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Air Sanders

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:57 pm
by AndrewSkinner
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

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:47 am
by AndrewSkinner
Also what are your views on this spray gun? is this a HVLP gun?

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

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:17 pm
by alex_holden
Is your compressor powerful enough to drive a sander continuously?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:21 pm
by Stig
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.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:37 pm
by AndrewSkinner
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?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:47 pm
by 8009STEVE
Make sure it uses 6" sticky backed discs, not 5" velcro.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:12 pm
by AndrewSkinner
8009STEVE wrote:Make sure it uses 6" sticky backed discs, not 5" velcro.
how come?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:17 pm
by 8009STEVE
6" can be purchased from lots of different suppliers. They are standard in the trade.
5" are special, and will probably cost more.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:23 pm
by AndrewSkinner
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?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:59 pm
by 8009STEVE
Screwfix £30.00 ish. Brand new with a warrenty. Ebay might be second hand. Warrenty?
I know what my choice would be.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:35 am
by AndrewSkinner
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?