Using the Metabo SXA 18 LTX 150 BL 18V Brushless 6-inch Random Orbital Sander to sand some 8/4 Purpleheart proved to be a great test. Purpleheart has a Janka rating of 1860, making it one of the hardest hardwoods normally available. Most cordless random orbital sanders max out at 5″, so we’re glad to see Metabo releasing this 6-inch brushless orbital. We can’t wait to try it out on some automotive bodywork as well. Most of the autobody industry uses 6″ sanders and discs. #metabo #sander #review
Metabo SXA 18 LTX 150 BL Sander:
Keep current with our great content:
YouTube:
Instagram:
TikTok:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Metabo 6-in cordless random orbital Sander we've seen lots of cordless 5 in Random orbital sanders from the tool Industry but we haven't seen a lot of 6-in diameter cordless random orbital Sanders and that's what we have here From Metabo this runs on their 18vt Platform let's dive in take a closer Look and then we'll use it and then We'll come back and talk about pricing And warranty so let's get out this new Metabo Sander we haven't really seen this Kitted uh but we've got a few batteries In here to use so we'll get out the Sander uh this is the sxa 18 LTX 150 BL Long model number there anyway we got a Couple of different batteries in here We'll use a dust bag And small 2 Amp Hour battery and then We've got some different sanding disc We're going to Use so this is the Metabo 6-in brushless Sander now there are a lot of cordless Sanders on the market uh especially from The tool Brands however most of them are in the 5in version or smaller we have not seen Many that have come out with a 6-in Version most of those are either Pneumatic or actually plugin power uh 6 In is used a lot in the automotive Industry and then obviously a lot of Painters things like that when they're
Maybe removing paint from homes and Things of that nature but again rarely Do you see a 6-in uh battery powered Random orbital sander so so we're Excited to use this a simple onoff Switch here on the front of the unit uh This skirt here on the front will show You that that is removable so you don't Have to use that um obviously that'll Guard against you hitting up against a Wall or something like that so the Sandpaper is actually not hitting that But then you can remove that if you're You know wanting to work a panel on a Car or a large wooden surface something Like that uh we get a dust Port here on The back I believe that's a 1 in External maybe 1 and e but we'll we'll Measure that here in a few moments uh But it is a brushless powered tool or a Brushless motor tool powered by their 18vt batteries and we get a speed dial Here where we can dial it uh from 0 to 12 so 12 different Power modes or speed Modes now there's really not a Designated uh number of rotations for Each one of those but it does go from Anywhere from 4,000 all the way up to 10,000 RPM now as I mentioned it is a 6in disc or a 6-in pad really it's a Little bit shorter than that but 150 mm So that's why you see in the model Number the 150 that's the designation For the diameter of 150 mm which is just
About 6 in the oscillations because it Is a random orbital so in addition to Spinning it's also orbiting uh the Orbits is anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 orbits permited and it is an 8 in Orbit or 3 mm so basically the the Little small rotation that's going to be A small 8 in rotation or 8 in orbit or 3 Mm which is pretty small when you look At pneumatic uh Sanders that would be Kind of the probably the finest usually Goes kind of 369 uh nine would be the Largest orbit or the most aggressive so It's defin definitely on the least Aggressive so it' be great for really Fine sanding um if you're really wanting To put a Polish on something now we do Get a dust bag uh that will attach here And by the way there's a big spring in Here that's going to keep that nice and Uh nice and open and keep that free of Of it just gumming up um so that will Help and then this is just going to Slide on here as you want to um or we Can hook up a dust extractor or vacuum To pull Dust Away from the tool we're Going to try both and see how well it Does you see the preparations the Perforations here in the pad itself and We're going to use some sandpaper Accordingly as well to be able to again Extract as much dust as we can so we'll See how well does the actual tool do it And then we'll actually see by hooking
Up a dust extractor and seeing how well It does so here on this guard all you Have to do is pull it away here on one Side and it just locks in with these uh Two little hooks or teeth here on either End of this so easy to pull that away if You need to so then again you get the Full uh circumference of that pad to be Sanding uh wherever you need to without That guard being in the way as I Mentioned a little short about e in Short of 6 in on the actual pad itself And we do get a hook and loop pad so any Of your hook and loop paper is going to Work fine it comes with one sheet of 120 Of 120 grit um we're really not going to Use the Sandpaper they're giving us We're going to use Mira sandpaper so That basically get flow through the Entire pad so that makes it a lot easier And we're going to start with some some Heavy grit and then work up to some fine Grit as well so we're going to do uh a Project that hopefully we can kind of Show that whole process and see how well It does we're also going to start with a 2 Amp Hour battery you can see here with A 2 Amp Hour that's got a nice slim Profile it's not much in the way it's Not too heavy um and by the way we we'll Weigh this here in a second as Well so again with that two amp hour That's really a great slim profile that Makes that a nice and balanced tool
