ETS 150/3 confusions...

[Mac]

Hi guys,

As a relative newbie, I've been really happy with my ETS 150/3 and midi combo that I bought on your recommendations as my first bit of serious sanding kit. However, I read today that one of the best things about a random orbital sander is that you can use it in two ways: if you hold it lightly and let it float, it removes stock more quickly (depending on the abrasive, obviously) as it is using the orbital feature primarily, whereas if you apply a bit of pressure the random action is more dominant so it acts as a better finishing sander. I've never heard this before...is this something that everyone knows and I've somehow missed..?
:-\

Mac

 

[Bob Childress]

I cannot speak to the accuracy of that theory, but I can say that if you apply pressure whilst sanding with your 150/3 you will generate a lot of heat and will be buying a new sanding pad sooner.  $38.00  DAMHIKT.  ;D

 

[Brice Burrell]

Mac, when you apply pressure to a random orbit sander it is easy to stop the rotation of the sanding pad (not the orbital motion) so you end up with an orbital sander instead of a RO sander. In my opinion that is a big step backwards in terms of ease in achieving a quality of finish. And as Bob mentioned you'll burn up the hooks on your sanding pads.

 

[AlexThePalex]

you can use it in two ways: if you hold it lightly and let it float, it removes stock more quickly (depending on the abrasive, obviously) as it is using the orbital feature primarily, whereas if you apply a bit of pressure the random action is more dominant so it acts as a better finishing sander. I've never heard this before...is this something that everyone knows and I've somehow missed..?

In my experience this is definitely not true for properly functioning sanders. If you just hold it very lightly it just spins over the surface without doing much except just scratching the surface a bit. No stock removal that's worth mentioning. The rotary movement of a RO sander has very little power because RO sanders have a built in break to stop the rotary movement from spinning to fast when you don't touch the surface.  This is to prevent scratch marks when you put the sander spinning on the surface.

On one of my older sanders this break (which is mostly just a plastic ring in the housing around the pad) was worn out. That's normal, they do that after a lot of use. This sander suddenly spun about 5 times as fast and did exactly what you described mac, it would become very aggressive all of a sudden when I held it very lightly over the surface. But the movement was totally uncontrollable and did more harm then good. And as soon as I applied just the slightest pressure the pad would stop rotating completely and the motor started to give off a burning smell. Not good. I never experienced that with a properly functioning sander.

 

[Mac]

Thanks guys, this has reassured me that I'm doing things right! 

Mac