In my never ending battle to control the dust in my shop I decided to upgrade my 5" random orbital sander. For the past several years, I used a sander that did not have a round port to attach my shop vacuum hose so that I could collect the dust. Because I was not able to attach a hose to the sander the dust was put in the air and caused a mess. The only sort of collection that i had set up for this was to place a box fan with a filter in from of it on the table where I was sanding.
Once I purchased the Dust Right Vortex dust separator I figured it was time to upgrade my sander. I purchased the Rigid 5" random orbital sander from Home Depot. This sander has many upgrades over my old sander. One of the features that is going to be a great help in controlling the dust is the round dust port. This sander offers two options one which is the larger standard hose found on most shop vacs. It also has a connection for the smaller shop vac hose. Right now I have the larger standard hose which makes it a little bulky. In the near future I am going to get the smaller more flexible hose.
Another one of the nice features of this sander is the soft start which beats having the sander at full speed the second you turn the sander on. The variable speed features also make this very versatile sander. The sander fits snuggle in hand and makes it easy to use.
After completing a few jobs using this sander it has been worth the purchase. For the cost and the life time warranty I would recommend this sander to anyone looking to make the upgrade.
Nice review. I have always found that Ridgid orbital sanders are overlooked by most people, who immediately move to the big boys - DeWalt, Bosch, etc. But these sanders are solid little tools that do the job well and are very affordable. You could spend more on a sander elsewhere, but odds are a Ridgid sander will meet all of your needs for less.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I really like the Rigid line of tools as they are built solid and come with a lifetime warranty if you register them after purchase. I have a Rigid sander, drill and router. All three of the tools have held up very well and you can't beat the price for any of them.
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