The Black & Decker BDERO100 random orbit sander is lightweight, small and affordable sander which makes it very popular and widely used. There’s many people who own and use this on their projects with great success, but there’s also some drawbacks to consider before buying. Let’s take a closer look at this one.
Sanding Power & Motor
This orbit sander is a little smaller in size and it’s a little lighter on power than some more expensive options. It has a 2 amp motor that runs at a single speed of 12,000 OPM. This is a pretty good speed for a smaller sander like this and because of that it’s capable of doing a lot more than some might expect. This sander will work fine as a cheaper option for sanding anything from wood to plastic and metal. People use it for projects like refinishing furniture all the way to doing body work on cars.
There are people who have mentioned they can run this sander for a couple hours at a time with no overheating, which is a good sign for those that are looking at this for larger projects or longer workloads. On the flip side, some people have had issues with the motor burning out but that seems to be more of a quality control issue on specific units rather than a characteristic of this sander, which typically happens soon enough to be covered by the warranty.
Handheld Design
This sander only weighs 3.2 lbs out of the box. This sander is designed to be gripped on the vertical portion of the casing or the top portion with the rubberized grip. The grips are designed so you can apply downward pressure to the sander while in use. Even though this sander has a smaller size, people with smaller hands tend to find this sander a little harder to grip properly, making use feel a little awkward. The power switch is located on the front and while most people can use it just fine, once again smaller hands may have issues reaching the power switch easily during use. People with average or larger hands should haven’t any issue at all with gripping this sander.
Sanding Pad
This sander uses a standard 5 inch hook and loop pad which works well for most people. The hook and loop pads work well until they start to get full of sawdust, which will happen with this sander, so cleaning will be important to keep the pad in it’s best working condition. Changing sanding pads is super easy with this hook and loop design, which is a really nice benefit. People find it best to keep an extra pad on hand so that you don’t find yourself in a pinch when your first one wears out or loses it ability to hold sanding pads.
Dust Collection
Dust collection on this sander is it’s biggest weak point. There is a small dust collection container that comes with this sander, but it really doesn’t work all that well. It maybe collects half of the dust on a good day. Overall, this sander isn’t very good at keeping dust to a minimum.
The dust collection port is slightly smaller than a shop vac hose and isn’t a standard size for connecting to dust collection systems, so if you are going to try to hook this up to a dust collector you might need to fabricate a custom adapter. If dust collection is super important, you may want to consider looking at other orbit sanders that have ports that can connect to dust collectors more easily.
Build Quality
The build quality of this sander is good, but not the greatest. For it’s affordable price, it should be considered good. It uses plastic parts in a lot of places and some people experience motor issues on newer units, although these instances are more rare. The power switch has a dust protective design, which is good. People that get a good unit out of the box find that they can put this sander through the paces for a couple years before needing to be replaced, which is pretty good for a cheaper sander.
Included Accessories
This sander doesn’t include much for accessories. When you buy the base kit you will get the sander and the dust container.
- Sander
- Dust Bag
Setup & Assembly
This is a very easy to tool to setup and start using. You will be up and running very quickly after unboxing. Even though it’s super easy to setup and use, we recommend taking a quick read through the manual so you are aware of some of the finer details of setup and maintenance.
Warranty
Black & Decker offers a 2 year warranty on defective parts or workmanship. This is good enough to help you out if you have quality control issues in that first couple years of use.
Pros
- Random orbit action is good
- Lightweight and smaller in size
- Good value for the cost
Cons
- Dust collection isn’t great
- No variable speed, single speed only
- Hard to grip for smaller hands
Technical Specifications
2 A
12,000 OPM
5 inch hook and loop
6 in x 7 in x 5 in
3.2 lbs
Yes
6 Ft
The Verdict
The Black & Decker BDERO100 random orbit sander is an affordable tool with pretty good sanding capability. People with smaller hands might find it a little harder to maneuver but overall it’s lightweight and fairly easy to use. The random orbit action is good and gets smooth sanding results. Dust collection is pretty bad. Overall, if you need a cheap orbit sander this is worth taking a look at if dust collection isn’t a huge requirement.
