Best Orbital Sander

[ExoticAutoDetai]

I am looking to buy an orbital sander for wet sanding what is better for small jobs for now?? cons and pros!!!

[JonMiles]

The 3m air orbital sander is a great one for everyday use. Very durable, very smooth operating, and above all easy to control.

3M Random Orbital 6 Inch Air Sander 20325, electric sander, palm disc sander, dual action sander

[Fly bye]

That is definately a great DA sander, but will need a good size air compressor and tank to boot.

[A4 1.8tqm]

I say... Use your DA Polisher. If you just have a small home air compressor, it will run the whole time your sanding and take a while to fully compress when you take a break (this is my experience with a 1.5 HP, 12 gal Craftsman and a Viking VT 4200 Pneumatic palm sander).

Just get a 3M Hookit 6 Inch Soft Interface Pad and your good to go, machine wise! Spend the saved money on discs and sand all day if you want.

Just be sure not to set the polisher in a water bucket or hang the power cord over a running faucet.

[C. Charles Hahn]

I say... Use your DA Polisher. If you just have a small home air compressor, it will run the whole time your sanding and take a while to fully compress when you take a break (this is my experience with a 1.5 HP, 12 gal Craftsman and a Viking VT 4200 Pneumatic palm sander).

Just get a 3M Hookit 6 Inch Soft Interface Pad and your good to go, machine wise! Spend the saved money on discs and sand all day if you want.

Just be sure not to set the polisher in a water bucket or hang the power cord over a running faucet.

Agreed. Air tools are great, but you really do need a good compressor to run them effectively. Lucky for me I've got a serious brute hiding in my barn (Ingersoll Rand 2-stage 5HP compressor with an 80-gallon tank), much less than that and I wouldn't be able to put pneumatic equipment to good use.

Unless you've got a similar air system already or have the coin to drop on one, definitely stick to electric power tools.

[Mike Phillips]

I am looking to buy an orbital sander for wet sanding what is better for small jobs for now?? cons and pros!!!

When you say small jobs, do you mean,

• Thin panels so you're looking for a small size sanderSpot repair on any panel - size of polisher doesn't matterSmall cars? You work on Mini Coopers?

The Chicago Pneumatic mini polishers in the Meguiar's Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit are real nice for working on thin panels, tight areas or spot repair.

See some pics here...

Meguiar's New 3 Inch Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit


They make the Unigrit Sanding and Foam Backed Finishing Discs to fit this and there's a new 3" Microfiber cutting and polishing pad coming out that will fit these tools also.







In this article I cover some of the benefits and drawbacks of both air and electric DA's for sanding...

Damp-Sanding Tools, Tips and Techniques by Mike Phillips


Here's an excerpt as this is one of the longest articles I've ever written, not the longest but one of them... You can also find most of this article on Dampsanding by Mike Phillips I still need to finish coding about a 1/3 of it to the site.

One difference between sanding with an air-powered tool and an electric tool is the difference in power supply from a physical point of view. What I mean by this is that with an air-powered DA Sander you will have to contend with an air-line under pressure which is quite stiff. When sanding with an air-powered DA Sander you need to control the air-line in a way that it doesn't rub against the painted panels of the vehicle and also that it doesn't control or influence the angle of contact between the face of your sanding disc and the painted panel.

By this I mean because the air-line is stiff, you have to concentrate more on keeping the face of the disc flat against the paint as it's possible for the air-line to exert pressure in such a way as to lift up or push down, or to either side, the DA Sander as it's in your hand.

Note how Shawn has the air-line draped over his shoulder and then curved to his side before feeding into the back of the DA Sander in this picture. While this air line looks flexible, under pressure it is quite stiff and requires you to take that into account for your grip and your arm movement as you're sanding.





This stiff air-line issue is avoided when using an electric DA Sander/Polisher because your electrical cord is limp in that it is not under high air pressure.


CFM or Cubic Feet per Minute
In order to use an air-powered DA sander you also need a continuous feed supply of compressed air rated at 90 PSI at the gauge. The larger the holding tank the better, for example if you want to sand down entire cars you should have a 60 to 80 gallon compressed air reservoir tank minimum. You can use small portable air compressors for small sections but trying to sand down the average size car hood will deplete the air out of the tank, force the compressor motor to run full speed to try to keep up and still won't be able to keep up and this will show up as your air sander slowing down and even stopping.

The benefit to an electric DA is that all you need is a stable source of electric power and a GFI outlet for safety reasons.

Note that if you ever use an extension cord with your electric DA or any electric power tool you should always use a heavy duty cord with 16 gauge wire or thicker to handle the flow of electricity to avoid burning up the electric motor in your tool.

Here's another excerpt...

Safety Precautions with Electric DA Sander/Polishers
If using an electric DA Polisher make sure you have access to a GFI Outlet. A GFI or Ground Fault Interrupter will stop the flow of electricity if it detects a leakage or short in the normal circuit or flow of current.

GFI Outlet


And always wear eye protection and ear protection when using any power tool.

I have both the 3M Referneced in my article and the Dynabrade Finishing Sander and I like the 3M version much better.


I think I talk about the 3M unit here too...

Can an air-powered DA Sander be used to polish paint?

[C. Charles Hahn]

Mike, I won't post the link to MOL but I'm sure you'll know what I'm referencing with this question:

Do you know if Autogeek is planning to carry the new Meguiar's-branded air mini-DA and mini-Rotary polishers that were announced in the 2011 product line? If so, do you know anything about the release time-line on them?

I had looked into picking up a pair of the CP ones you posted above, but the new Meguiar's ones look like they'll be even nicer and run much more efficiently -- plus they appear as though they're going to be cheaper to purchase.

[Mike Phillips]

Do you know if Autogeek is planning to carry the new Meguiar's-branded air mini-DA and mini-Rotary polishers that were announced in the 2011 product line? If so, do you know anything about the release time-line on them?

I haven't heard anything yet but that doesn't mean anything... I've been pretty busy with offline projects of my own... my guess would be yes... I'm sure an announcement will be posted if we do...

[ExoticAutoDetai]

The 3m air orbital sander is a great one for everyday use. Very durable, very smooth operating, and above all easy to control.

3M Random Orbital 6 Inch Air Sander 20325, electric sander, palm disc sander, dual action sander

Yea i been told 3m sander is da GOOD way to go but i wanted to see if there was any other sander close to the same quality to the 3m and less pricey
the fact that the 3m is a air tool i need to buy an air compressor means more money to spend

[ExoticAutoDetai]

Thank You Everyone helps alot now i need to save $$$ for my 3m Sander and a BEEP big ass compressor lolz any ideas where i can get a good compressor for not a high price?