm not sure of the model number of mine, but it looks like the Porter Cable 7424. The 7346 looks like a similar unit, but with a smaller diameter barrel.

I use it hard and often. Sometimes I'm running it for hours at a time, day after day. It eventually wears out, but only after I feel that I've gotten my money out of it. I'm on my fourth one now, over a period of 17 years. The part that eventually does it in is the spindle where the pads attach, metal fatigue sets in and it fails. When this one fails, I'll buy another. Its a good unit.

As has been mentioned, the cheap ones don't cut it for any serious amount of work. They can be good for light or detail work, though. And pneumatics really do go through a LOT of air!

The key to using these sanders is to always shut them off when you lift up off from the work for more than one or two seconds, and to only turn them on when you are just about to touch the work surface. Leaving them on results on the pad free spinning, very fast.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

After venting here I went back out to the shop and tore the Ridgid apart. The pad brake on the Ridgid is I believe the same as the Festool - soft plastic fingers dragging on the back of the disk. There was a clear track worn in the back of the disk and the pads were covered with glazed sawdust. I lightly scraped the pads clear and the wiped both the pads and the back of the disc with IPA to remove the residue. Reassembled the sander and the brake is working again. Not sure how long it will last until I need to repeat the procedure

I have heard of the same problem with the festool. several people complaining about the sander bucking and being hard to control after much use.

Douglas -if your pad spins freely when you lift it off the surface, your sander has the same problem. That is what the pad brake is supposed to prevent..

-jd

There is no brake pad. I've been using sanders like this for 24 years, and I don't remember that they've never had brakes. I've never even heard of brake pads to stop the free spin until this thread!

I don't see this as a problem anyway. The brake is basically just a means to try and accommodate people who can't start and stop the sander when its lifted off of the surface.

I looked up my tool number while I was out at work, its the PC 7336. Its a work horse. If it broke tomorrow I'd have no qualms about buying another right away.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Douglas,

I looked at the exploded parts diagram for the pc 7336 you are correct, I do not see a brake. At also looks like PC discontinued that model in 2007, so I hope yours keeps running strong.

-jd

I've had a Porter Cable 333 for about 10 years. Hard use, no issues and still working fine with zero maintenance. Lucky maybe or perhaps the old ones were better?