[Lizer]

because a grinding disc on an angle grinder is meant to grind. When you are removing paint you are not grinding, you are sanding...you only want to remove paint, not the metal. A flap disc on an angle grinder removes metal and fast. I use an 80 grit flap disc on an angle grinder for grinding down welds only. Do not use this to remove paint.

I have a 60 gallon air compressor with a 3.7 hp motor and it still has to work to keep up with my DA. Prob a mix between a cheap DA and using the wrong DA for the job, but 80 grit on a DA gets me nowhere quickly. Now I'm giving this to you from an at-home DIY approach. Professional body shop guys have good air compressors and good DA's. My preferred tool for stripping paint is a wire wheel or cup on a 4.5" angle grinder. The benefits are it removes paint, primer, rust, and filler faster than any method I've seen. But it covers a much smaller area than a good DA so it may be a wash. It can also get tiring on the hands from the weight and constant vibration, not to mention it throws the wires at you from the cup and they get stuck in your close.

It's still the most used tool in my arsenal for paint and rust removal. I also have an electric orbit sander, pneumatic DA, 80 grit sandpaper sheets and blocks, and a panel spot blaster, and I employ use of all of these for paint and rust removal.

[eksessiv]

Originally Posted by Lizer

because a grinding disc on an angle grinder is meant to grind. When you are removing paint you are not grinding, you are sanding...you only want to remove paint, not the metal. A flap disc on an angle grinder removes metal and fast. I use an 80 grit flap disc on an angle grinder for grinding down welds only. Do not use this to remove paint.

I have a 60 gallon air compressor with a 3.7 hp motor and it still has to work to keep up with my DA. Prob a mix between a cheap DA and using the wrong DA for the job, but 80 grit on a DA gets me nowhere quickly. Now I'm giving this to you from an at-home DIY approach. Professional body shop guys have good air compressors and good DA's. My preferred tool for stripping paint is a wire wheel or cup on a 4.5" angle grinder. The benefits are it removes paint, primer, rust, and filler faster than any method I've seen. But it covers a much smaller area than a good DA so it may be a wash. It can also get tiring on the hands from the weight and constant vibration, not to mention it throws the wires at you from the cup and they get stuck in your close.

It's still the most used tool in my arsenal for paint and rust removal. I also have an electric orbit sander, pneumatic DA, 80 grit sandpaper sheets and blocks, and a panel spot blaster, and I employ use of all of these for paint and rust removal.

Thanks for that info. I have a 33 gallon 6hp compressor, but I think I have a crap DA after reading. I have never spent a whole lot on compressor tools, but I might try it. I have started using a wire wheel I recently bought for hard to reach areas, and it has worked wonders.

[Lizer]

Since you mentioned '33 gallon' and '6 hp' in the same sentence, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you have a laughably inflated HP rating and a single stage, 110VAC air compressor? If this assumption is right, that's nothing other than a misleading peak, startup HP rating as it is physically impossible for 110 voltage to make that kind of sustained power, even if your compressor motor was 100% efficient (all these companies got in big trouble some time ago for misleading horsepower ratings on their compressors). My 220V 2-stage compressor is only 3.7 hp.

Where I'm going with that is your compressor has low air storage capacity (only 33 gallons) and low capacity for producing more air to replace that which has been consumed (if my assumptions are correct).

I only say this because it'd be unfortunate for you to go out and buy an expensive DA that still doesn't end up working well for you because you just don't have a compressor with the cahones that a continuously running DA needs.

[eksessiv]

Yea, that's exactly how it reads. A friend of mine has a nicer and larger one that fills up faster than mine with two people working off of it. I recently was told to use Aircraft Stripper to get it down to the metal. I was kind of weary of it at first, but I am completely sold on it after the results I received last night. I'll have the rest of my car stripped down in no time.

What exactly should I be looking for when shopping for a new compressor?