Replies

1. 
   tinkerer2 | Mar 27, 2006 08:06am | #1

        I'm thinking an air powered random orbital sander may be lighter that an electric.  Of course you would have the hose to lift and I'd hope you wouldn't have to haul the compressor around too much.  One that would run the sander would, of necessity, be pretty heavy.

2. 
   nikkiwood | Mar 27, 2006 04:28pm | #2

   The Rotex sanders from Festool are about the most powerful hand held sanders I have seen.

   Do you know about them?

   ********************************************************
   "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

   John Wooden 1910-

3. 
   Spalted | Mar 27, 2006 09:41pm | #3

   i would second the air powered sander idea by tinkerer. if you already have a decent sized compressor these are the way to go. You ca pick up lightweight hose for a comparable price to those stiff, heavy red boston marathoners that seem to be a staple in most peoples collection. Let us know how those sureform sander sheets perform if you decide to go that route- they look really aggressive!!!

4. 
   cowtown | Mar 28, 2006 06:12am | #4

   I duunno fer sure, cause I never used it, but on the site I was on today the other tool junky on the site saw me with a makita baby sander and says "wanna see a honkin good sander" dives into his trailer and pulls out one of the porter cable portable drum sanders.

   This tool is on my radar, but the job for it hasn't materialized, but he was talking about using it to scribe large timber mantles. Said it never bogged down.

   The drum is at 90 degrees to the base.... which might help ya when yer upside down sanding, and even the square stuff looks "tilted"

   and yer sanding scratches would be roughly in line with the grain, vs the x-grain scratches of any kind of spinning disc.

   I've also got the big type (Dewalt) ros, and wouldn't really like to be holding that over my head and pressing up for even a few minutes, let alone on a whole house of beams.....

   As I said, not promising that this is what you need, or even if it works effectively, but this fella was adamant that it was good "for the big stuff".

   Eric in Calgary

   Maybe you could even locate a demo unit to try out first.

1. 
   kelvinpot | Mar 28, 2006 03:53pm | #5

   any air sander? Is there a more powerful lighter version of these? I guess i should go look, but soounds possible. Thanks for all the replies,
   Kelvin

1. 
   Lataxe | Mar 28, 2006 05:49pm | #6

   Kelvin,

   I second John in recommending the Festool Rotex sanders.  They are random orbital with a switch to make the rotation very aggressive.  But being RO sanders, they are light weight, especially the newer 125mm (5ins) version. You can use them to take off the bulk then immediately switch to fine-finish mode.

   Your problem is going to be the weight of the wire (or compressor hose) and the extraction hose connected to the sander.  I doubt if you want to sand that much indoors and overhead without dust extraction.

   The Festool people again have an answer, in the form of an articulated arm that holds most of the weight of the hose/cable for you.  Naturally, being Festool, they want many hundreds of dollars for all this fine kit. 

   You could probably knock up such an arm yourself, if you felt this would have sufficient pay-back in terms of lightening your workload.

   Lataxe

2. 
   mudman | Mar 30, 2006 07:29pm | #9

   Dynabrade is the most sought after brand of pneumatic sander. They are very light compaired to comparaible electric sanders. However they require a lot of air, around 12 CFMs for continous duty.

   Mike

5. 
   QCInspector | Mar 28, 2006 06:36pm | #7

   Dynabrade.com

   Dynabrade has the most extensive range of air sanders that I know of.

   I think though you might find that a sharp wooden plane (because they're lighter) and scrapers might do a nicer job without the noise and dust.

   Your call however.

6. 
   mufti | Mar 30, 2006 03:53pm | #8

              On another tack, consider the metabo paint stripper. I have the big Festo sander but not muscles to match and the metabo. The latter is very good for moving surface crud which would clog abrasives. You may be able to hire it for a try.

7. 
   csacoe | Mar 31, 2006 03:08am | #10

   Festool