Random orbit sanders

[Andy B.]

I'm in the market for a random orbit sander. What brands should I look at. What bells and whisels do I need? thanks

[imported_wbrooks]

Andy, if you can get by the sticker shock the Ridgid 6" is the best ROS I have used.
The 2610 has lots of power and is balanced nicely. When I first picked up the 2610 my thoughts were that the damn thing was way too heavy but then again how often do you sand over your head. The 2610 is easily used with 1 hand as the tools weight is the perfect pressure for sanding. Another neat feature is the dual orbits. You can set the machine for a 1/4" orbit for fast material removal and then set it to 1/8" orbit for fine finish sanding. Put a glass finish on cherry in about 1/5th the time it took with my sears 4.5" orbital (ryobi clone).

[Andy B.]

Wbrooks,
What grit sand paper do you use on cherry?

[imported_wbrooks]

Out of the planer I go through 150, 180, 220, 240. Since this was a custom cutting board (friend had to have cherry to match his cupboards :confused: ) I stopped there and then used #0000 steel wool to rub in the 100% pure Tung oil on 5 coats. For fine furniture and hand rubbed finish I would go to 320. 220 to 240 produces a fine enough surface for just about any finish especially film forming finishes like poly.