Best sander for dedicated door refinishing??

[PuertaNueva]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have a door refinishing business. I go to my clients’ home/business and restrain/seal their wood doors, door frames and trim. I don’t remove the door (this is a one man operation and the process takes multiple days).  So, mostly vertical sanding.

The process starts with removing old varnish/poly and stain, then finish sanding, restraining and final top coating/sealing. I need a sander that can take off varnish and finish sand better than my B&D Mouse sander.

The DTS seems to be the best bet that I’ve researched. It’s no doubt a great finish sander but will it easily take off varnish? The RO90 was my first choice but it seems heavy and harder to use for long periods of vertical work. 

 

[Peter_C]

There is no one sander does it all. I would mostly use a ETS EC 150 for the majority and then something like a DTS. I only have an RO90 currently though for delta sanding. Dust extraction for sure!

Why wouldn't you pull the door? No way would I sand like that for hours. Much more comfortable to sand the door with it on stands. Plus how are you accessing the hinge side?

 

[AlexThePalex]

Kind of odd to me you only do doors. I do entire houses and basically everything that needs paints, and doors is just a small part of the business. But each to his own.

I have 7 different Festool sanders to choose from, and for the door itself I always use the ETS 125, which I call my "door specialist". For the door frame I use the DTS 400. The DTS is perfect for all the hooks an crannies of frames and the long but thin straight parts. An RTS does also fine.

But I totally do not like the DTS on the door itself because it leaves very visible swirls when the paper picks up some caked paint or other debris. I've found that that problem hardly exists with my ETS 125 (old type) with its 2 mm stroke, and really leaves the finest finish. Problem on doors is, you see everything, so you need to sand it perfectly smooth, and random orbit is simply finer than orbital.

I prefer not to take out the door either, unless the frame is in such a bad state that it needs heavy sanding.

Both the ETS and DTS will take off varnish easily with 80 or 120 grit paper.

And yes, always use dust extraction. The CT Mini is perfect for a painter.

 

[PuertaNueva]

[member=50292]Peter_C[/member]  I don’t pull the door b/c it would leave the client’s house open to the elements, critters and unwelcome guests. Staining and multiple varnish coats require several days drying time. Also the doors are always solid wood exterior doors—heavy and usually a two-man job to remove/rehang.

So I leave ‘em up.

[member=5277]Alex[/member]  I only do doors b/c there are thousands of them where I operate.

I never paint—always stain. Who would paint a beautiful, solid wood door??

I agree that random orbital is the best for finishing. Trying to balance purpose and practicality—eventually I’d like multiple sanders for the fastest, most perfect finish.

 

[Peter_C]

OP it would be good to put your country of residence for linking things too.

[member=50292]Peter_C[/member]  I don’t pull the door b/c it would leave the client’s house open to the elements, critters and unwelcome guests. Staining and multiple varnish coats require several days drying time. Also the doors are always solid wood exterior doors—heavy and usually a two-man job to remove/rehang.

So I leave ‘em up.

What about building a temporary door setup out of plywood you screw to the house with a lock setup. Could be setup to adjust for width, etc, and although ugly with a threshold could get you a couple of days to refinish the clients door(s) in your shop if you have one. Think taking a piece of ply, cutting it down a little, then cutting the middle out, adding hinges, and a lock setup.

Or just throw up a piece of plywood over the door frame and let the client enter and exit thru another door. Screw holes have to be addressed, but you know how to paint/refinish!

As to removal a couple of the solo door installers with rollers and screw jacks built in could allow you to do it solo. Of course manuvering down stairs would require a dolly or the like. It most likely could be done solo though.http://hardnoxllc.com/https://www.contractors-solutions.net/doorminator-door-installation-handler.aspxhttps://www.americanbuildersoutlet.com/doorjak100-heavy-duty-portable-door-installation-jacks.html

Maybe wouldn't work for every door or double doors, but anything I can do to make a job simpler is usually worth it.

 

[PuertaNueva]

I’ve thought about door removal, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth. And most of my clients don’t want the door removed. Just easier to leave it up.

60% of the doors are doubles. Most of those 8 footers.

Staining and varnishing are easy and just a few hours of work. Sanding and varnish/topcoat removal take the longest, so I try to speed that up as much as possible. I can afford one sander and dust extractor. Eventually I'll add another, and maybe an LS so I don't have to hand-sand trim and moldings. (Maybe even use LS on door frame?)

 

[Peter_C]

Reads like you do a lot of plantation type doors. I am sure they are beautiful homes what ever they are. Having a niche can be a good thing too. Everyone is going to love almost dust free sanding. You will have a higher profit in time saved, and look very professional

For edge sanding a ETS REQ or the ETSC cordless version with an edge guide would be nice to have too, down the road. (The LS sander is slow, but for profile sanding there aren't many other options.)

 

[PuertaNueva]

Beautiful doors and homes—I enjoy the work.

Can’t stress how much I need dust extraction—the clean up takes time I could use for other things.

Pretty sure I will add more sanders—the detail sanding for moldings and carved features can take ridiculous amounts of time. Thought about the LS or even a Surfprep Ray just for that purpose, but that’s a future purchase. Got a mop sanding wheel for my drill on order for a job coming up—will see how it works.

Wondering if there’s a soft pad I could add/mod to whichever sander I buy. Set to lowest speed and use a 150/180 grit to sand trim/moldings. I’d have to find some old pieces to experiment with before attempting on a client’s door.

 

[Peter_C]

This is still the sander I would recommend you get, which is the ETS EC 150/5 (5 is for 5mm stroke). Sanding speed is adjustable.https://www.festoolusa.com/products...rbital-sander/575051---ets-ec1505-eq-plus-usa

For that sander there are different pad hardness' available and also interface pads in two thicknesses. This interface pad is soft and thick and will work great.https://www.festoolusa.com/accessory/203351---ip-stf-d150mj2-151

 

[PuertaNueva]

That is an awesome sander that would make quick work of sanding. Stacking interface pads and using the softer sanding pads would give me non-destructive profile sanding too.

I need to just buy the ETs and the DTS—problem solved!

I appreciate the input and the help.