has ne1 ever used their PC for.. well sanding?

MorBid · 08-15-05, 11:13

Sanding Automotive paint/body filler in particular..

Rollman · 08-15-05, 11:34

I don't see any reason why you couldn't use it . You could get yourself a flat backing plate thats made for adhesive backed sandpaper

Prometheus · 08-15-05, 12:06

I am actually about to try this tonight or tomorrow. I had some spots that we're starting to rust low on the driver's door and sandblasted em and I'm painting them right now. Probably going to try to knock the painted patches down with the PC and some really fine sand paper, then polish it up after that.

MorBid · 08-15-05, 12:49

Thanks for the replys fellas.

Prometheus I tried to find out what the orbit was (3/8, 3/16, or 3/32) in the manual and it didn't state.

I'm going to begin working on my project car again but my compressor won't keep up with my air driven D/A and I need a way to initally sand down some body filler as well as feather some edges.

I would be interested in hearing your results. I may just to a test on a panel myself.

Prometheus · 08-15-05, 01:23

Yeah, I don't know the orbit either, but I would say probably 3/8 is the closest. I really don't know how it will work, the area I'm doing is below the trim and relatively small, but we'll see how it works out. I basically just want to get rid of the excess clear I'm going to put on and get rid of some of the sandblasting marks I put in the clear (whoops, kinda hard to control the sandblaster too well). I don't know, we'll see how it works out.

BTW, to get the sandblaster to work, my dad ended up needing a air tank, it's just a small 10 gal one, plugs in his compressor and turns it on max, once it hits like 100 PSI i think it just goes into overflow mode, but once the tank pressure drops it starts pumping it in again. With the sandblaster it worked well. After one pretty intense portion (like 4x4 inches and about 5 min of constant blasting) I had to let it sit for a few minutes to rebuild pressure, but it works well. I dont't know how much air your sander needs, but it might be something looking into.

MorBid · 08-15-05, 01:52

thanks for the quick follow up.

I just went out the the garage and slapped a 120 Grit piece of paper on the PC (set at 5) and tried working some filler material I applied Sunday after taking down the area to metal.

A bit more uncomfortable to use than my air operated sanders but it did start doing it's thing.

3/8 is a pretty aggressive orbit. I don't think it Porter Cable could offer a fine finish as they do with these machine cause a 3/8 scratch will really show. I emailed them and asked though.

I was thinking about getting a "receiver tank" for my compressor to store more air and may still do. I have a "spot blaster" which has a little "vacum bag" hook up for tiny spots. I can run that for short periods on my compressor.

However now for rust removal I either put a wire wheel on my Dewalt 849 rotary or an electric grinder I have.

Strips paint and rust without worrying about warping the metal.

Prometheus · 08-15-05, 06:05

I've done the grinder thing too, but the sand blaster I borrowed from my dad worked really well. Tube was about the size of a pencil, and cleaned the rust off in no time (luckily it was just surface rust). Anyways, as it turns out my dad just got a "regular" air compressor and tank from Big Lots tonight. 13 gal with 140 PSI max, I think it was like $120. We played with it a bit, and seems like it will work, it handled the air rachet good enough. Anyways, I'm interested to see waht you find out.

MorBid · 08-15-05, 06:54

Air tools like rachet's, wrenches and the like are intermittent air use and don't require that many cfm's.

Air tools like sanders (D/A. Random Orbit, etc) and grinders use far more cfm's and require more air cause you'll be running them longer. Far longer than it takes to break a rusty bolt or turn some.

My compressor now is a 4hp peak 2 running, 30 Gallon tank with 5.7 SCFM's @ 90 PSI (which is about the most you can get running on 120V) and I can't run my sanders/grinders longer than 5 or 10 min's before the compressor kicks on and I have to wait for the tank to fill up.

I know folks with 60 gallon tanks that can't run a sandblaster for long either, your essentially just blowing all the air out of the tank and mixing it with some sand. Fine for spot sanding or small things, sucks for trying to do a panel, frame, the entire car.

On the other hand I can shoot the entire car with my Sharpe Platinum HVLP gun (Primer, Base and Clear coat)

The first time I painted this car I stripped this car down and did all the bodywork at the place where I work. Which has a compressor that takes up a small bedroom so air was not a problem.

But that got old having to take my car up there everytime I wanted to do some bodywork.

Anywho. I'm used to finish sanding by hand, and I know already that I can level the filler with the PC and and it looks no different as if I had used one of my air sanders.

What I am concerned about is the "orbit" of this tool as I need to "knock down" some panels before re-shooting them.

I'll know more as the week progresses and I "experiment" after work. I'm going to shoot some primer then sand it down so I can see what's what.