I love this sander! I nursed along 2 HF POS sanders (1 for sanding 1 for polish) for somewhere around 30 boards until one of them finally completely died. I replaced it with the dewalt and have never been happier. It has a soft start, smooth speed control and tons of power. I have made somewhere between 12 - 20 boards (I dont keep track of board count) with it and it is as smooth as the day I got it. I still have one of the HF ones as a back up, but it does not look like I will be needing it any time soon.
have burnt up a couple harbor frieghts. they work for OK cheap but not as good as the real tools. love the milwaukees cuz you get variable speed not only on the dial but also on the trigger. you do wind up having to replace the triggers fairly often. dewalt is nice…havent used the makitas/hitachis but they look like nice tools also.
I hate how the Harbor Freights ‘jump’ in speed even with the setting stuck on 1.
Haven’t experienced that. Only issue I’ve had is with the unit not starting when it gets too gunked up with sanding dust. Just have to clean the switch and speed control and blow the unit out with compressed air real good when this happens.
I ordered a Harbor Freight cheapo 7" sander/polisher. They sent it to Hawaii with no extra packing in a larger empty box. When I first used it it seemed like the bearings may be off a bit to it’s not smooth. Feels like my older worn out 7" cheapo. With a harder pad I can mess up a board the way it bounces around.
I use it, but it’s like $35 bucks down the drain.
I had a DeWalt. One of the coppers strips on the commutator broke off, taking out the brushes with it. So, I ended up with a non repairable paper weight.
Thanks for all the comments. I actually liked the HF’s right up until they acted up and I was told there were no parts to be had.
Is there a ‘feel’ difference between a Milwaukee with the intermediate gearing versus the ones with just a single bevel gear?
it is easier to get a ‘true’ surface (no lumps) with the milwaukee over a HF. gearing/bearing tolerance does make a difference, the weight also helps.