Handheld sanders in the shop

Hey all. Last weekend I couldn’t find a functional random orbit sander in the shop. The only one around was a black & red one (don’t remember the brand) which wouldn’t hold onto the sanding discs due to a damaged pad. I thought we had at least 3 sanders floating around the shop – anyone know if that’s still the case?

I ran into the same problem the other day. I only saw that one sander that doesn’t hold onto discs, although I think you might be able to change out the velcro pad (not sure)

Ya, it should just be the pad. I can grab one from home depot tomorrow and replace it

Welp, the screw holes are the wrong spacing. They didn’t have Black&Decker backer pads at HD. Maybe at Lowes? Maybe it’s can be ordered online?

Sorry, I figured I’d just grab it since I was already there today and won’t be planning to go to a store this weekend

Thanks for trying, Keyan – much appreciated.

I have no problem ordering a replacement online, but it seems like there are plenty of ways to screw that up. If you happen to be in the shop today, could you please look up the model number of the sander and let us know what it is? If not, I’ll be in tomorrow afternoon and check myself.

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I just found two well-used orbital sanders in a cabinet in the board cube, and a bunch of replacement brake skirts. I assume they’re broken and we ordered parts, but they never made it back into service?

I’ll put two sanders and two brake skirts in the stewards’ cabinet if somebody wants to tinker with them. Sorry I don’t have time today.

also, no replacement pads have turned up so far unfortunately.

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We replaced the part on the sanders in question and they failed immediately. Hopefully whoever tinkers with it will have better luck.

After some thinking about the Ridgid sanders. The brake mechanism is a flawed design. The sanding pad is pressed against the brake. Once the brake material is worn away. It is useless and the replacement pads are garbage. I do like the Dewalt design with a rubber band style brake system. It is at least replaceable.

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I was at the shop today: the sander with the bad platen is a Craftsman CMEW231. According to this place, the replacement parts (DWB-N329079 or DWB-N373679) are shared with DeWalt models. I’ll order a third-party replacement from Amazon and bring it around sometime this week to see if it fits.

I do think we should probably have another sander available in the shop, esp. if/when we reopen with a higher capacity. Is there cash for that, or should one of us pony up and sponsor a purchase?

I’ll order another one

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The DeWalt sanders are compatible with the shop vac.

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Update: the replacement platen from Amazon was compatible – we have a working sander once again!

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