Customer Reviews

DEWALT D26441K 2.4-AMP Orbital 1/4-Sheet Sander with Cloth Dust Bag

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have used a DeWalt palm sander for many years. When my other one was getting too old, I purchased this model from another store. It does emit a screeching noise as stated in some other reviews. However, the one thing that really bothers me is that the base is too large to actually use a 1/4 sheet of sandpaper. I did not have this issue with my other DeWalt palm sander. I contacted DeWalt, and they did not respond. The only reason I purchased the DeWalt was that I was familiar with how it worked. There are other sanders that have been reviewed more favorably. I will be going elsewhere for my sander needs in the future.

its a good sturdy sander but when it is first turned on it emits a loud screeching sound and ear plugs are a good idea

There was a time when these were the best on the market. They seemed to have changed the feet material that the base plate is attached to since production moved south. Now, they tend to break and spin the plate, causing us to have to scrap them. I believe that calling them heavy duty is quite a stretch.

I spent considerable time reading others' reviews of sanders here on Amazon.com. I decided that this one was probably the right choice for the field guys in my business. We were starting on a major (substantial size) Kitchen counter resurfacing. We resurface laminate, Corian and other types of countertops with a concrete-based product that ultimately looks like Granite (at much less cost). We really needed to keep dust in this home to the very lowest possible - which is why I was reading only about sanders that feature dust collection.

This project should have had TONS of dust EVERYWHERE! Working this DeWALT to its limits, we couldn't believe it - there was virtually NO (airborne) dust all!! It was extremely impressive. This tool is powerful, effective, comfortable to use, and amazingly effective at "capturing" most of the dust it generates.

Five Stars! We're now intending to get two more of these to increase the productivity (total speed of completion) of other field staff that would usually be focused elsewhere.

DeWalt D26441K Heavy-Duty 2.4 Amp Orbital 1/4 Sheet Sander with Cloth Dust Bag

This is the best 1/4" sheet sander I have ever worked with. I am a highschool cabinet making teacher and have tried various brands in my shop. My students use these sanders harder than anyone would use them for their own work, and they hold up great. ! have five of these in my shop and when I needed to replace the one I use at home for myself I ordered this one.

I am a painting contractor employing 6-9 men and this is my favorite sander. I found the Makita far too buzzy, they make your hand numb after about half-an-hour. the Porter-Cable Speedbloc 330 is a nice solid machine, but for twice the price I didn't get any more hours out of them than the DeWalt, and the clips for the sandpaper are awkward.
I was previously using the DeWalt D411 and the D26441k is a better sander for a couple of good reasons: The grip is more comfortable in your hand; There is a vacuum attachment that works very well.
The performance is very good and these sanders will go all day long for days on end without a hiccup, even without any kind of maintenance. I started buying these about a year ago and none of the 5 I bought have had any problems. I buy replacement pads from [...] for about $16 and replace them when the corners get down to bare metal.
I have not had any "screeching" sanders.
The dust collector that is included is about as worthless as every other manufacturers dust collector, so I don't see a reason to demote the DeWalt.
Not all shop vacuums have the same diameter hose-end, but ShopVac brand 1 1/4" hose fits this perfectly. Also, if you search, you can find a universal adapter for hose-ends. Again, customer service not withstanding, I don't hold this against DeWalt
Problems that I had on the D411's were the feet that attach the plate to the motor were prone to break and the wiring from the switch to the motor (or maybe the switch itself)would go bad. They were also very hard to service if you wanted to split them and replace parts. Again, I haven't had any problems over the past year with the D26441k's that I bought.

Dewalt's supposed to have a good reputation. I have their biscuit cutter & it is pretty accurate. But this sander needs help.

I guess you can't buy this sander without the dust collection. I removed it. I don't use punched paper because it tears on corners & edges. (but of course, the pad still has holes in it.) & speaking of pads: it's real thin. Not nearly the heft or quality of my old Porter Cable which died after about 25 years.

In using the sander, I found it didn't sand nearly as quickly or thoroughly as the PC. Then I found out why! the cheap plastic base is warped! so on a flat surface only two corners are even touching the surface. I think the warp is caused by the heavy clips that hold plain sandpaper to the pad.

My warrantee is long gone, so I guess I'll look into replacing the base with something substantial. If I break something I won't really be losing much.

I bought this for my wife to use on her restoration projects. She's only used it a couple time so far, but she really likes it. The dust collection function is awesome. It picked up 80% of the paint dust from her recent project. Additionally, even more important is the fact that the unit doesn't vibrate nearly as much as the Black and Decker she was using, which allows her to work for longer periods of time. We recommend spending the extra couple bucks. You can't go wrong with DeWalt!! Update***May 13, 2011...This sander still runs like new. It's been used pretty hard in the three years since purchase and we used it extensively on a recent chicken coop building project. Well worth a couple extra bucks for DeWalt quality and durability.

I am stripping my tongue and groove wood home down to the wood. I use this in combination with my Makita Variable Sander. Even though it was not variable I liked the palm sander because of the square sides for getting into edges, and this model is pretty powerful.

Unfortunately I heard a weird noise like a part of something was loose inside and then the motor jammed. I opened it up and a plastic part had broken off and was stuck in the spinning mechanism. The piece came from what is called the platen which has kind of plastic ring lip. This lip was half broken off. I found the part online for $6.71 but shipping is $8.00...so $15 to fix it when I can get new one for $49 and who knows if it will break again.

I will probably fix it but this is informational for anyone considering purchasing this sander. If they would have just made that part out of metal I would not be writing this. I actually ordered a Bosch palm sander from this site to replace my Dewalt because I am a little pissed about the shipping costs and have not ordered it yet. Thats the problem these days. The cost to repair something simple is 20% the price of just getting a new one.

But that what happens when a tool breaks right? I was thinking of getting a Dewalt Circular saw, but now..I will get another brand. One broken tool will do that to you.

Update 9/18/2010
Found the platen part locally. Putting it in very easy 4 screws. Works like new again. So hopefully that issue was just a fluke..maybe i was pressing to hard or something...so it was a minor issue it turns out at this point because it was easy to repair.

I have owned other 1/4 pad sanders but I like this one more than the others. The Dewalt has a powerful motor that gets the job done quicker. Nice tool. I've read other reviews about the clamp system but I find it easy to work with. Changing paper is no problem, and the clamps are secure. Decent dust collection too.