What 2 consider when buying a sander?

[Choggy]

Firstly: Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Right - I'm going to need to do a whole lot of sanding in the near future (not least because the fencing on the 35 foot garden all needs sanding down and repainting, but the immediate need is to sand down the edge of some plastering which was done recently butting up to a dado that I've since decided to remove)

Thing is I've never used or bought a sander. I'm not looking to spend £££s because I'm not massively into DIY and after these jobs it'll probably sit in a cupboard for months or years before I need to use it again.

I've noticed that they all seem to take different sheet sizes, though... do I need to worry about this or can you get some sort of universal sheet that you can trim to size? (I guess this may seem a stupid question to those with experience, but I've never used a sander so I've no idea how the sheets attach).

Is there anything else I should consider when choosing the right sander for me?

Advice appreciated :D

[ultimatehandyman]

I'll move this to tool talk in a minute

A half sheet sander is obviously bigger than a 1/3 sheet sander and so you can cover a larger area in the same amount of time with the larger one.

Most sanders orbit and so they do not leave lines, apart from belt sanders, which are awesome at removing layers, but you can only use them in the direction of the grain of wood, or else they leave marks.

An half sheet sander is probably your best bet, you just missed out as screwfix had some for less than £5 a few weeks back. Now the cheapest half sheet on there is this one at £19.99

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 2&id=33059

For the sheets of paper you can either buy them the right size or just cut full sheets of glass paper/sand paper in half.

[dirtydeeds]

choggy

your fence, spend £2.50 on a wire brush to remove the loose paint

flat pad sanders are useless on fencing timber, the weather raises the grain on sawn timber and it WILL be warped

regarding your walls, the advice above is correct a flat pad sander is designed for walls and flat surfaces