# Dustless Sanding



## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

Yeah,another sanding topic...There a couple of so called dustless sanders on the market..One from Porter Cable and another from an outfit called Dustless...

Most drywallers don't use either system....I called the local suppliers and they rarely sell these sanders....I just bought that 8" circular pole sander....I works quite well but the 120 paper gets clogged easily and I find that I'm going through at ton of the discs that sell for $1.20 each in Canada...I was thinking about using 100 grit and then finishing it off with 180...

Do any of you use one of the dustless sanders with your shop vac?..The Porter cable is supposedly heavy and the sanding discs are expensive...The dustless brand is rectangular like a pole sander and you can buy any hook and loop sanding discs..You can also get into tighter areas by removing the handle..


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## BrushJockey (Mar 15, 2009)

I do almost all redo, so dust control in an occupied home is huge. I own a Porter cable, use it with a reg shop vac. But not too often.
I've been using the Fiberseal version with both a pole and a hand sander.It uses a sanding screen and pulls dust through openings in the sander. Works great, biggest problem, particularly with larger skims and a sheen paint, is getting no sander screen marks. And then you do end up needing a sponge sander where you can't get the big foot of a hand/pole sander in. But basically, these kind of devises have changed my life. 
For large skims, have really dramatically reduced the set up/clean up. 
And if you use the waterbucket idea to collect the dust ( needs heavy tweeking) it saves your vac.


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

my Festool is amazing. Rip on me all you want but I sand drywall without even a mask on. I hook it up to my 16 gal rigid shop vac with dust bag in it and one of the fancier filters. works great.


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

I'm not sure what that system is....I haven't seen it in Canada...

I'm just a little ticked off from the job I'm doing....I've went through a pale of mud for just an average sized 3 bedroom home..Maybe 1500 SQ feet...Screw pops everywhere in this 60 year old home!...I'm using the drywall compund that reduces dust but it is harder to sand...I have to cover everything up and the cleanup is a pain...

So you don't use your porter cable much?...It looks like it may gouge the mud a bit and leave streaks..Does the sanding disc spin or vibrate?


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

What is a festool?..Never heard of it..Do you have a link?...I also have a rigid vac..You buy better filters for it?..What brand?


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

ridgid filters plus a rigid dust bag. this is my sander. it is also an amazing sander besides being dust free. their sand paper is super good too.


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

tsunamicontract said:


> ridgid filters plus a rigid dust bag. this is my sander. it is also an amazing sander besides being dust free. their sand paper is super good too.


 
Link doesn't work...What model?


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## ParagonVA (Feb 3, 2009)

tedrin said:


> Link doesn't work...What model?


the link worked for me, but here's the model: ETS 125 EQ Random Orbital Sander


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## racin16car (Feb 27, 2009)

use a porter cable sander on all new homes that we paint, does a great job and smooths out most of the lovely drywall left for us.....we use the 180 grit disc


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## Msargent (Jan 16, 2009)

The way i see it you can go 2 options like i did radius 360 for small stuff and a porter cable 7800 with vacume and trust me no such thing as dustless. i do a ton of drywall . low dust joint compound zipperwall and porter cable are your best bet to get close to dustless . Low dust joint compound is ok heavy so it falls down like dryfall paint 3.5 gal buckets tho so more per sheet.


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## BEAR (Jan 18, 2009)

*dustless*

Portercable 7800 with shop vac turn the speed down don't use the pc discs they make swirls buy after market ones from AllWall. I sand all walls with this before I paint [ I mostly do repaints] I have a snowboard bag store store all hoses vac attchments a dewalt 5 inch plam. Really impresses customers when I sand and patch there walls. pole sand only high ceilings anymore It's not cheap and a little heavy but very little mess my drops stay very clen these days.:thumbsup:


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

BEAR said:


> Portercable 7800 with shop vac turn the speed down don't use the pc discs they make swirls buy after market ones from AllWall. I sand all walls with this before I paint [ I mostly do repaints] I have a snowboard bag store store all hoses vac attchments a dewalt 5 inch plam. Really impresses customers when I sand and patch there walls. pole sand only high ceilings anymore It's not cheap and a little heavy but very little mess my drops stay very clen these days.:thumbsup:


 Do you buy the Joest superpads?..They are 9" hook and loop yellow discs with holes in them to allow the dust to be sucked up right through...


