ventureoverland 13th May 2015, 10:54 AM Guys,
Looking for a bit of advice - not sure in what section to post.
For a while Ive been looking at getting a new orbital sander. My father's a cabinet maker & chippy so I know size of orbit and speed are important to getting a good finish.
Ive nearly always used electric orbitals. Many years ago I used an old air orbital for roughing work. It was OK for its job but noisy, had a large orbit and wasn't that fast.
Up until getting my compressor I was thinking electric. Since getting enough reliable air to drive a sander Ive looked at the specs of new air orbitals - appears things have moved on significantly in all areas and spec of electric and air are more or less the same and the new air ones are oil free so no oil to stain timber.
My sander will be used for occasional bits of wood-working stuff I may make in the garage and dressing down old land rover aluminium panels before re-painting. At this stage Id be happy to say that all my sanding would be done in the garage.
I have a buy once, buy right approach so will pay to get the right kit if need be.
Im guessing that electric is probably the go, but thought Id ask for opinions, pro's & cons.
Thoughts & advice please.
J
BobL 13th May 2015, 11:34 AM Air gear is fine but I hate being tied to an air line.
IMHO the portability of electric gear makes it a winner.
KBs PensNmore 13th May 2015, 07:42 PM I was going to say, electric is the go, until I read that you want to use it to sand back your Landie panels. Air is fantastic for that as you can use water with Wet&Dry around it and not get a shock, and get a good finish, rubbing back with water make the W&D cut longer.
Kryn
cba_melbourne 13th May 2015, 08:27 PM Guys,
Looking for a bit of advice - not sure in what section to post.
For a while Ive been looking at getting a new orbital sander. My father's a cabinet maker & chippy so I know size of orbit and speed are important to getting a good finish.
Ive nearly always used electric orbitals. Many years ago I used an old air orbital for roughing work. It was OK for its job but noisy, had a large orbit and wasn't that fast.
Up until getting my compressor I was thinking electric. Since getting enough reliable air to drive a sander Ive looked at the specs of new air orbitals - appears things have moved on significantly in all areas and spec of electric and air are more or less the same and the new air ones are oil free so no oil to stain timber.
My sander will be used for occasional bits of wood-working stuff I may make in the garage and dressing down old land rover aluminium panels before re-painting. At this stage Id be happy to say that all my sanding would be done in the garage.
I have a buy once, buy right approach so will pay to get the right kit if need be.
Im guessing that electric is probably the go, but thought Id ask for opinions, pro's & cons.
Thoughts & advice please.
J
I have never used a pneumatic sander. My first worry would be, what about dust collection? The ones I have looked at seemed more like polishers to me, they had no dust bag. No problem on an electric sander, all have some sort of a bag. How do air sanders handle dust? My second worry would be, what about spent air, is it going to swirl up all those dust particles? Third worry would be variable speed, I really like finely adjustable variable speed orbital sanders. It can be had on air tools too, but maybe only with the more expensive ones? Just my thoughts.
On Aluminium panels, I am not sure an orbital sander is a good idea at all. In any case you will end up with very black fingers, and the face probably too... plus that ugly metallic taste in the mouth and nostrils....
Master Splinter 13th May 2015, 08:32 PM I'd say:
Air, only if you have a sufficiently large compressor (15 amp would be my minimum suggestion - I'd prefer something grunty on 3 phase) AND you are going to wet sand as a standard.
barkersegg 13th May 2015, 09:36 PM I have numerous types of air and leckie sanders and do heaps of sanding, mostly wood these days but occasionally metal being mild steel, cast iron, aluminium and brass and would say the leckie ones get 90% of my work - reason being I find that you need a good consistent air supply to run the air ones so a larger compressor is mandatory and equally the bigger air lines do become annoying dragging over work etc - granted you can use wet and dry as has been mentioned but I tend to use hand at that stage rather than mechanical sanding. In my opinion, when you factor in the cost of running a large motor on your compressor (say 2hp) to power a sander with the necessary air flow to run them properly then the economies of scale swing in favour of the leckie sanders.
