ALEKO 690E Electric Variable Speed Drywall Sander with Telescopic Handle 600 Watts

This has been a massive time-saver for me. I did not purchase it for drywall work, instead I was looking for something to help speed up the process of removing the peeling paint on my house's siding for re-painting. I paired this with some very, very course sandpaper (16 and 24 grit) that I glued to some felt from the craft store to make custom sanding disks to fit this, and it has worked amazingly well. It efficiently strips the loose paint left over after power-washing, and leaves a good surface for the primer to adhere to. With a slight modification (using only a screwdriver) the extending handle and the keyed tack it sits in can be removed, and similarly sized electrical conduit is a perfect fit and can be used in it's place - effectively extending the reach to over 10 feet, great for high exterior walls. It worked so well for the outside of my house, that I used the same type of custom course sanding disks when refinishing my old deck. The neck on this sander can bend around 90 degrees or so, which allows it to be comfortably used as a cheap floor sander while standing up and pushing it around. With this sander paired with the power-washer, I was able to convert an old deck with uneven boards that looked like it would need to be replaced to a almost-new looking finish with a smooth and even surface. While a proper floor-sander would have been faster, this was cheaper, easy and reasonably fast for my small deck, and far easier on the back than crawling around with a belt sander or something similar. I haven't used it for drywall yet, or bothered with the vacuum attachment (since I was working outdoors anyway) but I am sure it will work fine when I do. As others mentioned, it is fairly top-heavy with the weighty motor near the end, and can be exhausting after a long period of use (especially when attached to 10 feet of conduit), but I could use the workout anyway, so I can't really complain!

I wanted to repaint my son's bedroom, but also wanted to get rid of that dang sand that the builders sprayed on the walls to help hide any imperfections. Those bumps interfered with him wanting a few clings for the walls from various movies. So I saw this, and thought it worth a try for this price. The flex shaft to drive the sander was seriously greased, so be careful. So much that even the cardboard was discolored from grease being absorbed. It assembled easily enough (instructions are kind of poor, bad photos and such but not needed at all for assembly, it's self evident what has to go where). The rubber cover for the flex shaft's insertion point to the motor really stinks - it ripped while trying to get it over the mounting point. Really thin, poor rubber. The vacuum tube that connects to the end of the handle is a real pain to get in there as well, and once it's in, I'm not going to try to take it out. The "adapter" they give to connect to a shop vac is a joke, unless you have a miniature shop vac. I ended up doing like so many others, and using duct tape. I bent a bunch of pieces over the end of my shop vac's wand, to make the opening thinner, then this would shove in there just fine without "falling in" like it wanted to otherwise. Then I duct taped it to keep it from pulling out. All that being said - this is amazing for how much difference it makes for the dust. No dust coming off the unit's head, no dust coming out of my vacuum with a dust bag in it. So far I've done one large wall and several smaller walls with annoying angles for closets and such, and other than the edges of things (corners of walls, right up against molding, etc) it does well. Since I think most people are going to be using this *BEFORE* any moldings and such are in place, that's not going to be an issue for them. I have simply used a small powered detail finish sander for those spots, and it's amazing how much dust THAT little thing generates just doing a small couple inch wide swath. So clearly this vacuum system is doing a serious job of keeping that dust off of everything. It gets a bit awkward for the upper body muscles after a while - I just take a break, or do some of that fine work with the hand sander above the bottom moldings while the muscles I rarely use to hold things over my head relax for a bit, then go back at it. Noise levels are minimal, I didn't even bother with ear protection since even the shop vac is louder than this. Switch is easy enough to hit under the rubber seal, and the rotating speed knob is also easy to reach and if you are using that spot for a hand hold, then it's right there. I found it was easiest to use one hand by the speed switch, and the other hand to actually hold the curved metal that holds the end to the motor, and use that bar as the second handle. Gave me good leverage on everything. I took a star off since the rubber cover for the flex shaft mount was so poor, and the flex shaft and corrugated hose at the end connecting to the disc are stiff enough to make this not as flexible at the end as I'd like, so it kind of forces you to keep it at more of a flat angle to the wall, you can't pull it away as easy, so using this on a ceiling would likely damage the ceiling since the pressure would be insane on just the top edge of that disc due to the force of the flex shaft and vacuum line not giving much. That would dig some divots into the ceiling. But I'm not planning on using it on the ceiling here, so at least it won't impact me.

