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Air palm sanders, orbital sanders?


PeterAllen

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I'm staggering to the finish line with this project  and I'm about to prepare the panels for painting. Considering the amount of work involved I thought I might purchase an air sander but I'm a little confused about what I should buy. What is the difference, if any, between an orbital sander and a palm sander? Should I use a bag to catch the dust or attach it to a Handi-Vac I have for cleaning up the shed? Comments and recommendations appreciated.

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I got a ronded shape fits in my palm, spinning random orbit jobbie of ebay, its air driven, the tube outlet to catch dust in a bag is useless, the stock disc attachment is crap, i bought a 5" screw on Velcro disc wheel, cushioned, and a selection of common sized round varios grade white sanding discs. Supercheap has the common round discs, check which sizes they have a lot of, before you buy anything

It cost me about $50

 

Three cars later it is still going fine! Biggest job was a near metal strip on a 1966 Chevrolet Belair

 

Dont use it for fine finish sanding, wet n dry for that.

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palm sander is the best description as it fits nicely in your palm.

I bought as i used a ripper of one, both @ work and a mates at my workshop, Dynabrade.

its the 5.0mm orbit, used for finishing up, (well before pre paint) but by all means you will still need to hand block everything.

there is a 9-10mm orbit but this is for really hamering the panels, ie i dont and dont know anyone except a panel beater with one.

Carefull with the palm sander as some people tend to dig holes with them leaving massive lows......

use these to get through your grits, but a flat hand block is always req'd at some stage.

 

-board file grits 36-180/240

-palm sander from 240-400ish

-block wet sand from 600-1200 (depending on colour and finish as to what you stop at)

**These are what I and many around me use, but by all means is open to every individuals opinion, everyone does it differently!!!

 

Milwauke also do a nice unit, as does shinano, but the cheap jobbies off ebay will suffice im sure..

 

Make sure you get the velcro hook and loop as these discs are QUICK as to change,

dont stinge on using discs, get 3-5 mins flat out using one but if you hit steel for too long, change it.

best brands of discs i have used yet are without a doubt the green 'sunmight' brand, they also do wet'n'dry as they are plastic backed unlike most others being paper.

if you get a palm sander with vacuum extraction, you can just run a vac or dust ext machine and almost be dut free.

if you dont care, like most in the trade, just let it spew into the air....

if you use extraction the hard pad, velcro and sanding discs ALL need the same hole pattern

My suggestion is stay well away from Stick on backed discs, THESE SUCK, go the velcro hook'n'loop (furry backed discs)

 

But take it as you will, ive learnt the hard way, until i then got put on track by lots of different tradies i work with, (@ my workshop and @ wk)

Take the best bits of all the advice you get when it comes to paint n panel, its a whole nother world....

Nat0

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