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

BEAR said:


> Portercable 7800 with shop vac turn the speed down don't use the pc discs they make swirls buy after market ones from AllWall. I sand all walls with this before I paint [ I mostly do repaints] I have a snowboard bag store store all hoses vac attchments a dewalt 5 inch plam. Really impresses customers when I sand and patch there walls. pole sand only high ceilings anymore It's not cheap and a little heavy but very little mess my drops stay very clen these days.:thumbsup:


 Also,what grit paper works best with the PC?....The drywall guys prefer 220,but they use the soft topping compound,which is more easily scratched....I use all purpose mud for everything and because there is more glue in it,it it a lot tougher....I'm thinking about using 120 grit then 180 to finish it up nice...Do you use the PC sand paper?


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

BEAR said:


> Porter Cable 7800 with shop vac turn the speed down don't use the pc discs they make swirls buy after market ones from AllWall. I sand all walls with this before I paint [ I mostly do repaints] I have a snowboard bag store store all hoses vac attachments a dewalt 5 inch palm. Really impresses customers when I sand and patch there walls. pole sand only high ceilings anymore It's not cheap and a little heavy but very little mess my drops stay very clean these days.:thumbsup:


I decided to get the Porter cable 7800 sander with the Dustless shop vac by Loveless ash company...That vac can suck up 85 pounds of concrete mix with no dust to the motor...It has 2 filters plus a heavy,cloth-like dustbag...

I think I might also get a palm sander that attaches to a vacuum...You like the Dewalt?....Can you attach the PC to the shop vac hose?..They must have an attachment for that...It would be nice to have a longer hose...(No jokes please)


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## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

tedrin said:


> I think I might also get a palm sander that attaches to a vacuum...You like the Dewalt?....Can you attach the PC to the shop vac hose?..They must have an attachment for that...It would be nice to have a longer hose...(No jokes please)


I've got a dewalt DW423 palm/orbital sander. This model has a control to let you speed up/slow down the sander. It comes with its own dustbag but you can but an attachment/adapter that lets it attach to a shop vac hose. They're only a few $. I think the adaptor probably fits all or most dewalts.


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

Have you tried this?

http://www.thepaintstore.com/HT_9170_DustDog_Vacuum_Pole_Sander_p/09170.htm


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

all of that mud work and sanding has proven to be a big pain in the butt,,,,,i just get to painting nowdays. you need to identify the money leaks, and stop them.


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

tsunamicontract said:


> my Festool is amazing. Rip on me all you want but I sand drywall without even a mask on. I hook it up to my 16 gal rigid shop vac with dust bag in it and one of the fancier filters. works great.


 
I did a lot of research online and it appears that you were right about the festool....It is the best on the market...Most of the others have a problem with the shopvac hose falling off...Did you have to improvise an adaptor to fit your shopvac?...I have a 6" Porter cable orbital sander,but there is no way that I can get my shopvac to stay on that thing to sand drywall mud on walls..It would just keep slipping off...I need a more secure setup...hopefully the festool will do the trick...Can you use different brands of hook and loop sandpaper on it?


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

high fibre said:


> all of that mud work and sanding has proven to be a big pain in the butt,,,,,i just get to painting nowdays. you need to identify the money leaks, and stop them.


 What specifically are you doing about it?....It would be nice to employ just a sander if you had the work to keep him going 40 hours/week...You could pay him less than $20/hour....I'm a 50/hr guy and spend much of my time doing those menial tasks...That's why I'm going with the Porter cable 7800/Festool ets 125 eq orbital sander setup....


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

tedrin said:


> I did a lot of research online and it appears that you were right about the festool....It is the best on the market...Most of the others have a problem with the shopvac hose falling off...Did you have to improvise an adaptor to fit your shopvac?...I have a 6" Porter cable orbital sander,but there is no way that I can get my shopvac to stay on that thing to sand drywall mud on walls..It would just keep slipping off...I need a more secure setup...hopefully the festool will do the trick...Can you use different brands of hook and loop sandpaper on it?


nope. I bought the festool hose that goes from tool to other brand vac hose. works great. Their sand paper is pretty nice so I have been using that. The festool hose does not fall off the tool either.


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## tedrin (Oct 22, 2008)

tsunamicontract said:


> nope. I bought the festool hose that goes from tool to other brand vac hose. works great. Their sand paper is pretty nice so I have been using that. The festool hose does not fall off the tool either.


 
Thanks for the great advice!..I think I might cancel my order for the Porter Cable 7800 pole sander and just use the festool for a while...You might have just saved me $600....I've used a Porter Cable 1/4 sheet palm sander for years without the vacuum,{obviously when the house is unoccupied.}...The dust ,however goes everywhere and you need to wear a dust mask for hours until the dust has settled...I usually pole sand the whole wall with a radius 360 after the repair patches are sanded down....This last job I had to pole sand (and hand sand) basically an entire pail of mud's worth of patching because the place was lived in...That was tiring!


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