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So I have always been a festool fan (love that domino joiner the few times I have used it). Anyway,for those who are familiar with the brand, do any of you use any of their handheld sanders for their work building guitars? If so, which one have you found to be the best?

i have never found an electric sander that wasn't garbage.
D.A. Air sanders are the way to go if you have an 80 gallon air compressor. i prefer the cheap harbor freight ones, they work just as well as my old Snap-on, and for the price when it breaks (as all harbor freight power tools will) i'll throw it out and get another.
for the record i think my cheap sander has been going for over 2 years with daily use. (now that ive said that im sure it will break today.)

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At work (cabinet shop) I use Dynabrade R.O. air sanders. I have one each of 3/16" and 3/32" orbits. At home I use a Bosch 6" electric R.O. and I have the dust collection on it, so I use discs with holes and hook it to my shop vac. The dust collection is a great feature. I don't mind cleaning up, but I only have one set of lungs and they've been badly enough abused in the last 50 years.... I researched electric sanders very throughly and decided on the Bosch for many reasons (too many to list), but mostly because of what appears to be top quality construction. In another life I repaired tools for a living, and I gotta' say.....there's some junk out there. My only other choice for an electric R.O. sander would have been the Metabo 6", but they're not easily available or serviceable in Ontario.

cheers

John

Festool ES125 here too...and NOTHING but high praise for it. Cannot bog it down, leaves work pieces essentially dustless, auto on/off, variable speed and can use the much less expensive Klingspor paper.

I have air, but my shop isn't equipped with a constant supply. Electric was the only way to go for me and I don't regret it.

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I've got a Makita that has worked just fine for years, just bought a new PC and that works fine, and have a Chicago Pneumatic for wet sanding that works well.

PC 330 Speed-Bloc is a fantastic machine. You can follow the curves of the heel and neck-headstock transition quite well to sand out scratches from shaping fairly quickly..
I have two Dynabrades and a big compressor. They are great, but many times I find myself reaching for the Speed-Bloc.

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I love my PC ROS low profile sander. That said, I still use my Borg (B&D?) mouse sander all the time. My new dream sander is one of those inflatable sanders you attach to a drill or whatever. Grizzly sells them.

Mike

Mike, I have that PC sander and the Grizzly sander you lust for. It works pretty well, but I also bought the straight line air drill, and I need to make some kind of speed limiter for it...
I also have that new Dremel Multi-Max oscillating tool and with the detail sander attachment and it can do some serious sanding in the corners.

Based on advice here I bought the Festool ES125, as well. I have had several Dewalt, Bosch, and PC, the Festool is by far the best. I am considering one of the newer units, too.

Dan

Hand held sanders, let's see. I like a 2 3/4" x 6" x 2" cork lined block the best, followed by a 2" diameter cork lined piece of PVC, dual density foam rubber sanding pads, many small blocks and a pinky eraser. Seriously, the more I build, the more I've migrated to hand sanding. There isn't a whole lot of real estate on a guitar. I do true up my sides with a 6" x 48" belt sander and use an RO to do some cleanup after thicknessing with a drum sander, but I always finish by hand with a hard block.

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Randy Muth
RS Muth Guitars Website
RS Muth Guitars Blog
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I'm with Randy on this one. I have the ability to take an electric or air powered sander and turn something I've put a bunch of work in into a pile of dust.

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