Random orbit sanders, any input? Parkerbink?

[Justin B]

Hey guys, I've been looking at some electric dual action RO sanders but am stuck between a couple of them. I probably want a 6" model, but may got with a smaller size. The two that I've been looking at were the Bosch 1250devs and the Makita BO6040.

I know parkerbink has the Makita, but I dont know if anybody has the Bosch, or any other one that is comparable.

Regarding the Makita anyway, apparently it has a dust port for vacuum hookup, but it doesnt have a bag? Whats up with that? Also, the lock ring that locks it into the aggressive orbit apparently fails relatively often. Have you used the sander enough to really possibly wear it out? Most of the reviews that I have seen mention that going bad which seems a little too often. Apparently it is pretty quiet though, which is nice, whereas the Bosch is relatively loud.

Now as far as the Bosch goes, it has a bag but can supposedly be knocked off easily since it is just a friction fit (whatever). However, it apparently feels cheap, but the reliability reviews seem more promising..ugh.

If anybody has any suggestions for other sanders they think would be good, particularly ones that can have an agressive mode, let me know.

[h0lmes]

When it comes to power tools its hard to beat Makita. Dewalt and Milwaukee are also good.

[PiercedE30]

Dewalt FTW!!

[turbo_negro69]

Dewalt FTMFW!!

fixed.
BTW why are you buying an electric D.A?

[turbo_negro69]

Regarding the Makita anyway, apparently it has a dust port for vacuum hookup, but it doesnt have a bag? Whats up with that?
.

there's this big vacuum system that mounts to a wall, and it has some hoses that are pretty long, you hook up like 4 d.a's and get to work. we had this system at the last bodyshop that i worked at. and you also need really expensive speacial paper with holes in it for the vacuum system to work (not worth it IMO). just get a regular d.a without the vacuum crap.

[Fanzotti]

If your going electric The Porter Cablee 7336 rules.

[atomic]

I would not use an electric da sander on your car if that is what you planned on. They put alot deeper marks that are harder to buff out than that of a neumatic da sander does and if that is what you go with get a palm da over the handle version da because it is less fatiqueing and more control in the areas needed but that is just my honest opinion but I did colorsand and buff 5-8 cars a week when I owned a detail shop.

[Fanzotti]

Can you colorsand with a DA? Please tell me more. Paper grit, size, procedure Etc.

[atomic]

Yes you can. you need to buy the 3m hook it set up which is a velcro hard pad attachment for the da then attach a soft pad that just velcros to it. On that you velcro the sandpaper to that everything is in the 5" size( I believe ) and the paper I used was a 3m product that was a 1200 grit but it was a resin paper, that allowed to final sand before buffing out, without using water at all. That way you could see what you were doing without having to dry the surface off to see what still needed to be done. The paper was expensive and about $1.50 a disk and I would buy a box of a 100 at a time. One box if you were lucky would do 2 normal sized cars with decent paint jobs. You just start sanding being very careful of edges. It is not that important to get real close to any edge. If you keep about an inch or so from the edges you will never be able to tell in the final end product. That way you run a less risk of burning through an edge. You take it down until as smooth as you would like. In the places that are sanded you should see alot of dullness to the paint and anything that is shiney is what will be seen in final product. If you are removing orange peel in my honest opinion it is good to leave a small amount still in the paint since the factory paint jobs have a samll amount as well. To me if you get it to slick it looks like the show car paint jobs you see out there. To buff out(high speed) you use a wool pad and I like the 3m product finese-it for the initial cutting of the sanding marks. It is not a harse abrasive like most others meaning it takes more product to cut the marks out but doesnt swirl the paint up as much. It actually uses a chemical breakdown to cut and has no abrasives in it. It also is about $125.00 a gallon. Then move to a foam pad and do the polishing stages with a 3m dark color or light color (color of car) pad glaze slow speed to remove wheel marks. After this stage you can do a hand polish to remove any swirls left by using #7 mequires then wax of your choice. I will try to better effort for you guys the exact sand paper product I used and post later. Its just been a few years since I have done this procedure and have forgotten the name of the paper I am sure it was a 3m product though and was a resin paper in p1200 grit.


I will tell you that when I use to color sand cars by hand with wet/dry paper and a foam pad in my hand that it could easily take all day to just do the sanding. And with this da set up I could do a complete colorsand on a car in about 1.5 hours. The da I used back then was a palm sander and was purchased from a body shop supply house along with all the other products that were mentioned above. You can however save some money and pick up a plam sander at Harbor Freight Tools for around $60.00 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93867 that works pretty good as well. I have one of these now and have used it once but not sure if it would hold up on a daily used basis. Hope this helps and I will find out the paper I was using and post it later