I have found that when the dollar was at parity with the US, the purchase of various US sanders was a great bonus, there seems to be a greater variety available there than here - not only for the price/quality etc but the amount of different sanding aspects such as shapes, speeds and accessories was far greater with the leckie ones than what is available locally here in Oz. Naturally the voltage difference means acquiring a step down transformer but they are quite cheap (under $100) and I have never had any issues with them so far. Importantly, they don't seem to get as hot running as some of my 240v ones do.
Equally the brand you purchase will offer different varieties as to what you wish to sand and obtaining a good cheap supply of papers is probably more relevant than the sander in lots of cases. I use Kerry (trades under thesandpaperman.com.au) for all my sanding consumables - he's local (Oz) and can get just about anything you need (sorry cannot link to his site but google is your friend)
The air sanders still get used in my shed now and then depending on the job, but I find I cannot control the speed rates on the air ones to the same extent as my leckie ones whether they be Bosche, Metabo or other brands I have....hope that helps....Just my 2 bobs worth....
ventureoverland 13th May 2015, 09:37 PM Thanks for the replies and thoughts.
Ive got a 3 phase compressor, 545 l/min (high teens cfm).
There are a few manufacturers all doing similar products - this is the type of thing I was looking at:
http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/am-en/products/tools/surface-preparation-finishing-tools/sanders-polishers-buffers/maintenance-automotive-sanders-polishers-and-buffers/random-orbital-sanders/8200max-series-random-orbital-sanders
The IR sander has a bag to collect dust and apparently is pretty efficient. Spent air is directed backwards and (if like the die grinders) come with a exhaust hose to send the air 1m back down the air hose.
Speed is adjustable - Ive never had this feature on electric so cant imagine using it, but will accept others saying its useful.
It strikes me that electric is the way forward, until I bring water into the equation, then air becomes the choice.
More contemplating to do I think!
Thx
J
cba_melbourne 14th May 2015, 02:57 PM .......................
Speed is adjustable - Ive never had this feature on electric so cant imagine using it, but will accept others saying its useful.
.....................
I have never used an orbital sander without variable speed. I honestly cannot imagine how one could ever use one for anything but the very roughest of jobs. Variable speed is an absolute necessity if you are after fine finishes.
What I have found with the cheaper orbital sanders, is that they take a loooong time to spin down from maximum speed. I found that extremely annoying. Because you have to wait until the damn thing has stopped before putting it down, or your just nicely sanded surface will be marred. The more expensive ones must have some sort of electric brake built into the speed control. Also, the better models have different pads available (soft medium or hard) to adapt to different tasks. A very important feature for me, is that spare pads must be readily available at a reasonable price. There are many sanders out there that are intended to toss away once the pad is worn, because spare pads are unobtainable or so expensive you rather spend an hour to modify a readily available BOSCH pad to fit that particular exclusive mount. By the way, BOSCH have different model numbers in the US - but once you figure that out, non electric spare parts and accessories can be bought cheaper from over there.
Not sure about air sanders, I hope they have some sort of brake. Also not sure how easy it is to get spare pads. See, I went through lots of pads because I use the orbital sanders on corners. That is why I immensely value the easy availability of spare pads.
ventureoverland 15th July 2015, 11:05 AM Thought Id give you guys an update...
I ended up buying an IR 8201 air sander. Primarily because I knew it would do the job I wanted it for later on when I come to dress back the old Land Rover and would also work just fine on wood in my shed. My choice of tool was also aided by the fact I could see, touch & feel the thing before I bought it as there is an IR distributor 10 mins away from my work. Whilst it wasn't particularly cheap, for my intended uses its better to have it than 2 tools of lesser quality sat on the shelf.
https://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/am-en/products/tools/surface-preparation-finishing-tools/sanders-polishers-buffers/maintenance-automotive-sanders-polishers-and-buffers/random-orbital-sanders/8200max-series-random-orbital-sanders/modelspec/39544
Having used it quite a lot of late I must say Im very pleased with the purchase. I haven't used it with wet & dry yet on the Landy but on wood its great. I think the best 2 things about it are its weight (or more accurately lack of it) and how quiet it is - very nice to use for extended periods of time. I also like the trigger position, very ergonomic compared to the various electric ones Ive used in the past.
Oh, and CBA, I have used the variable speed and yes, I can now see its benefit!
R
Jon
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