I bought a hutchins straight line sander and never use it. They sound good on paper for your arms but the thing only strokes a 1/4" vs. a long block stroking as long as your reach. No comparison for quality and speed.
A guy I know let me borrow a hutchins orbital board sander and it was better than the inline but still felt like I was just wasting time.
Funny Datec I'm the complete opposite. I had both the reciprocating and orbital Hutchins, never liked either one. For my size hand the handle and trigger were awkward. Used a Viking and several cheap IR knockoffs mainly over the years. At one time I used it a lot but the last few years almost never. Especially on new cars and trucks. Metal is so thin now it makes it hard to keep the tool from flexing the panel. I use a grater alot now and an extra extra coarse body file (5 or 6 TPI). Work it down with the grater, use the 14" body file, then hand block. Just as fast and more accurate than the air longboard. Certain situations the 8" Mudhog works but I pretty much only hand sand filler now.
A Mud Hog would be nice and I want to get one but getting the boss to buy the paper for it.... well that ain't gonna happen.
that sux to have a boss like that. with the amount of labor he would save on a big job it would pay for the paper in the first day lol
Thanks guys. Anything is better than shoulder surgery, so I'm going to give both the Hutchins straight line sander and the mud hog a try. Would anyone with either one of these tools collecting dust want to sell them?
Yea it kinda does at times. But on the other hand I kinda understand, in a way, 90% of what we do is insurance work because we are a PRO shop for multiple Co.'s and what they pay us for in the estimate for materials is a joke.
I've always wanted to get one for the work I do in my shop and you guys got me thinking on it again. How you like the IR compared to the Hutchins?