However not sure how much run time we're Going to get out of a such a small Battery it might impress us but we will See because that sander is doing some Work for for sure and if you put the Large you know 5 1/2 amp hour battery on Here it's going to make it pretty tail Heavy it will work um and it kind of Stays out of your way but it is a little Tail heavy there as you can see So if you are using that larger battery There is going to be a difference in Feel on that Tool so with the 5 amp hour battery 5 lb 1 O and with the 2 Amp Hour battery 3 lb So about a pound and a qu lighter um With the 2 Amp Hour battery on There so still really not a heavy tool And in fact when you're sanding uh that Additional weight on that bigger battery Can definitely help it's just whether or Not you want that offset of kind of it Feeling tail heavy which again you're Typically putting a little pressure on Your palm anyway to offset any tail Heaviness but you just will notice that There's some uh some weight there on the Backs side if you're using the larger Battery overall the tool height is still Under 6 in about 5 and 1/2 in to the top Of the tool and again the pad's the Biggest thing at like 6 in and you got a Little tail section sticking out so
Overall about a 9in tool from the front To the back if you will with that 2 a Hour Battery so what we have in front of us Is a piece of I believe it's 84 purple Heart and purple heart has a Jenka or Heartness rating of 1860 which is Probably one of the hardest of the Common Hardwoods or the more common Hardwoods and purple hearts even Sometimes hard to get but typically you Can get it at most of your wood shops And again there are harder woods but of Anything that's kind of common this is Probably uh the hardest of them again at The jener rating of 18 60 uh and one Thing interesting here you see it's got A nice purple Hue to it and then it's Brownish up here the more the sunlight Gets to it it will actually start Turning to more of a brown uh but Sometimes you can get that purple back Really cool wood anyway this is very Rough Hune wood so you know as it came Out of the mill it's not been touched so Very rough up here so we're going to Start with some 60 grit with the Metabo So we've got Metabo And as I mentioned some uh Mira abret P60 or 60 grit and with it being pretty Much Seethrough so you can see that it Actually pulls through anywhere we don't Have to line up holes or anything like
That so it makes it very nice uh when You're sanding to be able to extract the Dust through there and at first we're Just going to use the dust bag to see How well that works and the dust bag Fits on there pretty Well got a little rubber lip there just Slides on hooks into place and by the Way it is oval it's kind of got an oval Shape so your flatter spot towards the Battery gives you a little more room There and I do have a full 2 Amp Hour 18vt Battery now we are going to start we're Going to put this let's just put it in The middle here we'll put it on say six Out of 12 and then we'll turn this on and we'll Get to Work Be honest it's very smooth uh you hear a Little vibration in it but I honestly Hear more than I'm actually feeling in My hand uh doesn't feel like it's doing A lot of work to to be honest I may bump Up the RPM in just one moment but I'm Going to leave it here on six and uh Kind of make a full Pass So very hard wood and again these uh Deep gouges here even for 60 grit it's Going to be a little rough getting these Out but we're going to stay at it and Going to bump that up to let's go to
Eight Very smooth sander yes you are feeling Some vibrations in there also I'm pretty Impressed with the amount of dust that We're picking up we have some residual That's floating around but really not a Lot collecting um not as much as I Thought there would be and again this is Just off Of the extraction from the sander itself Yeah we're definitely picking it up as You can see there in the dust Port so since this is so hard and since We do have some pretty deep grooves I'm Actually going to pull off our 60 we're going to go to a 40 grit pretty Aggressive and I know typically we'd run This under a planer to get this out but Testing the sander Right bump it up to 10 And typically with a sander a lot of Times they want to kind of walk on you And this is pretty easy to control Because it's got plenty of power it Doesn't let just the tool grab it's Actually doing the Work Okay I'm sure we sped things up for you So you're not watching those uh full Passes in real time as far as the sander Goes it's just doing a great job Powering through everything and very Smooth as well and plenty of power even
