Makita BO3710 240V 1/3-inch Sheet Orbital Sander

Purchased primarily for sanding the wood stairs in our house after ripping out carpet. But after this is done, i'm going to do a LOT more with it.There is glue, dirt, gunk & white paint on the wood surface of the steps.Using 40 grit sandpaper purchased in the local DIY store here by the meter. I had the machine running roughly 5-6 hours, the only break was to brush off dust & hoover it out so about a minutes break between steps.I was indecisive between this model, the smaller square plate one (palm sander) or a random orbit. Spoke to a pro carpenter friend of mine who makes boats & knows his job well. He recommended this over the other & i'm so glad i followed his advice.For me this one unit does the task of a random orbit, a detail sander & a regular orbital (which it is).Random orbit, i manually go in circles, i see gunk disappearing quicker than normal straight-ish strokes. Not 100% a random orbit but works well for aggressive removal.Detail sanding...getting into tight corners, i lift the sander up & only point in the tip to the edge, did a decent job for me & took off loads of paint that was only on the edges. Also when lifting the sander up, the traction area is a lot less & you can feel the vibration plate moving fast & well. Once again, not every bit in the corner is off, but 94% or so done.And of course regular sanding for long surfaces, etc (the entire length of each step).. 1/3 so a good bit of surface area, sure helps the job.There is vibration of course, think of roller skates, an hour on them & when u take them off you can still feel the vibrations. Not with this unit here, after 6 hours of going at it my hands were not shaky, which did surprise me a bit actually.The grip is fantastic to hold, if fingers are tired or you need a different posture to hold, you can always move around it. Can use it with one hand or both for leverage.Dust, yes of course, its a fine dust sander & fine dust gets everywhere. I don't have a builders hoover to attach in. So, i just used the dust bag itself, kept a broom brush without the handle nearby & a regular vax pet hoover at hand. All doors closed so as to contain the dust as much as i can. Cloth over nose, mouth & hair.At the end of the 5 hours, yes dust everywhere !! You don't see it so much when working but at the end of the job yes you do :)But, once again the function of this tool is to slowly & carefully strip out layers of paint, wood, gum, etc. To be efficient in that task, it needs to sand out fine particles & fine particles are difficult to contain. So, personally i can't complain about the dust, i feel its a part of the process.Tomorrow i'm at it again, this time with 80 grit. Then a coat of varnish, then maybe a 120 grit light sand & more coats of varnish. Then the kitchen cabinets & then i just want to do more, i'm so enjoying using this tool.For those who would like to know, yes, like most things in today's time, it is in fact made in china. But feels strong & durable. I've also put a bit of body weight & pressure on it at times to really scrape & the motor handles well without failing or giving out.And if all that wasn't just fine, there's a bonus...if you register on the makita site within 30 days of purchase, you get 3 years warranty.I could not be more pleased with it all.Amazon initially showed me 2 weeks delivery time !!! I panicked & tried to cancel the item & order elsewhere, but got a reply that i could not cancel? And the next day it was dispatched & reached me 2 days after. Happy here !!

Bought this for sanding down walls, skirting and windowsills prior to painting. Proves to have been a good buy. The method of attachment of the sandpaper is brilliant, secure and firm. The unit catches most of the dust so needs emptying occasionally to keep the air flow through the dust bag. If I could suggest one thing to improve it, it would be to add just a few more inches of cable to it, but then that's just my observed use when sanding high walls.On a separate note, I had reason these last few days to contact Makita customer services on an unrelated subject. I wish more companies treated their customers as well as they acted towards my enquiry. They went beyond my expectations. Well done Makita. Top marks.

Product arrived on time and well packaged.My previous sander was a Bosch and came with a plastic carry case. This Makita comes in a cardboard box with one piece of hole punched paper, which is bit tight, and a hole punch.The sander operates fine and the alternative clamping of the paper compared to that of my old Bosch is very good.As with modern machines that create dust, this now comes supplied with a dust bag which on visual inspection is looking mediocre. Will know more when I start to use the machine in the coming weeks…months.Check back for an update later…I never fail to do so.The lack of a carry case was of no real concern as I modified the old Bosch branded case and now the Makita fits nicely within it. Just another form of recycling!The plastic hole punch plate supplied may never get used as I would always tend to purchase pre-punched paper.I used the sander on a door, first noticeable things is how much quieter this is to my older sander(s), I can have a short conversation over the noise this machine makes. And the second thing is how little vibration there is which made using it a pleasure.I also note the cable used for this unit is of the TRS type, toughened rubber sheath, which is much better in my opinion than PVC.I am very impressed with this sander.Really liking this unit, purchased 1/3 sander sheets from Toolstation and the combination is making it so easy.

Brilliant little sander that reminded me why corded tools are better for some applications.

Great dust bag . Great value . Good size

I bought this thinking it was was the variable speed version but decided to keep it in the end. I really, really love this machine been sanding everything with it. It feels very comfortable in hand, very tight and solid construction, low noise and low vibration. The dust collection works reasonably well considering it's just a cloth bag. It's very simple to empty and I actually prefer a zip opening than flimsy plastic containers latches.The clamps are tight and easy to operate.Overall a very simple, very effective machine. I would definitely recommend it! Just keep in mind this is the single speed version.