When I do drywall repairs, I have been borrowing a friend's Porter Cable drywall sander for the past few years. The Porter Cable drywall sanders are outstanding tools, that don't fit my budget. I decided to purchase this model, since it costs about what it costs to rent a PC sander twice. The adjustable handle on this tool is wonderful--the ability to adjust the length of the handle comes in handy when you are sanding in a tight area. The assembly was easy--I was impressed that they provide a set of replacement brushes. I liked how the short vac hose connects to the sander head--better than the PC sander. I believe this tool will withstand the typical rough handling on most job sites. This unit does not provide the velcro strips that come on the Porter Cable drywall sander; they allow you to attach the cord to the vac hose every 3' - 4'; they prevent the cord from becoming tangled during use. I made my own straps using velcro from a fabric store. I see that ALEKO's more expensive model comes with a plastic case. I wish they offered a plastic case that could be purchased separately. The vac hose that connects to my vacuum is an odd size; I made an adapter to connect it to the end of the hose attached to my vacuum. It is nice to have the extra length of the hose that attaches to my vacuum. It performed very well. It operates as well as the PC sander, but it is heavier. This is not a problem, since I usually only do smaller drywall repairs. However, it would wear out my shoulders if I needed to sand a large ceiling. It worked very well for walls. Overall, considering it is far less expensive than a Porter Cable drywall sander, I highly recommend this tool.

Pros: 1) Will work great on walls (while it is still functional). 2) Easy, straight forward assembly. I think most people could assemble it within 5 minutes or so without the help of an instructional manual. Cons: 1) Not durable. The sander I received only sanded less than 800 square feet of ceiling before it died. We took our time and didn't use it hard at all. The motor never got hot and it was only "lukewarm" at the very most but it still managed to die on us within 5 hours after it was first powered on. We started with 120 grit sanding disc and switched to 100 grit sanding disc for faster sanding. By the time the sander died, both sanding discs are still usable. I have never seen or heard any sander died before it could go through ONE single sanding disc. Imagine that! 2) The unit is front heavy. This will not be a problem if you only intend to use it on walls. However, you will definitely feel the weight if you use it on ceilings. This sander is only about 2 pounds heavier than the Porter Cable sander. But the actual felt weight will be A LOT heavier when you use it on the ceiling due to its front heavy design. To give you a better idea on the difference of the actual felt weight - Imagine that you are holding a hammer by the face and claw (or the metal part) and pointing the end of handle at an object vs holding a hammer by the end of the grip and pointing the metal part at something. Very noticeable difference. 3) The sander can dig into drywall and shoot dust from the side if you didn't hold it properly. The tilting angle of the sanding disc is less than the Porter Cable sander. If the sanding disc was allowed to contact the drywall at a slight angle, it will shoot dust from the side and dig into the drywall. The problem could be easily avoided about 98% of the time after some getting used to.

So here is the deal. 1. When I first got the unit and put it together instructions were kind of hard to understand but since I have a mechanical background was able to figure it out. 2. Once I had the sander put together, I plugged it in to use. It turned on for 10 seconds and died. After doing some troubleshooting and pulling out my ohm meter I found that the electrical cord itself was bad. Upon further investigation I found that all the wiring internally in the unit was also pinched and bent. 3. I replaced all the wiring in the unit including wiring into the motor itself. I had to upgrade the wiring size. It had like 20 gauge wiring in it so now it has 12 gauge. After getting it all back together it worked again. 4. The reason why I gave this unit 3 star instead of 1 was because when I finally used this thing I was throughly impressed. I got this because I am redoing my entire house. It made the job so much easier. Only took one sanding disc to do half of a room. 5. The unit is a little end heavy so be prepared. It also doesn't get all the dust but it does get about 75% of it. Whether that is because I am using an industrial style shop-vac or not I don't know. The product is exactly what it is. I had issues with it but once those were fixed, It worked great. I would recommend this product as long as you are prepared to fix any issues that arise.

