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I have sanded thousands of square feet of wood over the years and have/had never used 1/3 sheet type and I really don't like it. Also, I don't think that it's as efficient as palm sanders with much more waste. I don't like the way the sandpaper is held in and I don't like all of the measuring to make sure you get the right size exactly.
I wanted to use it to sand drywall joint compound which generates a ton of fine dust so I was happy that it has the vacuum attachment option. The length was 12" but I only heated about 1 1/2 to fit over the opening, the rest remained round so I could attach the vacuum hose. The solution: Cut a regular sanding sheet into thirds since this is a 1/3 sheet sander. As far as the vacuum attachment, I took a white 2" wide PCV (pipe used for central vacuum systems) I shaped a piece of wood to the same size opening of the vacuum on the sander and with a hair dryer I heated the white pipe so that it would soften and could be pushed over the wood to take the shape of the opening. This Black and Decker is your basic sander for home use.
For the price it is a good home tool. The problem was no one sells the sand paper with the 8 vent holes to use with the vacuum attachment. Whei it cooled it fit exactly. These solutions solved the problem.Overall it worked great, finished the job with minimal dust since I have a great central vacuum system. It is light so you do not get tired using it.
Secondly no one sells the vacuum attachment so that is another negative for what I wanted. To be honest if I could find the correct sand paper and the attachment I would have given it a 5 star rating for the price and quality. Make a small template of where the holes should be on a stiff board the same size as the sandpaper and with 3 3/8 inch drill bit drill the holes yourself.
Sander works great when I can get the "on" button to stay on. It takes some playing with to keep it going.Changing paper is easy.
Ive had this sander for over a year now and have not had any problems so far. I have made 2 curio cabinets and have done some repair work on my walls with it so far with no complaints. I heard about others having problems with the sandpaper but that has not been an issue for me. It will work perfect for casual use.
Great value for $25.00, works great and does a nice job. I am using it to finish kitchen cabinets and several doors.
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