Could anyone recommend a Makita grinder to buy (with perhaps a link to amazon or homedepot)?
It will be my first one, for small, completely amateur board repairs (a physical condition makes me bad at hand sanding).
I would like something verstatile that I can also use around the house (for something like sanding off an old table, etc).
Or, for my surf-related purposes (small amateur home repairs) is there different tool I would want?
Thank you!
I am very happy with a Mirka Deros random orbital sander. The vacuum dust collection works very good together with the nets. Most people that used it liked it too, on furniture, cars or boards… It’s a bit pricey, but worth it.
I have some Makitas- grinders and sanders- and like them, but for heavy duty applications. Most sanding machines that don’t have adjustable speed have too much rpm or are a bit heavy on fiberglass for my taste.
You want a Makita the soft start Sander/Polisher available online for $200 plus is the best. Soft start, variable speed. Sorry don’t remember the model #, but it is referred to as a sander/polisher, not a grinder. 9227C I think and more like $300 these days.
I really like my Milwaukee 5460 variable speed sander polisher. I’ve sanded 100’s of boards with the same one for almost 30 years and it has never let me down. Milwaukee Sander/Polisher is the Industry Standard. It is light weight and has variable speeds from 0 rpm to 2800rpm, making it the perfect sander for shaping or glassing! Although it appears the same as more affordable models by Milwaukee, this is the difficult to find model. It is the perfect partner to the Power Pad or Flexpad. Shaft size 5/8″ – 11. It’s about $300, but with any quality tool…buy once/cry once.
I agree, but would add that they are also a Sander/Polisher. A good tool. Mines down now. Needs brushes. Harder to find. But when you consider that the easier to find Makita has hit $300. Might as well seek out the best.
Umm, a few things.
First off, Makita is just one of a lot of tool brands. Every tool maker has their way of making things, a particular fit, set of ergometrics, whatever, so they fit your hands or they don’t. Me, I don’t fit the Makitas, or they don’t fit me.
There is one good reason to go all Makita. As an example, one of my nephews has Makita cordless stuff, and he has standardised on those, one battery type works in all of them. For what it’s worth, if you are doing it for that reason Makita isn’t bad.Nor is Hitachi, my setup, neither maker changes the batteries they use very much.Some other makers change 'em a lot, Porter Cable being notorious for it, seems like they come out with new tools and new battery types every Tuesday and your old tool just became a paperweight.
That’s nice, but the thing is sanding and grinding tend to be something you do for hours at a whack. Cordless tools for that are gonna drive you nuts, you’ll wear a path to the battery chargers (plural) and go broke what with all the batteries you’ll need.
Go for one with a cord.
Now, a grinder. Maybe, maybe not. Grinders are ferocious things and for small repairs it’s kinda like slicing bread with a chain saw or stirring your coffee with a grenade. Doing production hotcoats on a lot of boards, sure, BIG ding repairs at speed, yeah, and I like my Milwaukee for that and boat hull sanding and what have you. I was a pro boat carpenter, I can do that and do it well.
But for a few repairs, not terribly big,overkill, way overkill. Instead, let me suggest a random orbital sander, not awfully big, say 5". They come in two flavors, the compact one hand palm type which suck and those based on a small grinder with the random orbital function as a gearbox built on. Those hold up well and I find them far more controllable. You want variable speed, vacuum dust removal is nice but can be awkward. I myself prefer peel and stick discs rather than the velcro type, you burn through a lot of them anyhow and you rarely switch from one grit to something else and back again which is the selling point of the velcro types.
There’s a few of those out there. And don’t forget the used tool market, in my far from humble opinion the Porter-Cable 7335 was the best going and still is, a real production tool. Light enough to use all day, and I have, rugged enough to take it. I like mine. Parts still very much available. You can even put a polishing mop on it and make things shiny.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Thanks everyone - hugely helpful to know these options!
Doc - if I were to get a random orbital sander as you suggest for my limited surfboard repairs, could I also say sand down a weathered wooden hot tub with that tool (in order to prepare it for resotration by staining)?
For a while I had a small ding repair business using that Porter Cable 7335 as my only power sander. Coarse disc, fine disc, wet sand by hand. The nice thing is that while you can take off material pretty quickly you have to work at screwing up and sanding through to the foam.With a big sander/grinder, a moment’s inattention and your small repair just got big.
And absolutely, probably the best tool for the purpose of prettying up that tub. Though I might hit it carefully with a rented pressure washer first, that tends to get the really weathered loose layer off and save you a lot of sanding.Use one that’s not super strong and a ‘fan’ nozzle, I screwed up once and used a 3000 PSI model and a straight stream and punched the cutest little round hole right through a cedar clapboard. Fortunately they had a bush in front of it. Then, once it’s dried, do a quick finishing pass with the RO sander ( pressure washers tend to raise the wood grain) and it’s ready for finishing.
Quick question: stain? While the stores will tell you that water base porch, trim and deck stains protect and preserve the wood from weathering, in my experience they don’t. Instead, I’m a big fan of oil finishes for outside wood, had good luck with the clear Flood CWF over the years.
hope that’s of use
doc…