Air sanders -recommendation?

[PeterAllen]

I'm on a long slow stagger to the finish line with this project and I'm about to prepare the panels for painting. Considering the amount of work involved I thought I might purchase an air sander but I'm a little confused about what I should buy. What is the difference, if any, between an orbital sander and a palm sander? Should I use a bag to catch the dust or attach it to a Handi-Vac I have for cleaning up the shed? Comments and recommendations appreciated.

[darkside]

really depends on what sort of condition yur panels are in ,if they need to have a few wrinkles ironed out of them than after you have put some hifill on yur panels you would invest in a long board of sorts so that you can massage them to get them straight as possible..using small sanders like palm sanders or the likes is not going to get you a very good finish,a good paint job comes from all the best preparation,unless you want the end finish to look like a couple of grade 5 ers had a paper masche class next to yur project. what have you done so far ?...doc

[PeterAllen]

There are quite a few ugly fibreglassed joins where I had to reconnect various sections which some clown had separated in trying to make a spyder out of a berlinetta. I was thinking of using the sander these joins prior to a longboard, etc. The rest of the body is badly chipped as it appears to have been kicked from one exposed storage location to another over the years, but that should recover with hand finishing.

[darkside]

if u have any paint supply outlets near you i would recomend u prolly take some pics and go ask what would be the best solution,if u have exposed glass strands u might have to do a bit of jelcoat repair,sanding at that stage might be like scratching an open wound,glass is a real tricky stuff to work with u might want to see if there are any boat blokes around yur way might be willing to do abit of after hours cash work .or if u want to have a crack there is products like carglass easy nuff to have a play mixes like bog,youtube will show plenty of dyi stuff dont be scared of the stuff but use gloves ..doc

[Aussie Mike]

I bought a Dynabrade style DA palm sander.

Quality Dynabrade Style Dual Action AIR Palm Sander Velcropad DA | eBay

I like it because it's very light weight and low profile compared to most DA sanders making it easy to handle. This also makes it suitable for using for colour sanding with an interface pad later.

The other thing I like about it is it had a dust extractor that I hook up to my workshop vacuum. Makes for a much cleaner and more pleasant sanding experience. The other good thing about this design is the air tool air exhaust is through the dust extractor. An important point when you consider air tool exhaust can often contain moisture and oil which you probably don't want on your freshly sanded surface.

One thing to remember with air sanders is tat they do need a good air supply to run them. My old MacMillan 12CFM compressor had a hard time keeping up.

Cheers