To turn that that 6in disc I was scared That you know maybe with the 5 in it Might be the same sander uh but again no Problems whatsoever of being able to Turn that 6in 40 grit disc and I only Have it in 10 I don't even have it in 12 Yet curious on our battery yeah it looks Like we've used up half of our battery And we're not off our 40 grit yet now I Am Curious at how much Stuff we're actually Collecting that's not bad that's a good Amount A good amount of Dust from just sanding on our first Couple of Passes okay now we're going to hook up Our dust Extractor to the unit and then let's do Some more sanding and see how we do Looks like our paper's still good You can see now everything is staying Really nice and clean so we have no Residual falling out very little if at All uh and everything is being contained In the dust extractor being pulled Out our deep grooves are still in here And I believe it's not going to come out Even with 40 grit just because of how Deep they are uh We've definitely made Good progress elsewhere just these deep Grooves are not coming Out and again we would have first hit
This with a planer before we ever Started sanding anyway but we want to Just see how well this would work on This harder purple heart just one cell Left on our Battery Okay I think our battery's finally going On the 2 Amp Hour so still pretty Impressive the amount of passes that we Made off of this little battery and Still have a cell left but we can tell The RPM are dropping so we're going to Go to the larger 5 1 12 amp hour Battery again a little larger not too Big of a Deal this little maabo is a very Impressive sander again plenty of power To turn uh even the 6 in with the 40 Grit uh and to be able to do the sanding Here on the this very hard wood now We're going to continue to go ahead and Uh try to polish this out or level this Out to make it make it look really nice But we'll go ahead and wrap this up if You want to finish kind of watching this Then we'll tag it on here at the end and Probably uh speed it up a bit uh but Just to show you how pretty this purple Heart can turn out so you'll notice here That we're getting higher in the grit Even though we're still at 80 grit which Is a pretty aggressive Pad but you'll Notice now that the pad itself is Actually rotating
Not just orbiting or oscillating but Actually the pad is rotating let me show You so in addition to the orbit the Pad's also going round and round with The 40 grit you won't notice that as Much the more aggressive it is the more The tougher it is to actually rotate Because the mechanical process in there Is actually making it orbit and then the Rotations are just happening off of that Orbit so the uh the actual rotations are Not a mechanical in other words it's not A forced Rotation but the higher you get in the Grits you do want to see more rotation Because that's going to give you a Smoother surface not that important at The 40 and 60 grip because that's just You're trying to hog out material and That's fine if it's just doing orbits But the more you get into a Polish stage Into the higher grips especially in that 22400 the more you want to have Rotations along with that orbit very Good work uh from the Metabo plenty of Power doing that job and uh with the 5 1/2 amp hour looks like we're about use That one up too but again we've gone From 40 grit to 60 to 80 to 120 to 220 And even 320 but being very aggressive On that 40 cutting this down that we Should have done with a planer First So now you can see with just a little
Bit of beeswax on it really turns a Different Shade you can also see the sides here Where you really see the purple coming Out uh the brown is more where the sun Is had a chance to kind Of react with it if you will and it will Start to turn more of a brown but that Reds will kind of come out once you can Compare it to something but got a really Good looking Hue to It one thing nice about a battery Powered sander is it sits up very nice On the battery the Metabo did a great Job on this purple heart even though it Was very hard for the most part it Leveled everything out except those uh Original Milling grooves that should Have been taken out with a planer but Again we tried to get really aggressive With the sander and let's face it with a Couple more sheets of 40 grit maybe Another battery we probably could have Gotten that out and then of course the Rest of the process of the 6080 120 220 And 320 would have leveled all that out And you wouldn't see those few stripes In there so we weren't out to get the Best finish possible we were just out to Actually test and review the sander and It did a great job on that we did go Through a uh 2 Amp Hour battery and most Of the 5 and 1 12 amp hour battery as Well but again getting very aggressive
On this wood typically you're just Hitting it maybe at a 80 stage then a 120 and then a 2 20 but we took it all Further to 320 and backed all the way Down to 40 grit trying to get out those Rough Mill markings from it original cut Now price on this is $230 for the bear Tool we have not seen it kitted with any Batteries or Chargers so basically you Get the box uh and the sander and I Think a one sheet of 120 grit for $230 And if you register the tool within 4 Weeks you get a threeyear warrranty on The tool and any batteries you purchase As well so check it out we'll have a Link in the description also keep track Of us on Instagram Facebook Twitter and Even Tik Tok and if you don't mind would You hit that like And subscribe button If you haven't done so already and by All means if you hated our video well Then give us a thumbs down but would you Let us know in the comments why have a Great day and keep Smiling