Makita Sheet Finishing Sander, 1/3 In, 1.7 A, Teal (BO3710)

Needed to replace my trusty old B & D orbital sander, which died. No comparable replacement from B & D. I found this Makita on Amazon, and while Makita has a good reputation for quality, I have become suspicious of just about every power tool available today, as all seem to be made overseas. But for $50.00, I can't get hurt too bad. Plus, this sander is a 1/3 sheet sander, not the 1/4 sanders which are more prevalent today.Well, the sander arrived today, and I immediately put it to use sanding some hardwood guitar necks I make. Red oak and teak are what I sanded today. Holy Cow! This Makita is so smooth, relatively quiet, and easy to handle while working. I can't recall a time my old sander was ever this smooth. It is a finishing sander (straight line motion), not an orbital, but the Makita worked easily to smooth out the wood I was working with, first with 60 grit, then 150 grit. Did a great job removing wood as needed, and as I said above, was easy to handle while using, so no "oversanding".I don't know how long this unit will last, but out of the box it is a great tool, and I think a good value. Came with a dust collection pouch and a punch to make holes for your sandpaper to use the dust collection feature in the sander's base. I recommend this tool for those looking for a light - to -mid weight sander.

Makita B03710 Finishing sander:Pros:- so quiet, you won't need ear muffs- after long periods of use, it doesn't make your hand tingle from the vibrating, as do some palm sanders.- paper is easy/quick to attach and it stays put.- tool is sufficiently light that it can be used comfortably on non horizontal surfaces.- maneuvered easily with only rear handle, but it also has a front handle.- rear handle has push-button to lock it to the on position.- vacuum system is pretty good. Using Makita sanding sheets with matching vacuum holes to bottom holes works best, but even with regular paper, dust is sucked up through the side holes in the rubber base.Cons:- motor is only 1.6 amps, which isn't much even for a small sander. Consequently, this tool is best for higher grit paper (e.g., 100 or higher). Can easily bog down if using low grit (course) paper.- the cord, although a high quality rubber type, is only 6' long, necessitating an extension cord all too often.Summary:As long as it's used only for "finishing" (i.e., fine grit paper), this machine works well.

Excellent product so far, have not used enough for longevity rating, but I just bought a crafstman 1/3 sheet sander, and its night and day. The Craftsman I call the beast, its louder than the shop vac, and vibration dampening, hmm not sure if it even has any. This Makita on the other hand, has excellent paper retention clips, love how it works, best I've used so far, the thing is super quiet, you do not need hearing protection, though still recommend for long periods of sanding. the dust port is small. I used some wax paper card board rolls pieces to fatten it up to mate to the end I use for my router, saw, and other tools. This does not have hook backing on the pad, I had read somewhere it did, but that's not a problem, I found a product here on amazon that works great, if you have paper with loop backing and want to use it. see pics. the product I used is : "BRAVESHINE Sticky Back Hook Loop Tape - 4x8 Inch Self Adhesive Mounting Squares [Industrial Strength]- Double Sized Wall Fastener Tape Picture Frame Hanging Strips for Indoor or Outdoor Use - 4 Pack" the sandpaper is the Wen stuff sold here on amazon. Excellent adhesive on this, not sure how well the hook side will hold up, but the time saved switching grits makes it worth it.

Well, actually it doesn't vibrate much at all. Nice to use. The paper holding mechanism is terrific and the dust bag really does work. Much handier than trying to attach a vacuum hose. The hole punching device works as well, but is too hard to remove as the spikes stick in the paper. This model does not have speed control. Every tool in the world has that feature, so I thought it seemed a bit cheap for the quality Makita brand.It actually removed a poly finish on a table top faster than a random orbit Bosch, and that was very surprising.Reasonably priced, Makita stuff is usually good, works well, seems well-made and not noisy or taxing to use. It is almost a five-star, but the speed control issue kind of turned me off a bit.

My B&D sander which was 30+ years old finally died. I only use a sander sporadically for special projects like finishing raw wood furniture or craft work. I tried my new Makita for the first time today by finishing 2 maple walking sticks that I crafted from a portion of a maple tree that I had to cut down. I use pre-cut 3M sand paper. To get the most out of this sander I needed to punch 8 holes in the sandpaper, the holes allow the fine saw dust to pass thru to the dust bag. It takes about 2 seconds to punch perfect holes as Makita supplies a plastic press to handle the job. The bag does a good job of trapping some of the dust that comes thru the punch holes so that the dust doesn't accumulate on the sandpaper during use. This improves the efficiency of the sander to get the smoothest finish on the raw wood. This Makita is noticeably quieter than my old B&D. I didn't need ear protection but I do wear a dust mask and glasses to keep the very fine sawdust out of my eyes. This sander did a great job sanding my hardwood walking sticks. I cycled thru coarse, medium and fine grit paper after I prepped the word with a little planning and hand sanding with coarse. It has a button to lock the sander in the On position which I found very helpful. I highly recommend it. I suggest that you vacuum the bag & the sander after your work with a shop vac.