333 Type 4 sander Porter Cable

[moehl]

Hook and loop pad wears out. Won't hold paper. This will be the third time I've had to replace. Thinking of switching to a "stick on" pad. Can the hook and loop pad be cleaned? Or should I junk it?

[UtahAV]

Hi moehl,

Hook & Loop pads offer the benefit of being able to quickly change sandpaper and being able to reuse sandpaper which offers quite a cost savings. The down side to H&L paper is that the pads do have a shorter service life than PSA (adhesive backed) pads. A H&L pad should last through several hundred pieces of sandpaper.

A H&L pad is covered with thousands of tiny plastic hooks that grip the sand paper. The most common reason for a H&L pad to wear out prematurely is applying downward pressure to the sanding pad while operating the sander. When downward pressure is applied it creates heat within the sanding pad. It doesn't take much heat to cause the tiny hooks on the pad to deform or melt off all together. Another side effect of downward pressure on a random orbital sander is the increase of swirl marks left on the work piece. When excessive pressure is applied the random function, the ability of the pad to rotate while oscillating, is greatly reduced or even stopped.

Best results with a random orbit sander will be achieved when the sander is held lightly, just enough force to control it and move it in the desired sanding pattern. Using the correct schedule of sandpaper will greatly reduce the amount of time needed to finish the sanding on your project. If your project has some very rough wood or if you need to level joints or patches start with a course paper such as a 40 or 60 grit. Once everything has been initially smoothed and leveled then work up through the grits to your desired final finish, never skipping more than one grit. Skipping more than one grit at a time will greatly increase the time and effort to remove the scratches from the previous grit. If you are applying a film finish to your project such as polyurethane or lacquer it won't be necessary to sand beyond 180 or 220 grit. In fact film finishes have a hard time adhering to very hard woods like maple or hickory if the surface has been sanded beyond 220 grit. For an oil finish you may want to sand to 400 or even 600 grit.

We offer both H&L and PSA pads for your Porter Cable 333 sander here at ereplacementparts.com.

The H&L pad is part #13904

The PSA pad is part #13901

I hope this helps with your sanding projects!

-UtahAV
-Mark