[5dogsisenuff]

Im looking to get a orbital sander, now I dont wanna kill my compressor, so I was thinking about a electric one, I found this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...386849252&rd=1
would I be able to sand properly with this, Im not looking to sand bondo or anything , just wanna take the clear off and such, any advice would be great

chris

[milo]

Interesting subject, the pad on that one says it's 5 inches and the most common automotive type paper is 6 inches. I would say look into where to get paper for it first. Electric powered sanders would have their own advantages since they wouldn't kick out oil and contamited water like the air driven da..
Many fisheyes can be blamed on a air driven sander...

[baddbob]

One thing nice about air powered DA's is that they are variable speed, I've never seen an electric sander that has a variable trigger-usually just on and off.

[kenseth17]

I prefer air for that. The da's they make for wetsanding are nice. Had one at a place I worked and it really saved time and muscle when wetsanding before buffing. Only thing that wasn't fun was getting wet feet all the time. I haven't bought one though. Now a lot of people dry sand before buffing, but something just don't seem right about that. Funny they don't make electric variable speed. My milwaukee buffer is and thats electric.

[pmeisel]

5dog, I was in Home Depot yesterday and they have some selection in air and electric. I have also bought a couple air DA's at NAPA with good results.

I do a lot of boat sanding -- a 33' foot sailboat with bottom paint problems gets you a lot of practice. I started with electric and its ok for small jobs but I mostly use air now. Occasionally I'll use the big 7" electric for hogging off a lot of material that will be filled and resanded.

There are some nice 6" air orbitals with a vacuum attachment, that would be the cadillac way to go....

[Bee4Me]

I understand why you want to go ele. vs air and the ele. will do a good job for the most part.BUT, you need to get a high quality model as the "usuall" $49.95 job's will not take the abuse of long term use. I prefer one that use's PSA paper than the Velcro as that velcro paper will cost you a small fortune compaired to a box load of PSA.
One other thing nice about the air DA is that you can change to different type pads with the twist of a wrench.5",6",PSA,Velcro,ect. Most ele. one's are a real pain to switch IF it's even possiable with the one you get.

[302 Z28]

Take a serious look at the Porter Cable orbital sander/polisher it is variable speed and is made in the USA. It is what all the car detail freaks use for compounding abd polishing. It does not have the brute strength of a traditional sander/polisher, but it is not as easy to burn your clear coat with it either.

Vince

[staircasesurfer]

i dont have a large compressor, so i bought the porter cable electeric sander/polisher, it was arround $125 at lowes, ive sanded my whole car to bare metal with it, it works great, variable speed helps, you get a 5 inch sanding pad and a 6 inch polishing pad, it has alot of power, and ive never have any problems with it.

its also realy easy to change pad sizes, and its adhesive backed for psa type paper

# 3.7 Amp Motor AC only
# Electronic variable speed dial
# 2500-6000 opm.
# Will replace an air DA sander and is very effective for sanding cars, boats, or other sanding projects without the need for a compressor.
# Random, swirl free action
# Spiral / bevel gears
# 100% ball bearings
# Includes 6" polishing pad and a 6" DA pad

[PaintTech Instructor]

here is what you would like http://www.dynabrade.com/cgi-bin/Auto/10326 this company has all and is the finest operating sanders in the buisness take my word !!!

[beemdubya]

hey painttech... now were talking.. i agree with you on this one.

[adb2f]

staircasesurfer, that Porter Cable sounds sweet. Does it offer continuous RPM under load? I am trying to sand my car down to metal. Did you use this to strip the underside of your car as well with all the braces and stuff?

[jcclark]

Well PaintTech, that is a sander that I would like to have too, but as most
of us on here my compressor would never handle it.
16 CFM is a lot. I hope to get a new compressor just for that reason.

The electric random orbital sanders that are found low priced at
Sears and Home Depot are great for woodworking, I use them in my
shop daily. But theese are Palm Sanders as opposed to right angle
random orbital sanders. The palm sanders orbit very fast and spin very
slowly-this is great for woodworking, Slow removal but fine finish.
The right angle ones like the Porter Cable talked
about previously orbit slowly but spin much faster.
This gives faster removal but more scratches in wood, not as much for cars.
I use both of these in my cabinet shop depending on what I want to do.
The PC right angle works a lot better on cars because of its faster rpm.
If you buy one for sanding cars compare the rpm's along with the amps.
The right angle sanders cost a lot more but they are much more durable.
I've gone through several palm sanders but my PC right angle is still
going after 10 yrs of abuse. It also buffs exceptionally well with the
small 5" foam pads. It's variable speed but I always use the highest one.
Porter Cable has velcrow and sticky type pads for it and there's a lot
of accessories for it on the market. 5" pads and sandpaper is easy to find.

[staircasesurfer]

adb2f the sander is pretty strong it seems to keep the same rpm even if you push very hard on it (lots of torque due to electric motor) it would be hard to do the underside of your car because the actual unit is large, and it's somewhat heavy when your upsidedown

when i stripped my car to bare metal, i used a chemical stripper (aircraft remover) and then sanded the remaining black primer stuff that the stripper didnt take off. however i stripped my fenders by just sanding ( i think i used 36-40 grit followed by 80) it worked fine, was less messy but took longer because i had many coats of laquer paint on my car, and man is that stuff hard. if you only have 1-2 paint jobs on your car it is very resonable to just sand off the finish

plus when your done with sanding you can buff out chrome and your paint after you get that well deserved paint job

[bluebu]

The Porter Cable is what hubby bought me the other week when my compressor died. I've been using it exclusively on that fiberglass and, so far, I've been pleased with it.

[n66ht]

There's nothing like a Dynabrade no. 21055 that 3/32 dia. orbit fine grade minimizes those pesky pig tail swirls. If you have to go electric like I do just about every day for the last two years I've been using a variable speed De Walt DA sander. Its a 5'' Velcro type and you can find paper at Home Depot or any hardware store that sells the sanders.