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B&D has done a good job, as usual, with making power tools that are intuitive for people who don't use a lot of tools, and it's that comfort that they provide which will probably be attractive to many people. It's powerful enough, simple to use, perfect for occasional 'round-the-house jobs. It's just not worth being locked into use specialty sandpaper with limited availability in material types and grit when a standardized set of sandpaper already exists on the market that is compatible with hundreds of sanders.Otherwise there isn't much to complain about. This is an okay tool for people who don't need to do very much sanding. However, if you're looking for a tool that you can rely on and use, inexpensively, for years to come, I'd keep looking. Now, if B&D decides to get out of the consumables business and sells (for a reasonable price) an adapter that allows you to easily use any standard sandpaper, they might just have a real winner here. The hook-and-loop sandpaper that B&D uses for this sander is mighty expensive compared to the standard, and will quickly eat up whatever money you might have saved by not purchasing a superior product.
The sander has a rotary pad, and a triangular pad that can be used in three different ways. I recommend that the manufacturer include two screws, one for each attachment, and design them so that they can't fall out. This attachment needs to be screwed on. As it stands, if you lose the screw the sander will not be of much use. This setting allows you to get at smaller areas such as in the corner of a room. Also, the screw comes loose from the small attachment. The rotary pad can be used for broad areas where there is no perpendicular surface nearby. Finally, the smart select dial allows you to choose the right amount of power for each attachment.
The vibrations of the sander are less powerful for the extension that allows sanding of small areas and more powerful for the rotary pad which is used for broad areas. Additionally, you can reverse the triangle so that its point is facing forward. The Black and Decker MS2000 Multi Sander with Smart Select lives up to its name in regards to being fit for many types of sanding jobs. Finally, you can attach a small extension to the pad that allows even smaller areas to be sanded. This sander is definitely not for sanding large areas but rather is useful for sanding furniture or, say, a small area in a room such as a counter.
I found that the dust collector sucked up some of the dust but not all of it. This is because two attachments require a screw. You can put the flat part in front to sand on surfaces that require broad uniform strokes, such as along a floor where it meets the wall. The sander is pretty easy to use; the attachments are easy to swap with the exception of the small extension mentioned above. I recommend this product for those who need a sander for small jobs as it is a little bit better designed than some of the other models offered by Black and Decker.
I found this a bit difficult as the attachment does not quite line up correctly with the main part of the machine and thus requires a little jiggling to install correctly.
Sander is very smooth and it's easy to keep a level amount of sanding. Disks okay but require doing only the kind of sanding to fit the disks that you have.
This sander might work great out of the box but try ordering 220 grit, or 330 grit, or 100 grit replacement paper when the sandpaper the box comes in runs out. Good Luck.
The sander has an integrated dust catcher with a built-in filter. The manual even says that if you want a different speed, change the dial setting. To attach and remove this plate, you need a Philips screwdriver.When I finally managed to pry the sander away from my wife, I used it on a window trim project, where it performed admirably. I note that Amazon also sells compatible sheets from 3M.
I have several other projects where the MS2000 will be extremely helpful and I'm glad to have it.The Black & Decker MS2000 Multi Sander comes with a small assortment of sanding sheets. She liked the second handle on the front, saying it was easy to control, that the sander didn't vibrate excessively and that the shape of the pad let her get into corners.However, not all was perfect. You can dump out larger particles but a lot will stay trapped. The walls were covered with three different colors of paint, and there were numerous blobs and places where one or more layers had been either torn off or painted around when something was mounted on the wall. Lastly, a handy cloth bag for holding accessories and spare sheets is included - a nice touch.
This catcher, which slides on and off the dust port, does not open for easy cleaning, and trying to "blow it out" with an air compressor did not get me anywhere. The third plate is a detail sander that takes special elongated sandpaper pieces. Look for "Mega Mouse", such as Black & Decker 74-673 Mega 220 Grit Sand Paper, 5-Piece. One of the bedrooms in our house had been painted by the previous owner - multiple times - and it appeared that he had enlisted his kids at some point to "help". One is a random-orbital disc and the other is the "mouse" shaped pad which can be set with the point forward or back.
With the B&D sander and a medium-grit paper, she breezed through the entire room in an afternoon. Before I had a chance to try out the Black & Decker MS2000 sander, my wife grabbed it for a project she was working on. This is apparently meant more for sawdust and it clogged rather quickly with the paint particles. Replacement dust catchers are sold by Black and Decker through their web site - their part number is 90550022 "Dust Canister" and the price as of today is a reasonable $8.50.The "Smart Select" dial is a bit of a gimmick, I feel. At first, I went crazy trying to figure out which replacement sheets are for this product, as the manual doesn't give part numbers. The special sheets for this plate have a perforated diamond shape at the point, which can be reversed when it wears and there are two additional diamonds provided with each sheet.
She had been using a sanding block to even out the surface, but it was slow going. It has four, color-coded positions which you match to the sanding base you have attached, but in reality all it is is a two-speed selector switch. The on-off switch has a solid feel and has a sturdy rubber cover.Two of the included base plates are easily interchangeable. However, I can see that it could appeal to people who didn't know which speed was more appropriate for what they were doing.
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