PSA: That cheap palm sander from Harbor Freight smoked out after 15 minutes on a single cabinet door

I overheard a guy at the hardware store say you don't need expensive tools for weekend projects but after 3 tries with different sanders from there I learned the hard way that spending $25 on one just means buying another one the next weekend, has anyone else burned through budget sanders faster than sandpaper?

3 comments

3 Comments

john_fisher1mo ago

Did you try swapping out the sandpaper first? Those cheap sanders can't handle good paper without burning up. Save your cash and grab a Ryobi next time.

drew_jones311mo ago

15 minutes on ONE cabinet door? That's wild. I had one of their random orbital sanders start vibrating so bad after 20 minutes it felt like my hand was going numb. The screws on the base plate came loose and it just rattled itself apart.

jadej501mo ago

Man, @drew_jones31 you got the dud of the bunch for sure. That rattling loose thing sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen mid-project. I swear my luck with power tools is so bad I half expect them to just explode on me the second I turn them on. At least my cabinet door took forever, so maybe I got the slow and steady version of their quality control. Still, yours is way worse, I'd be furious if my hand went numb from a sander.