And while some designs are better than others, the clamps that hold the sandpaper in place are less convenient than the press-in-place options used for random-orbit sanders. Another drawback is that they don’t remove a lot of material. The main disadvantage is that sanding marks are typically more visible compared to a random-orbit sander. The performance and scratch pattern differ from brand to brand, so be sure to test the sanding pattern before assuming that yours won’t leave visible cross-grain scratching. Compared to sanding across the grain by hand or with a belt sander, they leave less obvious cross-grain marks, which means that it’s harder to ruin your work. Orbital sanders aren’t overly aggressive, so it’s hard to remove too much material. You can also use regular sandpaper cut to fit rather than purpose-made random-orbit sanding disks. The best feature of the orbital sander is its square shape, which allows it to get in corners and up against edges. (There are also half-sheet orbital sanders.) To create the sanding action, the sander’s foot vibrates rapidly in tiny circles, or orbits. As a result, these tools are often called quarter-sheet sanders. It generally has a square foot that accepts a quarter of a 9×11 sheet of sandpaper. The orbital sander is the older, simpler, and less expensive of these two tools. While it is random, the pattern created using 100-grit paper clearly shows that extra care is still needed when sanding across the grain. The telltale square foot of the orbital sander allows it to get in corners and up against edges. Read the article below or watch the video above to learn about the pros and cons for both square orbital sanders and round random-orbit sanders, and see which types of projects each sander is best for.

Understanding the big differences between these two small sanders will help ensure that you’ve got the right sander for the job at hand. When you’re ready to put the finishing touches on a wood project and are going the power-tool route, you’ll probably want to reach for an orbital sander-or is that a random-orbit sander? They’re different tools, and which one is right depends on what you’re looking to do. Having the wrong tool for the job only makes matters worse. Regardless of the task, sanding is usually the part of the process that most of us don’t really enjoy.

Orbit sander