D A Sanders - Questions

[velocemitch]

I'm thinking of getting a Dual Action Sander to get my Bodyshell back to bare metal and then to use for general smoothing out and filling.

First thought was an electric one, but most seem to be Air.

Now my compressor is a little on the small side, it can just about cope with the spray gun, but tends to run continuously I'm painting, so I expect it would struggle with a sander.

The electric one however are significantly more expensive and also heavier.

I've seen a Sealey Electric one which seems to vary in price from as little as £50.00 to as much as a £100.00 depend on where you get it, that would be my first choice in Electric.

So which way to jump?... is it time to buy a new compressor too?.

[crowfield]

Similar situation to you. I have a 3hp 50 ltr compressor which is fine for spraying, but my air powered DA sander soon runs out of air. I bought the Sealey electric DA - great tool. And it doubles up as a polisher once you have put the paint on.....just use velcro foam pads and it becomes a fairly gentle polisher

[226bhp]

Electric everytime for me. Quieter, warmer (in Winter), cleaner. Then ask yourself this: Which is cheaper to run on an hourly basis, the motor on a sander or that on your compressor?

[retropower]

We run a fairly big professional outfit, and "most" in the professional bodyshop world use air powered DA's........and I've never understood why, as you often end up running a 10+hp compressor for one DA!!

The normal big electric DA's are great for ripping paint off but clumsy for precise use, BUT you can now have your cake and eat it, there are a few DC brushless motor driven electric DA sanders available on the market

they are not cheap, but the quality is incredible! We now use a Mirka Ceros 650CV, at £295 its an investment, but they have a 3 year industrial use warranty and use a tiny amount of power and are incredibly nimble to use.

[velocemitch]

So it looks like Electric then, the Mirka one looks and sounds superb, but it's somewhat over the budget I set myself and I expect is possibly more suited to finishing than taking the paint right back?... perhaps?.

This seems likeliest, I can't believe the price either.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171199525708?ssPageName=...

am I missing something?

[retropower]

yep they're ok, fine for rough work, pretty powerful, much better than air ones for general use

[Incorrigible]

If it's just ripping paint off I would use a circular sander (100grade on the polisher). For a restoration you're likely to want to return it to bare metal anyway. Filler work I like to do by hand, and final wet flatting pre top coat and post paint flatting before polishing I also like to do by hand.

I would say a DA is only really useful in a pro environment, you're not going to save enough time to make it worthwhile with home use

[retropower]

As above, all our filler sanding is done by hand

[Slidingpillar]

If you are taking panels back to bare metal and the metal is steel, use a wire disc in an angle grinder. Wear protective clothing as small bits of paint and filler at high velocities hurt!

I used one to remove both paint and filler from my original 1930 body panels, and I shudder to think how long and how many sander discs would have been used.

Don't use one on aluminium!

[retropower]

easy to distort more modern thinner metal doing that.

polymatrix discs much better but can still distort thin stuff if you arent careful