Air Sanders

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:57 pm

Hey!

Just after some advise concerning air sanders.

I am planning on re-spraying my car myself first and see how it goes. I want to use an air powered sander to help me as I have the compressor and have used one before and been very impressed.

A year ago I built a pair of black high gloss speakers totaly from MDF! below is the speaker:
http://mymorrisminor.weebly.com/other-p ... eaker.html

To do this I went to a profesional spray factory and they taught me how to do it all and let me use all there equipment. The sander I used was a 'Palm Air Sander' which I absolutley fell in love with. I got such a good feel for the work and it seemed to come so naturaly.

Now its time for me to part with my cash to buy one for myself but am stuck on what to buy!

For around £20-£50 I can buy an air sander but it is not a palm one, as soon as I start looking at palm sanders the price rockets up to £100+!???

I have found several palm sanders on ebay for £30 but what are they going to be like?? has anyone had one in the past?? do you recomend one of these £30 jobbies?

Below is an example of one of the ones I am looking at, they are no different to the standard ones and so cant justify the huge increase in price?;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-RANDOM-ORBIT-AI ... dZViewItem

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:47 am

Also what are your views on this spray gun? is this a HVLP gun?

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/19972/Pow ... -Spray-Gun

Post by **alex_holden** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:17 pm

Is your compressor powerful enough to drive a sander continuously?

Post by **Stig** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:21 pm

Well, I don't know much about air tools but are you comparing a simple sander that just spins round with a DA (dual action) a.k.a. 'random orbital' sander? The DA sander gives a much smoother finish without the obvious score marks you can get with a simple spinning disc. Maybe a palm sander is another name for a DA sander.

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:37 pm

Hi alex. Yes my compressor is just powerful enough to power a sander continuously.

Stig, that is a good point! handnt noticed that fact. I deffinetly want the dual action sander and the one on ebay is but why is there such a price difference?

Do you think I will get the ebay one home and find out its rubbish?

Post by **8009STEVE** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:47 pm

Make sure it uses 6" sticky backed discs, not 5" velcro.

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:12 pm

8009STEVE wrote:Make sure it uses 6" sticky backed discs, not 5" velcro.

how come?

Post by **8009STEVE** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:17 pm

6" can be purchased from lots of different suppliers. They are standard in the trade.
5" are special, and will probably cost more.

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:23 pm

ah right! thanks for letting me know.

What do you recon to the quality of the ebay sanders? or do you think I should dish out the cash for a brand one?

Post by **8009STEVE** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:59 pm

Screwfix £30.00 ish. Brand new with a warrenty. Ebay might be second hand. Warrenty?
I know what my choice would be.

Post by **AndrewSkinner** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:35 am

yeah but the £30 screwfix one is not a palm sander. that is the one I want, it seems funy that the price shoots up to over £100 when you make it a palm sander, hence the interest in the ebay listings that are selling new ones for £35.

It seems there must be a catch and the only catch I can think of is the quality of the sanding?