School me on sanders...

[OldCarPilot]

After watching the monster garage with every one building that 52 chevy I've decided to go the hard route and sand down my truck, rather than have it media blasted. (At least most of the panels) What is the best type of sander to use to take all the old paint and rust?

[Slag Kustom]

have it blasted it is worth every penny you spend. no sander will remove all of the rust from the pits. even if you wire brush and grind you still dont have as good of a surface to work with as sand blasting.

[Rusty]

I have heard all the horror stories of sand blasting a body. Like worping and stuff like that. I know where one is in Dallas and he said he would do my A for 150.00 Does this sound about write to you guys that have had this done? Is there certain person you should go to or just any ole blaster. Thanks from Rusty in TExas.

[OldCarPilot]

I know that blasting is the way to go, and I'll have to do that for some things. i.e. the cab and frame. And for Dirty31, there are two types of blasting. Media and Sand. Sand is the one that is kinda harsh on sheet metal. Media blasing however doesn't hurt the sheet metal at all and is perfectly safe for your A.
Like I said I know blasting is great, but what is a good sander?

[v8minor]

If its a rusty pile of crap like my chevy blasting is a good way ,but make sure the guy knows what he is doing .And blow out all the sand it gets everywere . If it,s just a respray a DA sander will work good , or a heat gun will take of years of old paint .

[BELLM]

DA sander works good for removing old paint, but you gotta have a compressor with lots of air volume, tedious work.

[crush1776]

Use a DA with 40 or 80 grit, then 120 or 150 and lay on primer pretty thick. Or follow with 220 and prime medium thick. DON'T let someone sandblast your large panels. Unless the guy is ultra careful using lower pressure and holding the tip at an angle, your panels WILL warp. Media blasting is gentler. You can sand down your large, rust free panels and then have the guy sandblast ONLY the rusted areas and nooks and crannies, but be sure he steers clear of your lager expanses of metal. I've seen it happen from every "expert" sandblaster, most of them just don't get it right and the panels end up needing an extra ton of BONDO. 3M sells some paint stripping discs that are like a plastic honeycomb that work pretty good, but can end up pretty pricey the way you run through them. I usually use a combination of the discs, chemical aircraft paint stripper, DA sanding and sandblasting. Good luck!

[Revhead]

go to home depot and buy 1800 sheets of 500 grit and begin sanding. Let us know when you get it done. We'll be waiting for a progress report http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[OldCarPilot]

smart ass! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[67Imp.Wagon]

I'd get a DA and 80 grit. Use 40 in the areas you'll be doing body work to rough it up a bit more.

You will be surprised how fast it will come off if its old baked and faded paint. Did my whole car that way.

[OldCarPilot]

Cool... Sounds like my next tool is a DA sander then. Thanks all!