Furniturebldr

Are there any quality, not over the top priced sanders that hook up to a shop vac? Who's do you recommend and why? Are any of them at Menards, Home Depot or Lowes a good quality?

My wife use to date a professional painter for several years and his opinion was that none of them work well and they're a waste of money.

What do you all think?

Thanks!

Darren@Partners

A previous thread discusses this, but yes the Porter cable is the best one.

Whitey97

I've got a few p/c's Love it, wouldn't go without it, use that, then a fine sponge with a light. Any of the other one's are just a joke.

Custom Drywall Svc.

yea, i dont have one of these.

wondered about them though......ive had several remodeling jobs in the past where they would of come very much in handy.

Whitey97

it's worth it. I've had times when they were down, one for this, one for that and one at the repair shop. When you're busting nuts, with a pole sander, those are the times you're like....wtf am I doing all this work for?

Darren@Partners

Everybody I knew using them bags on the HEPA vac burning up but we use an old Craftsman(Sears) with the dust bags (Available just about everywhere now). Maybe not as high-performance as a HEPA but dang sight cheaper. And I sure like how much easier it is to lift the bag out and toss in the dumpster than dumping the canister(cough, cough).

Muddauber

Why are those pole sanders that connect to a vac from ALL-WALL so expensive? Like 300.00 or 400.00 for a pole sander.
I'd like to try one, but don't want to spend that kind of $$ for a piece of s$$t.

Furniturebldr

Where do you find the P/C and what should I expect to pay for it? where would you recommend buying it from?

Thanks!

Whitey97

if you're buying new, around 750 I think for wand and vac. all-walls' got them. otherwise, my advice is go on craigslist, I just picked up a set for 350. try renting one first though, make sure you like it. it's 30 bucks that would probably be worth it. hell ask the rental shop if they want to sell. I got one from a home depot too, I think I spent 400 on that set

joepro0000

I bought mine for I think 350 no vaccuum brand new from Ames. Be-prepared for the bushing to go bad, but otherwise, there the best thing invented since the bazooka. I got finisher friends calling me all the time asking if they can borrow it. I mean, you got a 300 sheet job to sand, you really think 4 guys pole sanding is going to cut it? You can have 1 guy sand that in a day, and the other 2 following him with lights and a sponge, while the other guy is playing waterboy and pouring them drinks!

brdn_drywall

hahaaa, ata boy joe that about sums up the tools use and productivity.

A+ Texture LLC

I've read some guys use em for removing popcorn. How much quicker is it compared to spraying and scraping. Doesn't it mess up the paper??

brdn_drywall

done it several times and would not attempt to remove popcorn any other way, sometimes if it has been painted about 20 times you can't get to far back, but have noticed that if your respraying with a heavy knockdown that what you couldn't remove adds more character to the knockdown anyway.
heaven forbid you have to remove the popcorn completely for a smooth finish which i use my mark 5 for and spray a good coat of mud, tight wipe and then a second coat, let dry and then sand (with a radius 360) and buff it up with a sponge in the corners that's a powerful sander for level 5 work .

A+ Texture LLC

Do you go around the edges and corners and dry scrape or wet scrape the tight areas. Oh and even though it's vaccumed how much mess does it still make.

brdn_drywall

i don't scrape a thing the porter cable electric disk sander attached to a shop-vac removes the texture with little effort.
If ya keep the head on the ceiling there's very little dust but if ya pull it off while sanding and running its like a dust bomb went off.

Whitey97

you still have that 2-3" area you can't reach with the vac. What are you doing with that? how about on angle's that are the same way?

brdn_drywall

never thought about that i geuss my helpers do something while i'm sanding ya a rough dry scrape is needed for inside corners

brdn_drywall

come to think of it though i'm sure i get closer than 2-3" of the wall what brand/manufacturer of disks are you using on your sander whitey

Whitey97

Yeah, I was looking at it today when I was doing it myself and it's only about 1 1/2". Personally I wet scrape my ceilings, let it dry, then take the p/c to them, they're smooth as glass when I'm done with it. My way minimizes the p/c over my head. I would rather scrape wet ceiling texture that isn't dusty than deal with the dusty shiz.

As per your question. I used to use the old school 100 grit pads by p/c, but I switched for this last job, as it is a 4000 sf house. I've been using the new foam pad, with the velco. The sand paper I think is Norton, and I'm using 120 grit.

I will never go back to the 100 grit pads for smooth wall as it chews up the seams, but back when we sanded popcorn, it really bit off the over spray.

The new pads I'm using are overall less expensive. $5 for the foam pad, $1 for the sand paper. The problem I don't like about the new stuff I'm using is, That foam pad is shooting out from the head and I have to stop and put it all back together, which is just a pain in the @$$. Have you had that problem as well? Are there different brands out there?

Phew that was a long post! I should get 2 points for that one!

Mushin Drywall

Yeah I've had the same problem with the foam pads. I've used Norton, Joest and Full circle. Out of the three I like the Full circle the best. The velcro seems to work the best and the the sanding disks seem like they last longer. I started out with a Joest foam pad and came close to throwing my vac off the second floor, the sanding disk just wouldn't stay on.