Best sander to Buy ?

[drewpster]

Re: Best sander to Buy ?

The top is removable so you can get the dust out of it and I can connect the Shop Vac to it. This will be for finish work; sanding down epoxy filler and primer. Probably won't ever see much glass fiber as I have something else for the rough stuff.

About the shop vac. I bought a shop vac to use around the homestead. Brand new out of the box I hooked it up to my Dewalt orbital to do some sanding. Good idea right? It was so nice keeping all that dust sucked out of way and my lungs for about an hour. That's when the shop vac quit, for good, and I had to go by another new one.
The vac I used was a middle of the road ten gallon model. Either I underspent and should have bought a heavier model or they are simply not designed for this kind of fine particulate dust collecting.
I was wondering if anyone here has tried one of those elcheapo dust collection units. ($125 +/-) Are they worth the trouble? Or should I stick to sweating through masks and getting lung rot?

 

[Uraijit]

Re: Best sander to Buy ?

One of the best things I've ever used for dust, was designed for drywall dust. It was simply a special lid that fit on a 5 gallon bucket, with shop-vac connections on it. You filled the bucket about 3/4 with water, and put the lid on it, and connected the hoses. The lid would swirl the air through the bucket, and the water would catch most of the dust. It makes aweful mud, but it keeps your vac filters clean longer, and will save some wear and tear on the vac. Also, when you empty the bucket, you just dump out thick, dirty water, rather than covering yourself in dust all over again. Just rinse out the bucket, and you're done!

It wouldn't be too hard to make your own with some pipe fittings, and a little epoxy and/or fiberglass...

Also, there are special bags that you should use in a shop vac when dealing with very fine particles. They are designed specifically for this purpose. They're called "drywall bags", but they'll work for fiberglass dust too. You can get HEPA cartridge filters (the filter under the bag) as well.

 

[oops!]

Re: Best sander to Buy ?

About the shop vac. I bought a shop vac to use around the homestead. Brand new out of the box I hooked it up to my Dewalt orbital to do some sanding. Good idea right? It was so nice keeping all that dust sucked out of way and my lungs for about an hour. That's when the shop vac quit, for good, and I had to go by another new one.
The vac I used was a middle of the road ten gallon model. Either I underspent and should have bought a heavier model or they are simply not designed for this kind of fine particulate dust collecting.
I was wondering if anyone here has tried one of those elcheapo dust collection units. ($125 +/-) Are they worth the trouble? Or should I stick to sweating through masks and getting lung rot?

hey drewp.....dont take a chance with yer lungs bud.....get a really good mask....read that safety sticky at the top of the forum....the more ya spend on it the better it will fit and feel

and nuthin wrong with a good 70 buck shop vac with a drywall bag attached .

cheers
oops