Tool Recommend request - For sanding and striping panels and such

[smullen]

I'm wanting to sand the crap out of my floor boards to get all the paint and rust off to help decide what too do with them.

I'm not sure what exactly its made of, but there is some type of plastic sheeting covering from the flat part of the floor pan, most of the way up the angled foot panel towards the firewall.
It look to be factory and painted factory body color.

I'll likely use it on fenders, the bed, frame, things to be welded and other areas too. Looks like it has media in various grits from Coarse to fine....
But the 1st use is the floor pan.

I think I'd rather have electric than Air, given the choice.
So, I was thinking one of these HF - 9 Amp Surface Conditioning Tool

 

[CalSgt]

That rubber liner is a PIA to get off, I don't recommend using powered abrasives to get it off. It starts to melt and throw melted rubber on everything. I used a gasket scrapper to get mine 90% removed then gave up, the corners and a few other spots were too difficult.

I looked at those tools too, eastwood and a bunch of company's are pimping them around. They seem neat but if you already have a good compliment of tools are not necessary. A D/A will do a great job on fenders and bedsides, so does chemical stripper if they are that bad.

I used a couple of the rust & paint stripping wheels that mount in an angle die grinder recently and was thoroughly impressed with them for stripping seam sealer out of my door jambs. They quickly stripped all paint and sealer down to bare clean metal.


Here you can see the few spots I wasn't able to get the rubber floor liner up.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[smullen]

That rubber liner is a PIA to get off, I don't recommend using powered abrasives to get it off. It starts to melt and throw melted rubber on everything. I used a gasket scrapper to get mine 90% removed then gave up, the corners and a few other spots were too difficult.

I looked at those tools too, eastwood and a bunch of company's are pimping them around.

They seem neat but if you already have a good compliment of tools are not necessary. A D/A will do a great job on fenders and bedsides, so does chemical stripper if they are that bad.

I used a couple of the rust & paint stripping wheels that mount in an angle die grinder recently and was thoroughly impressed with them for stripping seam sealer out of my door jambs. They quickly stripped all paint and sealer down to bare clean metal.


Here you can see the few spots I wasn't able to get the rubber floor liner up.

You must be registered for see images attach

Thanks for the reply. Rubber not plastic. Probably much more accurate. I've never seen some crap that was on like that. They for sure meant for it too stay.

I wonder about a scraper and a torch like you heat plumbing pipes with??? I bought one of those not long ago for making a Ham Radio Antenna.

This is my 1st old truck and my 1st vehicle that I really used more than a socket set and wiring tools on for cutting, striping and terminating 0 gauge power, 10 gauge speaker and maybe some RCAs I made to length. So, I don't have much in the tool arsenal yet. I'm just now starting to build that up. I've been making frequent trips to HF, Menards and Lowes. I live outside a small rural farm town and we don't have anything here. I have to drive 30 mins or so North or over an hour SE to the closest big towns, even in them, there is not much choice...

 

[CalSgt]

Thanks for the reply. Rubber not plastic. Probably much more accurate. I've never seen some crap that was on like that. They for sure meant for it too stay.

I wonder about a scraper and a torch like you heat plumbing pipes with??? I bought one of those not long ago for making a Ham Radio Antenna.

This is my 1st old truck and my 1st vehicle that I really used more than a socket set and wiring tools on for cutting, striping and terminating 0 gauge power, 10 gauge speaker and maybe some RCAs I made to length. So, I don't have much in the tool arsenal yet. I'm just now starting to build that up. I've been making frequent trips to HF, Menards and Lowes. I live outside a small rural farm town and we don't have anything here. I have to drive 30 mins or so North or over an hour SE to the closest big towns, even in them, there is not much choice...

Yeah I'm in the same boat for being rural, we do have a walmart & a tractor supply though. Nearest big town for me is Reno NV an hour & a half to the south, or Chico CA 2 hours South/West. Amazon has been the best thing ever for rural living, there is an Amazon distribution in Reno so we get our packages super fast.

You could try a small torch or heat gun & scraper to test it out. Mine just took elbow grease and time. Mine wasn't struck very well in spots which is why I stripped it. The drivers side was peeling up all over I think because I had a hydraulic clutch master cylinder leak into the cab when I was a kid. Then the passenger side just had some bubbles that weren't stuck down. If it had been stuck really well I would have just left it in place.

This is the type of scraper I used, I tried a 3" wide paint scraper and thin flexible 1.5" putty knife but they wouldn't do it.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Yeah. Blowtorch and one of those screwdriver shaped scrapers should work. Heat gun is probably safer. I did the same for old seam sealer.

As to what tools to buy: if you are just starting out I would go for a little more versatility than that surface conditioner that requires those barrel cartridges.

A good DA sander would be good and probably a lot more versatile because you can do heavy stripping as well as finer finishing with it. It’s hard to beat a good air powered DA but you need air.

I have a Makita that does both DA and rotary stripping (real aggressive). It’s pretty nifty and it’s electric. Not cheap but it’s an example of something more flexible (can actually be a polisher too) than what you are looking at. I got it years ago before I had good shop air.