I recently bought a 1/2 sheet finishing sander made by Makita. Couldn't believe it didn't come with a punch to put the holes in the paper for the dust collection to work so I made a quick little jig to punch it. It's a nice sander I bought for large surfaces but has a quirk. It's useless at any of the low speeds and just jitters around the work piece. On the highest speed setting it runs smooth and works awesome. Guess the lower speeds must be used for things like buffing. It's very old school and slow but leaves a nice flat surface.
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This is a video about making the paper puncher
Makita BO4900V Finish Sander First Look And Building A Punch For The Sandpaper - YouTube (https://youtu.be/0FBRncB0noY)
I didn't know they made a half sheet sander. I've been woodworking for over 20 years and have never used anything but a random orbit sander. Do you prefer these sheet sanders to a ROS? I just bought a Bosch 6" sander that is serving me well for larger surfaces, like a floor or slabs.
I like those sheet sanders. There was a time when sheet sanders like that and belt sanders were the whole universe. ROS are great and very useful and a great addition to the choices. That Bosch especially seems superior at both fast stock removal when you really want that.
That being said, a sheet sander is much better as the last step if you want to achieve a truly flat surface. The hand is better at judging that than the eye. So my thought is have all the above.
For the best possible surface when I plan to have a high finish I use card scrapers though. Nothing beats scrapers for a great surface for high finish.
I have a little craftsman 1/4 sheet sander I've never used. I sort of inherited it from a buddy who passed away. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime. I used to use a card scraper, especially for removing glue from glue ups, but recently I broke out a stanley scraper plane and that is superior to the card scraper for removing glue. Plus, my thumbs don't get too hot.
I bought a Craftsman 1/2 sheet sander probably round 40 years ago. It has orbital and straight line action. Has a shroud which works pretty good for dust collection. Slow, slow, and slow but did a pretty good job. Mostly stays on the shelf.
I have found a good use for it. Some epoxy colors are bad for showing swirls from a ROS in a river table. The old Craftsman can clean it right up without having to go to the really high grits.
FFOTS, yes thumbs are an issue. There's a little fixture thing with a thumbscrew to adjust curvature and take thumbs out of the equation. I don't like it as good as thumbs, but arthritis changed my opinion on it.
The scraper planes are nice, but I've never been able to get the same results on a panel that I get with a card scraper. Sure works well on a glue line.
Try a scraper on a nice large scrap and compare it to a sanded one. The improvement in clarity over the sanded surface is significant. Of course not every thing deserves that, but on a formal tabletop like an end table or something and then a french polish finish it's worth the effort. Not really something you'd need on a kitchen table.
I bought this because of how slow it is with a more controlled cut and the larger pad should leave a flatter surface. I have 5 and 6 inch ro Sanders and a couple 1/4 sheet orbital Sanders. I find the ro Sanders aggressive and if using them on a large flat surface it looks flat after sanding but my straightedge shows it's not. The 1/4 sheet sanders are not large enough and just follow the surface so they really don't do any actual leveling. I like scrapers also and get beautiful results on woods like cherry, ash, and oaks but for some reason I have not had much luck with them on walnut. Could be I am not that consistent in sharpening them but the softer walnut just doesn't cut clean and shiny like cherry. I will soon find out if I made the right choice. I will be making a hard plywood pad that will be the full 11 inches for the sander if the flexibility of the velcro pad causes problems with flatness.