Some folk are asking…. “Is the Contour SCT as good as everyone says?”. The short answer is “Yes, it’s that good!”. But I’m sure you may want to know what exactly makes the Eastwood SCT the best stripping and conditioning tool on the market!
Direct Drive Gearbox – A weak point in any motor driven sander is the way it is linked to the “business end” of the tool. Because of the inline design of the tool Eastwood needed a way to connect the abrasive arbor and the motor itself. A pulley and belt or similar would surely be a weak point and could potentially cause slipping when you really leaned into the tool. So Eastwood decided to use hardened metal gears inside a gearbox to make the tool a direct drive. This means there is little to no loss in power to the wheel and no chance for slippage. The gears are lubricated from the factory and don’t require maintenance. They overbuilt the gearbox so you’ll find you’d smoke the motor before the gearbox gives up!
Inline Sanding Surface– One big thing they considered when designing the SCT was comfort and safety. One of those huge 10″ angle grinders may be unstoppable but boy are they dangerous if you catch an edge! They also looked at burnishers on the market and they all had the abrasive wheel hanging off the side of the tool. This made the tool extremely unbalanced and could cause uneven sanding and make it hard to get into tight areas. Eastwood also wanted a tool that had some weight to it so you didn’t need to push down hard to make it work. Much like a large buffer you let the weight of the tool and the speed of the wheel spinning do the work. They put the abrasive wheel directly in front of the motor and inline with the handle so you can see what you’re doing and keep you comfortable for hours of stripping on larger jobs. This also keeps the motor and handle inline with the stripping surface so you can get into tighter areas with it.
Large Contact Area – The biggest problems with other rotary stripping tools is that they only contact a small area when abrading the surface. Eastwood wanted a tool that could make quick work of large panels like hoods, roofs, fenders, quarter panels, etc. They found the sweet spot was hanging a huge 4″ wide spindle over the front of the motor. This gives you a large contact area to strip and condition metal with. When you couple the tool with one of the Eastwood heavy stripping wheels it will hammer down through layers of paint, filler, and primer! If you want to strip smaller areas or body details you can then quickly swap to our Narrow stripping wheels to keep from wearing your large drums on the edges. We suggest doing all of the large areas of a panel first with the 4″ drums and coming back with the narrow drum to take care of the hard to reach areas.
Powerful Motor – When Eastwood were designing the Contour SCT they wanted to tackle any issues they’ve had with other stripping tools. One of the biggest complaints about mechanically stripping a vehicle is the time it takes and waiting for the tool to “catch up”. You can bog a tool down pretty easily when stripping layers of old paint and body filler. Eastwood looked at tools that were hard to bog down and what they were using for motors and drives. In the “old days” a lot of body shops used big 8″-10″ grinders that you couldn’t stop if you wanted. They decided to use something similar for power and they landed on a massive 9 Amp Motor that is similar to what is used on industrial buffer-polishers and large sanders. The variable speed option they thought would help you change from delicate polishing or sanding up to all-out stripping madness with the right abrasive.
The Summary….. We’ve put this tool through its paces and so have our customers! We believe this tool is great for both a weekend warrior and a professional alike. We also offer Eastwood’s 3 year warranty on this tool….. so buy with confidence!
