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AEG FS140 Palm Sander
Friday 03 September 2010
Derek Jones has to hand it to AEG for this power sander
This palm sander will take hook & loop as well as paper backed abrasive sheets, which seem to stay on board better if clipped in at the front first.
There is a lot of soft rubber on this machine which makes it comfortable to use and it seems able to withstand a certain amount of heavy-handed use. At 1.5kg it feels like a substantial piece of equipment before it is even running. The dust collector twists off so that the machine can be hooked up to an extractor and 3.7m of cable means the vacuum unit won't be right under your feet as you are working.
It arrived with a small selection of papers, 60, 80 and 120 grit, which were enough to form an initial opinion. The main body is smaller than its footprint so sanding can be done right up to a carcass side when working on an interior. I was particularly impressed with the FS140's ability to extract dust from the work surface without a vacuum.
The verdict
It comes in a natty little zip up case that wouldn't really offer much protection from a fall, but provides somewhere neat for papers etc. and for me that's a plus. An orbit of 1.6mm means this sander is ideally suited for finishing and, running it with 180 then 240 grit I can, without hesitation, confirm that it will deliver an excellent finish.
