Orbital Sanders

[Kevin DeShazo]

For those smarter than I, and theres a lot of ya, educate me. My wife and I are planning on repainting our old oak cabinets.

Current plan is to sand down the current paint, grain fill the oak grain, prime and paint.

From what Ive seen of Youtube vids, an orbital sander has been the go to tool for the job. Im assuming for this type of job a corded one would be better for 20+ cabinet doors and cabinet boxes.

I do have a square sheet sander, will that suffice for the job or am I better off with an orbital sander.

Other than this project, I wont need a sander all that often, so I dont need top of the line, but at least something that is up to job.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I have a harbor freight one. Use it as a polisher or sander comes with a hook and loop pad. I bought a smooth pad to put on it so I could use sticky back sanding disks. They're cheaper and you get more of them than the hook and loop sanding disk.

 

[normanaj]

Don't skimp on a sander especially when it comes to cabinetry,I'm not saying go and buy a Festool orbital but look at a decent brand name sander.

Grain filling can present some challenges especially on previously painted surfaces. An important thing to know is if your cabinetry is solid or veneered because that will determine the amount of sanding you'll be able to do,veneered will severely limit the amount of sanding.And it will also help to know what type of paint was used for the previous paint job. Both these things will determine how and what type of grain filler to use.

Best case scenario: solid wood and oil based paint. Here you would be able to do some judicious sanding and be able to remove most of the paint and with oil-based paint sanding is much easier and you'll be able to use a quality oil-based grain filler. After a full set/cure you prime it with an oil-based primer. At this point you can use whatever paint you want but I'm oil guy from start to finish with painted cabinetry.

Mid case scerario: solid wood and water-based finish.You can still to do a good sand job which will absolutely help with adehesion. Unless you chemically strip the paint that will be left in the grain after sanding you'll need to use a water-based filler and primer/paint, not as good as above but better than below.

Worst case scenario: veneer and latex/acrylic paint. You'll really only be able to do enough sanding to dull the paint and be careful not to burn through the veneer when using a sander,even though it will be painted again you'll be able to pick it up through the paint.You'll pretty much be stuck with a water-based filler/spackle. You'll be limited with your primer/paint too. Still completely doable but will truly never be as durable or long lasting as the above scenario(s).

In any case your filler should be of a neutral color regardless of top coat color.

 

[chopsaw]

I wont need a sander all that often, so I dont need top of the line, but at least something that is up to job.

I recently bought one for the shop . I looked at the Harbor freight brands , and they had a good price , but only if you were a member . So I passed .
Ended up at Lowes and they had this one on sale . It was cheaper than the ones at Harbor freight , and a great sander . I have several sanders , but I do a lot of sanding . I think it was $29.00 normal price marked down to $19.99 . That was a sale though . Model no. is SR211601 .
I like the hook and loop myself . I would go corded .

Current plan is to sand down the current paint, grain fill the oak grain, prime and paint.

Cabinet style ? Solid , flat or raised panel ? Oak I'm assuming a style and rail with some sort of panel .
Gonna used stripper ?
Painting same color ?

Mark the doors for location as well as the hinges . So it all goes back as it was .

 

[normanaj]

flat or raised panel

I did not add that to my response and yes that's important too! Raised panel will require hand sanding and/or stripping (strip first of course).

 

[BugHunter]

I'm a bit of a tool snob, so when it comes to brand, I tend to buy really nice stuff. I despise using crappy tools. If you've got 20 doors, that's a lot of sanding. I agree 100% on getting a corded sander.

I buy virtually all my electric tools from CPO Outlets. I've been buying there perhaps 20 years or more. Countless tools. I'm really partial to Bosch and Makita, but I won't rant about that here. And the fact is I have a Milwaukee orbital sander that's a decent tool. Though the sanding pad did disintegrate and need replaced. I will not own a DeWalt or some other common brands. Seen their quality too many times. I do own one other Milwaukee tool, a super sawzall, but that was from the days nobody else made such a thing.

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They show one that's a square pad as well. Not sure if that's beneficial to doing your cabinet faces or not. Mine with the dust catcher gizmo actually works pretty nice. It's also very easy to empty. Please use breathing protection when sanding paint and consider doing it outdoors.

 

[chopsaw]

I did not add that to my response and yes that's important too! Raised panel will require hand sanding and/or stripping (strip first of course).

Yeah . You mentioned laytex paint above . I have flash backs of paint balling up using a sander .
Something else about raised or flat panel doors , is the tongue that fits into the style and rail . I always stained them first , before installing the style and rail . Otherwise expansion / contraction can show bare wood / old paint . Been a long time since I built any doors , but was looking at my set up yesterday .

 

[Steve H]

I have the Wen 6305 3.7 amp 5 inch variable speed random orbital sander. I've used the heck out of. The variable speed is a big plus.

 

[gmc2003]

You can always go the strypeeze route, and then hand sand.

Chris

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Ill have to look at the paint that was left for us, not sure who painted the cabinets but like a lot of other things in the house, the previous owners purchased the house from a flipper, who really just put lip stick on a pig and left some shotty work for someone else to fix.

As for breathing protection, I have a 3M 6000 mask w filters at my disposal, I happen to be a our mask fit tester at the office and yes we were planning on doing the sanding outside.

Appreciate all the help, def things to think about . My wife has watched a ton of youtube vids of one particular guy whos videos are mostly him repainting cabinets and the insane amount of prep work that goes into filling the grain on the cabs to get a smooth finish.

 

[chopsaw]

Ill have to look at the paint that was left for us,

Touch up maybe . Whole job I would buy new , correct paint . Don't do all that work and use paint left behind . If it was flipped , probably cheap paint anyway .

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Touch up maybe . Whole job I would buy new , correct paint . Don't do all that work and use paint left behind . If it was flipped , probably cheap paint anyway .

Only looking at it to determine is it oil, latex, water based, I have no plans on using old paint, plus, its not the correct color we want to paint the cabs.

 

[normanaj]

If you have any paint specific questions I've been a painting contractor for 35 years so ask away.

 

[chopsaw]

@Kevin DeShazo I know you know what you're doing . I always tell people " Don't tell me I was driving bad after I run off the road "

Norm has helped me with paint questions / issues . Knows his stuff .
Interested in the results .

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

@Kevin DeShazo I know you know what you're doing . I always tell people " Don't tell me I was driving bad after I run off the road "

Norm has helped me with paint questions / issues . Knows his stuff .
Interested in the results .

Ill take any and all advice I can get. Trying to prepare myself for the potential task at hand and how to get the results that will make the Mrs happy without replacing the cabinets.

 

[ifitsdeadsmokeit]

Time is money. Have you looked at just buying new doors ready to paint and hardware and only paint the frames/bases? I hate to paint though and would hate to do all that sanding even more.

 

[BugHunter]

Time is money. Have you looked at just buying new doors ready to paint and hardware and only paint the frames/bases? I hate to paint though and would hate to do all that sanding even more.

I'm with ya there. I'd have to decide which I'd prefer more, sanding 20+ doors or a sharp stick in the eye...