Orbital Sander

[imported_cb121]

I am thinking about buying the 6" orbital sander. I am a painter and would use it whenever I patch any drywall. Some say that if I sand the compound that I am voiding the warranty. Is this true?
They also say that I can't sand the compound with that sander

[imported_wbrooks]

Drywall dust is really fine and will likely erode the bearings and abrade the motor brushes which may be why they say it will void the warranty. The 6" is a bit heavey for vertical walls and will become hard to hold if you are doinf a ceiling. I prefer to use the fine grit sponges for finishing drywall, ROS is overkill

[imported_CWSmith]

CB121,

I agree, using an ROS would, IMHO, be sort of a "shotgun" approach. I think you'd find yourself through the compound and into the board surface more often than not. Also, I agree that the compound dust would certainly prematurely wear out the sander as it infiltrated the bearings, etc.

Personally, I wet sponge the joints on the first pass to get off any really rough areas and then use a sanding sponge after that. If you insisted on using a power sander, I'd suggest using an old or, at least inexpensive, finishing sander. I have a Ryobi Corner Cat which would work quite well and would even fit into tight corners, etc. It only costs about $30. Depending on how much you use it, I'd also expect to have to replace it every year or so and just forget about the warranty! If you do a lot of drywall, a $30 throw-away shouldn't gouge you too much.

Just an opinion,

CWS

[imported_DirtyRatDog]

I’ve done a lot of drywall patching in my house. When I need to sand an area I remove the collection bag from my Ryobi sander and attach the hose from my dry vac (with six foot extension). I turn them both on and sand the areas. I must admit it gets very noisy, but the dust problem is almost eliminated.