Phil V
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There is absolutely NO possible way anyone can offer a quality paint job at $700. Maaco will paint a car for 3 or 4 hundred dollars but you get what you pay for. I personally wouldn’t touch that surburban for less than $7500. Hell, the materials alone to properly paint that thing is going to be a minimum of a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars (that is what it would cost the shop owner if it was his own surburban).
The reason the guy here on the forum is looking for a professional paint job is because he knows what’s involved and really doesn’t want to do it himself. What I read into that is if he knows what’s involved in painting the truck then he is going to be very picky on the finished truck. That needs to be taken into the equation if you’re the shop being payed to do the work.
It’s been a while since I last posted here. I counted the other day and I have 11 DA/orbital sanders. I have 4 of the newer style national Detroit DA’s, a couple of the older style ND DAQ’s, Dynabrade, Sioux, old style Chicago Pneumatic, one composite Chicago Pneumatic made in France, Ingersoll Rand, 2 ND DA 900 mud hogs, and a Snap PS200 mud hog.
I never cared for the Hutchins because they were heavy, top heavy (they would flop over easy on a verticle panel). They were well made and lasted a long time but they are old dated technology. They are still good sanders if that’s what you’re used to and like. Kind of like the older style National Detroit DA’s and DAQ’s. Good sanders if that is what you’re used to and like. There are newer technology better designed sanders on the market today that are lighter to handle, don’t jump around on the panel like the older DA’s, most don’t require the operator to add oil and they last a LONG time. I am used to the older style National Detroit DAQ’s so my personal preference for festher edging paint and working small spots of filler is the newer National Detroit’s EZQ and EQLS which run a lot smoother than the older style DAQ’s but still have the same ergonomic feel(aka they have a handle and usually used two handed which I like the control “feel” that offers). They don’t work worth a darn for finish sanding a clearcoat in preparation to wheel out and polish. THAT is where the Dynabrade/Airvantage sanders come in. Their main claim to fame is for very fine sanding as in clearcoat to cut and buff. They CAN be used to feather edge paint and work filler but I think the National Detroit EZQ and EZLS are better suited for that operation.
A whole book could be written on the DA/orbital sanders on the market, what each one is best suited for etc etc.
Just keep this in mind – the shorter the throw (eliptical orbit like 3/32″ is for fine sanding like in clearcoat cut and buff) but they don’t work well for sanding filler and feather edging). The 3/16″ orbit/throw work better for feather edging and sanding filler but aren’t well suited for clearcoat cut and buff.
One last thing. The DA stands for Dual Action while most orbital palm sanders are are single action random orbital sanders. Where the dual action comes in for the regular DA’s is the operator can lock the spindle on a DA causing it to sand much more aggressively like for stripping relatively small areas of paint much faster than a random oribtal palm type sander.
This is one of those subjects where a newby is looking for the best sander for the buck and the more they learn the more complicated the decision becomes. There are a lot of sanders out there that do really good jobs of doing one thing while others do a good job doing something else but there is no sander out there that does a good job at everything. Like any other tool purchase you have to decide what YOU want out of that tool and buy accordingly. Realistically you should have a minimum of two DA/orbital sanders and preferably three or four.