inline sanders... are they an invaluable tool?

[Len]

I don't find any advantage in using an inline airboard . They are extremely noisey and because they require so much air pressure the exhaust spreads dust through the entire shop . Why do so many body tech's use these invasive , hi impacked machines ? There are so many much better ways to get the same results . Thanks Keith .

Many professionals will do filler work all day every day and having a machine to help with the physical labor can make a big difference in labor time and effort. Personally I prefer the National Detroit ND900 but the straight line sander will still take a lot of the work out of leveling filler.

ND900 Link

[baubau]

i do own Rodac inline orbital sander and i use it on bigger jobs...its a good machine, it is kind of heavy, air consumption is not too high and it is kind of quiet.....it is a good buy and it lasts a long time..

Mud Hog, 8 inch orbital sander is maybe better way to go...

still, i am quicker for 80% of jobs with only cheese grater, some long flat sanding board and some stick on 40 grit paper and 6 inch DA sander with 3/8 throw for quick leveling than with any long, heavy sanding machine....

[tech69]

I find straightlines to be incredibly valuable. It saves a lot of time. You just need the shoe that allows stick on paper. Doing clip on will save you money on paper but it will slide around and not cut and break so you'll end up paying the same for paper and be frustrated cause it's not cutting, taking longer, and new paper is breaking. Phil had a good suggestion. One for 40 and one for 80. That works well especially with norton long board paper. It lasts forever and you'd hate to peel off a good sheet of 40 just to throw it away to put on 80. I love my inline and if you know how to do bodywork good learning how to use it will come really easy for you. So in terms of getting it flat it does that perfectly. Some people would say it's cheating or the work won't come out as good but that's nonsense cause my hand is the final say and I always block by hand at a certain point. Saves time, money, and sore shoulders.

My tool of choice is the viking100. It runs on low air consumption but does run a tad more rougher than the IR my friend has, but mine is still not broken in and I tend to go to lots of places that already have them so I keep mine new.

[another2centsworth]

The Hutching Hustler inline air file is a tall air tool which means its top heavy and a pain to handle. It wants to keep flopping over on its side. I've used the Atcoa-Viking inline air file for 30+ years and still own a several right now. I have one for 40 grit paper and another one for 80 grit paper and I have the shorter Viking air file called the "Mini-Vike" which is a very handy excellent flat sander for areas that the regular air file is a little too large for. Hutching does make an excellent top of the line ORBITAL air file for finish sanding and guidecoat block sanding.

Wonder what the cfms are respectively for these viking sanders?

[tech69]

mine runs on 15 gallon 1.8 hp compressor!!!! To give you an idea, it takes much less air than my mac airhog and even my da with a handle.