Hi everyone,

I am nearly done with the kayak (last coat of Varnish next week) and I am debating to get a random orbit sander now. I would like it for two purposes: Paint stuff around the house and polishing the kayak. I decided that I will sand the final coat up to 2000 grid and than use #2 and #9 polishing compounds.

I don't expect a ROS wiht 1/8 orbit does a good job for polishing. The soft pad will deflect too much and I'll get very little action on the surface. Makita makes a ROS (BO6040 which has a 7/32 orbit with a max of 5800 OPM. This ROS has also a mode which allows you to run it in a non ROS mode up to 670 RPM. This is the bottom end for polishing. Typically ~1700 rpm would be a good speed for polishing.

What do you guys think: Will this be a lousy ROS and a poor polisher? The BO6040 is expensive, but it seems that I can get a reasonable deal on it.

Andreas