What is the best cordless sander for removing interior paint?

[dazzystar]

Hi All,

I have a mammoth task of either removing or at the very least keying the surface of all my interior window frames and sills and most likely the staircase too. Is a delta sander or random orbital sander the way to go and what size grit(s) do I need. Any brands better than another on both the sander and paper? I'm in the Bosch (green) 18V eco-system so would prefer Bosch if possible.

Cheers
Daz

 

[opps]

Tough to answer... I am a profession decorator so I can justify spending £500+ on sanders and then the dust extractor (read: vacuum cleaner) that makes my life so much easier.

If you can only justify one sander, a random orbit will will flatten the finish much faster than a delta sander. However given the size of the disk, you will need to resort to hand sanding in the corners.

I treat existing paint as a kind of filler which can be sanded flat.

When working indoors, I seldom burn paint off, preferring to sand the paint back.

Abrasives? I tend to gravitate towards 80 grit for paint removal, higher grades for smoothing in between coats. I tend to max out at 240 grit. Higher than that and you risk polishing the surface and impairing adhesion.

If you are only looking at providing a key, purchase some 180 grit silicon carbide paper. It should be about £2 per metre. If rounded profiles such as spindles, effin' expensive, but at about £9 per meter, Abranet mesh is brilliant. And it does last quite a while.

 

[dazzystar]

OK. Thanks very much. A delta sander makes sense then as I can get into all the little corners, etc. with it. As I'm going from a dark grey to a white finish, is there anything I can do to prevent me doing loads of coats?