Sanding body filler can be a real mess. After many restorations and repairs, the shop is coated in a thick layer of filler/primer/paint dust. I was amazed when I hooked up our dust extractor (vacuum) to the AIRCAT 6700 6 Inch orbital sander, model 6700-6-336CV. This will change the way we sand in our shop forever, especially relevant to body-work on auto restorations.

We wrote about this sander in the Aircat 6 Inch Orbital Sander Central Vac first look article a few weeks back.

AIRCAT 6700 6 Inch Orbital Sander Performance

We tested the AIRCAT 6700 on a car door in the shop. The sander worked very well, with very little vibration and the sound was much quieter than typical air tools. However, immediately upon sanding, the residual dust of the body filler began to pile up on the door. In addition to the filler piling up, it also began floating in the air and falling to the floor. This stuff makes a mess everywhere, not just in a specific place.

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After cleaning up the dust made from sanding a few minutes, we decided to hookup the vacuum to the dust extraction port on the AIRCAT 6700 6 inch orbital sander. This was a brand new experience, since there was very little to no dust left behind. By sanding on the reverse contour of the lower door, as a result I could get the filler dust to pile up. With just a single pass over the dust, the six (6) ports in the sanding disk and pad sucked the dust into the vacuum.

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Final Words

The 6 inch orbital sander worked great and felt great. Power can be throttled with a pneumatic valve on the left side of the sander. The throttle can be adjusted with the the thumb of the user’s right hand (left side of the tool). Check out the full review on the website.

The AIRCAT 6700-6-336CV 6 inch orbital sander can be purchased for under $150, hence much less than other sanders with dust collection. In addition, the AIRCAT 6700 6 inch orbital sander comes with a 2-year warranty.