An unusually designed sander, the DeWALT DW433 is a heavy beast, with a large cast-alloy body and a low-slung motor and three rollers. Three rollers? Yes, you read that right. The DeWALT has a large rubber covered drive roller and a pair of small-diameter rollers in the front, one above the other. This arrangement allows the DW433 to sand very close to front vertical obstructions. It also creates enough space between the rollers to mount the motor inside the belt loop, which keeps the tool’s center of gravity very low.
The DeWalt sander’s body might be a bit heavy, but an advantage is an easy-to-use dust control system, that hooks up to a bag or your shop’s vacuum.
Dust collection is well implemented on the DeWALT, which uses a large fabric covered dust canister instead of the usual bag. Further, there’s a unique “On/Off” control, allowing you to use the sander sans dust canister, without spraying dust everywhere. On the flip side, it’s not that easy to attach and detach the canister from the sander, and the clip that secures it is located so close to the rear handle that it dug into my thumb occasionally.
The unique shape of the DeWalt DW433 sander gives it an advantage sanding around walls and dividers.
The DeWALT felt generally unflappable, even when I leaned on it hard while flattening a rough glued-up panel. The belt tracking knob felt a little spongy, but once the belt was adjusted, it tended to track stably. Although this sander’s low center of gravity made it feel rock solid on wide panels, its substantial weight made it less nimble when sanding face frames or vertical panels.
