Makita Sheet Finishing Sander, 1/3 In, 1.7 A, Teal (BO3710)

I have used this type sander for years but never have I used one for auto body repair. Do to several reasons I use them strictly on wood. This one however ocellated in such a fashion that it can be used for auto body and is surprising smooth. This one earned its 2 thumbs 👍🏻

The BO3710 lives up to Makita’s great reputation IMHO. It does a great job flush sanding on all 4 sides. It feels smooth in your hand yet the base vibrates powerfully using 60, 150, and 220 grit sandpaper. You can bog it down a little but you’ll go through sandpaper faster. It blows a considerable plum of dust out of its exhaust, no less than 5 feet, without punched sandpaper or having the dust bag attached. You can see that it removes material well and the rubber faced aluminum base leaves a perfectly flat surface. It runs quiet until you put it on your project, then you hear the power this sander has. I use good hearing protection as it’s too loud to talk over while in use. It seems very durable, well-built and feels solid. I completely shape and finish sanded 30 cabinets with doors and more than a dozen shelves. I worked this sander for six 12 hour days almost continuously. I dropped it from 9 feet onto a concrete floor once and watched it bounce 3 times. I also knocked it off my 42” work bench at least 3 times. It bounces well and turns itself off with abuse like that yet I can’t even see a scuff, still looks and works like new. I killed a Craftsman 1/3 sheet sander on this project, no comparison whatsoever. The power switch is big and easy to hold in the on position while alternating sanding positions using 2 hands. The round switch lock is kind of awkward to activate but easily releases with the slightest bump to the power switch, a good thing. The spring assisted sandpaper holder works great. It opens wide and locks securely in the closed position. It holds the paper exactly where you put it. It does not stretch the paper when you clamp it down so it’s up to you to put it on correctly. I think this is the best mechanism if you use the quality sticky back sheets as they don’t stretch anyway. I never used the punch plate for its intended purpose. I think it drastically shortens the life of the sand paper. I use it to protect the rubber base while storing it in my tool box. I wish Makita would offer a case for this sander, it deserves one. I also use the punch plate as a template for folding and ripping the sand paper sheets into thirds, its single best purpose. This one, however, came made out of plastic, WHY. My vintage 1980 Makita BO4550 ¼ sheet sander came with a metal punch plate. I hope this new BO3710 lasts as many years as my BO4550.

Great

For about 20 years I used a cheap Black and Decker sander that was the same style as this one minus the dust bag. It worked great, but was horribly loud.This Makita version is significantly more pricey, but it's so quiet I haven't even had to use ear plugs. Noise really bugs me so this was a top selling point for me.If you're sanding larger pieces of wood then the dust bag system will work great. If you are sanding smaller pieces then the dust will still fly all over. So kind of a good feature, but not always useful.The most surprising thing was how incredibly SMOOTH this got the wood. My old one never came close to this level of quality finish.This is my first Makita power tool, but it won't be my last. My dad always told me Makita was the best, now I see he was right.

I have always been a fan of Makita products and this sander lives up to my expectations!

My B&D sander which was 30+ years old finally died. I only use a sander sporadically for special projects like finishing raw wood furniture or craft work. I tried my new Makita for the first time today by finishing 2 maple walking sticks that I crafted from a portion of a maple tree that I had to cut down. I use pre-cut 3M sand paper. To get the most out of this sander I needed to punch 8 holes in the sandpaper, the holes allow the fine saw dust to pass thru to the dust bag. It takes about 2 seconds to punch perfect holes as Makita supplies a plastic press to handle the job. The bag does a good job of trapping some of the dust that comes thru the punch holes so that the dust doesn't accumulate on the sandpaper during use. This improves the efficiency of the sander to get the smoothest finish on the raw wood. This Makita is noticeably quieter than my old B&D. I didn't need ear protection but I do wear a dust mask and glasses to keep the very fine sawdust out of my eyes. This sander did a great job sanding my hardwood walking sticks. I cycled thru coarse, medium and fine grit paper after I prepped the word with a little planning and hand sanding with coarse. It has a button to lock the sander in the On position which I found very helpful. I highly recommend it. I suggest that you vacuum the bag & the sander after your work with a shop vac.

Nice quiet sander. I use for felting.

Excellent product so far, have not used enough for longevity rating, but I just bought a crafstman 1/3 sheet sander, and its night and day. The Craftsman I call the beast, its louder than the shop vac, and vibration dampening, hmm not sure if it even has any. This Makita on the other hand, has excellent paper retention clips, love how it works, best I've used so far, the thing is super quiet, you do not need hearing protection, though still recommend for long periods of sanding. the dust port is small. I used some wax paper card board rolls pieces to fatten it up to mate to the end I use for my router, saw, and other tools. This does not have hook backing on the pad, I had read somewhere it did, but that's not a problem, I found a product here on amazon that works great, if you have paper with loop backing and want to use it. see pics. the product I used is : "BRAVESHINE Sticky Back Hook Loop Tape - 4x8 Inch Self Adhesive Mounting Squares [Industrial Strength]- Double Sized Wall Fastener Tape Picture Frame Hanging Strips for Indoor or Outdoor Use - 4 Pack" the sandpaper is the Wen stuff sold here on amazon. Excellent adhesive on this, not sure how well the hook side will hold up, but the time saved switching grits makes it worth it.