The National Detroit Story

Roy Champayne founded National Air Sander, Inc. in 1939. Before World War I Roy worked in his Fathers wagon repair shop in Cedar City, MI. As automobiles became more popular, he expanded the shop to include radiator repair and auto-body repair.

In 1925, Roy decided to move to California to work in his brother's body shop. He got as far as Rockford, IL when car problems stranded him. Not having enough funds to repair his car and continue his trip, Roy went to work for a body shop in Rockford and decided to stay.

After a couple of years, Roy started his own shop, the Rockford Body & Fender Works. As Roy's business grew and prospered, he began experimenting in the basement of his home with an air-driven fender hammer of his own design. After further experimentation, the design was patented and manufacturing began at the National Sewing Machine Co. in Belvidere, IL. The fender hammer was sold under the names of various other manufacturers.

Roy soon started to experiment with an air driven block sander for his own use. The design proved to be very successful, and was soon flooded with requests from other body men for his "air sander". As orders grew, Roy moved from his basement into a larger more suitable building and started manufacturing under the name of National Air Sander.

In the mid 50's, National Air Sander acquired Detroit Surfacing Machine, an air tool company in Detroit. At that time, everything was moved to Rockford and National Air Sander was renamed National Detroit.

About that same time, the model DA sander was developed. This tool completely revolutionized the world of sanding. When the model DA sander was released, 5 & 6-inch round disk abrasive was almost non-existent. They were told that this type of sander would not sell, so, National Detroit contracted with an abrasive company and became, for several years, the largest distributor in the world for 5 & 6-inch disc abrasives. Since then, even before the patents on the DA/DAQ sanders ran out, the model DAQ sander had become the most copied sander in the world.

Over the years National Detroit has developed and patented many of the sanding actions that are being used today, including dual action (DA/DAQ), Jitterbug (400), Gear Driven/Hog (900), Orbital File Board (FB8 & 2200) and several others.

As sanding applications evolve, National Detroit is constantly striving to develop new sanders and improve our existing tools, without sacrificing the quality of our sanders and service that our valued customers have come to expect And as they always have, National Detroit sanders continue to be proudly made in the U.S.A. at our manufacturing facility in Rockford, IL.

National Detroit Sanders have always been and are still "The Sanders that set the Standards."