Which Random Orbital Sander

Pusher

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I am planning on picking one up to sand the soap scum off the shower door panels with maybe 2000 grit. I will use it afterward to smooth my boat's gelcoat before buffing.

First of all, any thoughts against the shower panels?

Second, I have narrowed it down to two orbitals based on customer reviews;
The Black and Decker bder0600 @ $39
The Dewalt DWE6423K @ $79.
Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

I was going to go cheap and do the Harbor Freight deal for $29 but have since repented.

Am I off base and just need to buy a buffer?
 
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MTboatguy

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I have the B&D you mention and it has been fine, never had a problem with it.

Now instead of sanding your shower doors, I would suggest picking up a bottle of CLR, that is what we use on our shower doors and it cleans it and polishes them up with no abrasive action at all.

I also use my orbital sander with small polishing pads at times and if you have the speed correct it works quite well.
 

SeaDooSam

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I have made out well with one from HF. Been using it for a couple years now. Have a BD also and it works fine too
 

ezmobee

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I have made out well with one from HF. Been using it for a couple years now. Have a BD also and it works fine too

I have a HF orbital and detail sander and both work great. Honestly if you're thinking the B&D is any better than the HF it's probably not.
 

Pusher

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Great, thanks for the feedback guys!

HF is a 2.0 amp
B&D is a 2.4 amp
Dewalt is a 3.0 amp

I don't know that I would necessarily need the extra amps.

Good idea. Maybe I should go with a scuff pad and CLR. The soap scum has been building for 14 years from the PO so it needs more than a razor blade. I remodeled the shower from plastic to tile and now the doors look tacky.

So you use an orbital sander with an orbital buffing pad to polish with good results? 5" seems like a small work area, but it doesn't seem like you ever use the full surface area of 12" buffing pad....hmmm.
 

GA_Boater

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I'm with MT on trying the CLR first. That stuff works great on scale, soap scum and lime build up. Use the leftover to clean your coffee pot, works great for that too.
 

Pusher

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Okay, I'll pick up sone CLR. How much scrubbing should I expect, so I can guage whether to bail on the elbow grease and buy the sander or not?
 

MTboatguy

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My wife does the showers and all she does is put some in a spray bottle, and then sprays it on the dry tile, lets it settle, turns on the shower and rinses the doors off, repeat as needed.

I just asked her again and she likes both CLR as well as good old white vinegar and water, spray in a spray bottle and wipe down after it sits for about ten minutes, then rinse.
 

JASinIL2006

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Shouldn't need to scrub at all; maybe just a light wipe. CLR is good stuff. I will use vinegar for light scaling, but CLR seems to be better on heavy stuff.
 

BWR1953

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Do a google search for drill shower brush. There are a variety of bristle types. Plenty of them out there to attach to a hand drill and they'll really scrub an old shower especially when combined with CLR or other strong cleaner. Might need to use a heavy duty drill for 14 y.o. scum though. :eek:

Something like so:

 

Pusher

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Awesome guys. Clearly, I am not as domesticated as I assumed! Haha, went from buying a new tool to a bottle of CLR šŸ˜‚

I'll get the sander if Fred Meyer's trucker made it over the pass and return it if not used. Sounds like I'll be putting the money straight into a nicer buffer. WIN!
 

Pusher

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Do a google search for drill shower brush. There are a variety of bristle types. Plenty of them out there to attach to a hand drill and they'll really scrub an old shower especially when combined with CLR or other strong cleaner. Might need to use a heavy duty drill for 14 y.o. scum though. :eek:

Something like so:


I will be ordering that tonight BWR. Thanks for sharing!

FM was still out of stock and the CLR didn't knock the calcium buildup down much. I decided to go with the DeWalt (DWE6423K) since it has the 3 year guarantee and more amps. I'll try to hit the boat this spring and if it burns out I'll be able to return it for a replacement.... That's the idea anyway.

I pulled the doors off and laid them flat to soak in Bar Keepers Friend. It seems to have a bit of a buffing nature to it. So I stuck a scuff pad to the velcro "loop & hook" and crancked the DA Sander to full. After a few passes and reapplying more BKF the doors came out real nice. I scratched the glass a bit with 220 (shouldn't have tried that) but managed to buff it out with the cleaning compound (THANKFULLY).

I kind of went rogue on everyone's advice but I do appreciate the feedback. It helped with the heartburn and gave me a good plan B.

image_257765.jpg

image_257766.jpg

image_257767.jpg
 

JASinIL2006

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Sounds like maybe it was soap residue more than lime, esp. if CLR wouldn't take it off.
 

Pusher

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You may just be right. Whatever it was, it was nasty! When the razor blade had a tough time with it I knew it was time to escalate things :)
 

WIMUSKY

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FM was still out of stock and the CLR didn't knock the calcium buildup down much. I decided to go with the DeWalt (DWE6423K) since it has the 3 year guarantee and more amps. I'll try to hit the boat this spring and if it burns out I'll be able to return it for a replacement.... That's the idea anyway.

Good choice. Now you should have it forever. DeWalt is the top o line B&D. I have a bunch of DeWalt power tools. No failures yet.
 

gm280

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Pusher, I use a few DeWalt sanders and been using them for years and years. I had to replace one bearing in one of them in all those years of usage. And since the bearing was a standard bearing, a replacement was easy peasy. So you shouldn't have any problems. They are very highly rated. JMHO
 

Pusher

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Glad to hear it gentlemen! Someone on another forum said the static from a shop vac fried the variable speed switch on two separate units so I was kind of hesitant. The B&D unit's VS switch wasn't doing it for me though. Glad you guys are having such good luck.
 
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