# Dustelss Power Sanding Systems



## housedocs (Mar 14, 2005)

The Porter Cable is a great labor saving tool, but dustless would be a stretch IMO. If you've got a brand new unit with pristinely clean filters on it, you'd do pretty well, but there's still going to be some dust in the air. The only way to really get close to dustless is to wet sand. A few yrs back I bought an inexpensive wet sander unit for a job in a phone switching office bldg. Basically just a hollow plastic handle that served as a water tank and handle, there was a very small piece of plastic hose which attached to the sponge head. Works kinda of like polishing plaster and was best used on mud that was only about 75% dry. Cost was under $100 which I billed to the job and it basically lasted just for the one job. Do some searching on the web, Google & the like, I found & bought it over the web. Good luck.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

Where ya been housedocs? Missed ya.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Dust-_less _doesn't mean dust-free
Wet sanding is the only "dust-free" method I have found

I suspect the employees would have a tough time with even a small amount during business hours

Although my P/C "dustless" is older, and I'm sure the newer ones are better, I could never use mine in a place of business during business hours, and based on it's performance, I would not even consider buying a newer one for that type of job

PS Don't get me wrong, less dust is better, but bank employees with computers and allergies and all....


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## MasterStrokes (Sep 18, 2005)

Thanks for the reply folks. I went with a $275 Loveless sander w/ 16-gallon vac. It takes regular sanding mesh screens and the head replacement is only $28 if it breaks. I’ll let you know how it performs after we test it.

I’ve planned for dust anyway but this should reduce it quite a bit. The wallpaper removals going well and the glue sands to a smooth surface. After we lock it in with a low odor oil primer skimming will be minimal. 

If you haven’t tried 3M’s lightweight plastic give it a shot. It has a static cling like no other. If you’re dropping it from a ceiling the plastic clings to the walls eliminating blow up, thus reducing taping it tight. It clings to just about anything like magic. I’ve used it for awhile now and its pricey but worth it in certain situations. 

Thanks again for the help. It’s appreciated. Hiya Teetorbilt  

Mark


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

MasterStrokes said:


> I went with a $275 Loveless sander w/ 16-gallon vac. It takes regular sanding mesh screens and the head replacement is only $28 if it breaks. I’ll let you know how it performs after we test it.


Please do
I really would be interested in a review
I have commercial accts like this (customer traffic) and...well, obviously I'd rather not do it at night, or use a more time consuming method if I don't have too
Thanks


MasterStrokes said:


> I’ve planned for dust ...skimming will be minimal...3M’s lightweight plastic......If you’re dropping it from a ceiling the plastic clings to the walls eliminating blow up, thus reducing taping it tight


Sounds like you got it covered


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## housedocs (Mar 14, 2005)

Teetorbilt said:


> Where ya been housedocs? Missed ya.


I've literally been swamped since about May Teetor, by far this will be my best year ever in business,in fact right now I'm almost looking forward to the winter when things will slow down. Past few weeks I've felt like a one legged man in a butt kickin contest! But I'm not complaining. 


I would also be interested in hearing how the Loveless sander works out for you Masterstrokes.


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## MasterStrokes (Sep 18, 2005)

We’ll be testing the dustless sander tomorrow if all goes as planned. I’ll write a review and post it here Thursday. Fast shipping, packaged nice, assembly was easy. Everything is plastic except the vac motor. Heck the motor might be plastic too.  

The vac is advertised 66% quieter from what I remember, but it still had a good bit of noise. It has a neat feature that allows a grate to knock against the post filter bag and unclog it without taking the vac apart.

It'll be in heavy use over the next two days so I’ll let you know the pro’s and con’s. 

Mark


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Just checking in
Looks like you lost your pig MS


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

How'd it work out Master?


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

Master, I saw an article a while back that used a plastic 55 gal. drum as a pre-filter prior to entering the vac. Supposedly it saved on vac filters. I use a 2 can system in the shop for the same reason.


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## MasterStrokes (Sep 18, 2005)

I lost my pig. Poor fella. The dustless vac system worked very well with the 110 mesh screens. The 220 screens wore out fast. It doesn’t sand corners very well but in open areas the system worked like a Stevie Nicks dream. Low dust, great suction and the vac comes with all the head attachments except a brush type. It also comes with adapters to hook up small car vac type attachments.

The sanding head tended to want to flip over like a sanding pole does until you get used to it. Sanding is a little slower but considering dust clean up it’s worth the extra time.

Overall I’m very pleased with the system and it’ll be used as necessary. I’m also pleased with the female bank tellers!


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

MasterStrokes said:


> Overall I’m very pleased with the system and it’ll be used as necessary. I’m also pleased with the female bank tellers!


Man, if you used that in a bank during business hours with few or no complaints, AND it comes with car detailing attachments

Sign me up!

Thanks for the review, and I'm sorry about your pig
I hope he flies his way back soon


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

MasterStrokes said:


> ... comes with all the head attachments except a brush type.


Do you know if you can get one?
...ah never mind, as I'm going to look into this product a little more anyway
Thanks Master


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## MasterStrokes (Sep 18, 2005)

slickshift said:


> Do you know if you can get one?
> ...ah never mind, as I'm going to look into this product a little more anyway
> Thanks Master


You know I heard these things are very hard to come by. I have 2 left and would sell you one for $50. You know the round brush head with the hole on the center. It helped get that packed dust out of corners. Wait, I want $75 for it. No, $100.  

Yes sir, the dustvac worked great. The price vs. labor to clean up dust makes it a great buy. We did have the tiniest film of blow off dust after everything was sanded but I expected that. 

Note: They have 2 versions of sanding heads for sale. A hand and pole attachment head. I bought the pole attachment kind but used it mainly as a hand sander without the pole. The suction was so great that it sucked the head to the wall and tended to make it flip if you got in a rush. I prefer sanding previously painted walls with a hand type rigid sander anyway for that extra smoothness so no big deal, but I’ll have the option of attaching a pole if needed. 

Update: The vac exploded. We had the bank sparkling clean and I bent over to vac up a paper clip. Kerploof! Everyone within 1 square mile looked like a mime. The mushroom cloud caused the US to go to Defcon One. Do not buy this vac. Huge mistake!  

It’s a joke OK. Buy the dustvac. Try sleeping with it. I did. Killer hickeys!


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