An "orbital" sander unlike a "DA" which can be set on "orbital" or straight spinning like a grinder is it ONLY is an "orbital" sander. The "Palm" style orbitals are to die for. A good quality orbital sander like Hutchins or DynaBrade are SOOOOOO nice to work with. These are 6" disc sanders what "orbit" out of a circle creating a sort of spirograph sort of pattern. They create less heat, less scratches, less chance to of digging in to a body line, etc. They are VERY valuable tools.
I don't ever use my "DA" for anything other than "metal finishing" using a 120 grit disc in the grinder mode.
These orbital sanders can be bought with such a fine pattern (the closer the orbiting patterns are together the more "gentle" it is) you can cut clear with 2000 and finer paper and buff it!
You can "block" plastic filler with them they run so flat and smooth. Though you should always go back over your plastic filler to be sure it is flat, or over large areas of course you would need to. But believe me, you can get good enough with these orbitals to get it darn flat.
This is not limited to 6" by the way. I have two National Detroit 8" "Bondo hogs"
as they are commonly called. These tools are THE BEST for cutting large flat plastic filler projects. They are pricy at about $250.00 but if they were a thousand dollars I would still have one in my box.