I was thinking "I got what I paid for" when I opened the package. It's a low cost tool. No doubt. Reminds me a tool from that national discount tool store, you know the one. Despite the lower quality fit and finish, it's well worth the price compared to a couple days of rental or a $500 "professional" tool. It sands great. Here's some things I learned to deal with on this cheapo tool: 1. Use 150 grit or finer sandpaper and run the tool at full speed. Half speed or slower and the motor bogs down and stalls. 2. Like others, the perimeter brush arrived smashed. Aleko was great in providing a replacement. But it stinks. The bristles are too firm and too long. You have to push really hard to get the brush to deform for the sanding pad to make contact with the wall. Once one side of the brush deforms then the sanding pad digs in and gouges the wall or ceiling. I removed the brush and went Red Green on it with duct tape. Simply wrapped a strip around the sanding head to be about 1/4" past the disk surface. Works great. 3. The tool DOES NOT shock you. It's the static electricity that is generated pulling dry drywall dust through a plastic vacuum hose at Mach 2. If you've sanded with a manual vacuum attachment, you've been shocked just like this tool. Best thing to do is keep one finger on the aluminum extension shaft to ground yourself out. Static charge will be dissipated to the tool ground. It's a CE certified tool...it's not the tool that's shocking you! 4. The tool really does not like to be used with the sanding pad and any angle other than perfectly parallel to the tool body, just like the picture shows. Once you put a slight angle to it, it dances and shutters. To do a 9' ceiling, I had to work from a step stool to keep the tool body as close as possible to parallel to the ceiling. I used it for 5 days now. Paid for itself twice compared to daily rental of $50/day in my area.

I don't know how this machine will stand up for a long haul, we bought it because we had a completely botched sheet rock and mudding job in our bathroom. We knew it was going to be rough, especially the ceiling. When you hook it to your shop vac and away you go, its easy to get the hang of, sands like a shark, works like a dream. In 5 minutes you can do two hours work. I am not exaggerating. Get a the special fine particle filter for your vac and its almost dust free too. Its a little noisy but not as bad as I was expecting. The only drawback is the weight, my wife and I are getting older, and my arms I found don't have the strength the had once. However even with frequent breaks the job goes fast. You won't regret buying this. But keep in mind if you want to use it professionally, over the long haul I just can't help. It came with brushes to rebuild the motor if needed I guess and that worried me but at the same time I figured well at least they were good enough to include them. Also not much for instructions, and not much info available anywhere on these machines. It may be something recent that these have come into the sheet rocking world, but that world must love them, being that is one of the jobs I have long thought the toughest, dirtiest, time consuming job I could imagine. But this and relax.

this product works well on walls. but do not try it on a ceiling: it is too heavy and very awkward to hold, it is unbalanced, and the head is too inflexible for ceiling work. It will will gouge the mud if trying to sand on a ceiling and throw dust out the side to where the vacuum attachment is rendered useless..you get MORE dust if you use this than if you sanded ceiling by hand or with a manual pole sander! I've had the product for a couple of years and have given up trying to use it on a ceiling. I do use it on walls but it's the ceiling work that I find to be the hardest and most tedious. This product is horrible for ceilings.

Excelente es el segundo que compro

Pedí la máquina y no funcionó la tuve que regresar

Very heavy and did not suck up the dust as advertised!

I purchased this sander to work on my garage. I am not happy with it. I ended up sanding with a hand sander connected to a shop vac to mitigate the dust. I found this equipment too heavy, and I am not feeble by any stretch of the imagination, and also unhappy that it left swirl marks on the wall. I tried the different speeds but got frustrated and went back to hand sanding, which gave me way better results than this equipment. If I could return, I would, but I have to try and offload it, perhaps to someone who knows how to handle it better than me.

Works well. Word of advice, just let sander do work (don't press hard on sanding). Great tool with very little mess. Gets about 95% of the dust witha clean vacuum filter