Can I get real 220-grit sand quality out of a RO-150?

[cvandermey]

I gather that the ideal sander for finish sanding is the ES-150/3 since the stroke is 3mm and the circle pattern is very small.  But for finish sanding panels, I'd prefer to just stick with the RO-150 w/ its 6" pad and go to 220 and work in random, rather than picking up a second tool. 

Today, I use a 5" dewalt random orbit - which is supposedly 3/32" (if my math is right, that's 2.3814MM).  It is _slow_ though!

Any experience with RO-150 as a finish sander with higher grits?

 

[tbellemare]

Yes, you can...

The classic demo' for a Rotex 150 is to start with a mill rough piece of something like mahogany and take it to polished in a few minutes.

I hold it by the tail and let it float in RO mode. It works great!

Tom

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Welcome to the forum.

While the quality of the video isn't great, here's what Tom's referring to.

Festool RO 150 Sanding to a Polish

I really should re-shoot this in HD.

 

[dltflt]

I have used my Ro150 to finish a project with no problems.

 

[agehall]

I really should re-shoot this in HD.

Please do. It would be great to see this in HD. Also, could you explain why you go to rotex as you move to finer grit? I honestly thought it would be the other way around...

 

[cvandermey]

Do you finish to 150, 220, or?

FWIW, I find the Festool grit grading system a bit, uh, confusing.  "Solids" isn't clear to me what it means.

I mainly work in solid hardwoods and cabinet plywood - what's the preferred abrasive class?

 

[tbellemare]

For the higher grits on bare wood, I'd use Brilliant2 or Granat. For the lower grits on bare wood, I'd use Rubin, Brilliant2, Granat, or Cristal. It would depend on the shape and what I had at hand.

Tom

 

[Alan m]

[welcome] to the fog.
i often (sometimes when to lazy to do anything else) take a piece of rough saw wood from the lumber yard and sand it smooth and up to paint grade 220 grit . it works perfectly for a small job

 

[cvandermey]

Thanks guys - super helpful.  Especially the video - I've never sanded to 4k before - now I'm sorely tempted!

And to think I just bought a TS55 & OF2200...now I have to add an RO150...

 

[tbellemare]

I've never sanded to 4k before

It gets to be more of a burnishing.

Tom

 

[AlexThePalex]

You can get as fine a finish as you want with the Rotex, no problem.

 

[Sam Murdoch]

Yes, you can...

The classic demo' for a Rotex 150 is to start with a mill rough piece of something like mahogany and take it to polished in a few minutes.

I hold it by the tail and let it float in RO mode. It works great!

Tom

"I hold it by the tail and let it float in RO mode. It works great!" Really? RO is your finishing mode? I haven't had much luck with RO mode getting out all the swirls unless I am willing to sand with 220 grit or above. Is that the same in your case? I have been sanding pine recently and have been really disappointed to have all the swirls light up after staining. Haven't wanted to go past 180 grit Brilliant for fear of burnishing the wood to the extent that the stain wouldn't take but the swirls have beat me up & I ended up resanding by hand. That  [tongue]. Obviously I'm still learning how to use the RO (mine is the 125). Have had very good results finishing hard woods for an oil finish but the recent pine project has been humbling & frustrating. If it wasn't for the great dust control of Festool I'd go back to using the Dynabrade DAs. Reading the forum for advice. Thanks.

 

[mouppe]

Yes, you can...

The classic demo' for a Rotex 150 is to start with a mill rough piece of something like mahogany and take it to polished in a few minutes.

I hold it by the tail and let it float in RO mode. It works great!

Tom

"I hold it by the tail and let it float in RO mode. It works great!" Really? RO is your finishing mode? I haven't had much luck with RO mode getting out all the swirls unless I am willing to sand with 220 grit or above. Is that the same in your case? I have been sanding pine recently and have been really disappointed to have all the swirls light up after staining. Haven't wanted to go past 180 grit Brilliant for fear of burnishing the wood to the extent that the stain wouldn't take but the swirls have beat me up & I ended up resanding by hand. That  [tongue]. Obviously I'm still learning how to use the RO (mine is the 125). Have had very good results finishing hard woods for an oil finish but the recent pine project has been humbling & frustrating. If it wasn't for the great dust control of Festool I'd go back to using the Dynabrade DAs. Reading the forum for advice. Thanks.

I think you nailed it when you mentioned pine. Pine is totally different.

Because pine is so soft, it sands very easily and swirl marks from low grit paper can be very deep. I use a different technique for pine from other woods. I start sanding at a much higher grit, and sometimes only in RO mode. My advice is to forget the low grits- they are usually unnecessary for pine.

 

[tbellemare]

I haven't tried sanding pine, Sam. It sounds like Richard has it exactly right. Pine is so soft, you shouldn't need really aggressive abrasive or technique.

When I'm sanding hardwoods, I use gear-driven orbital mode (aggressive mode) first with grits bigger than about 120. Then, without changing paper, I run over it again in RO mode. It cleans it up a lot. I change to the next finer grit and do the same until about 120. When I get to 120, I use RO mode only all the way up to about 1000. At 1000, I switch back to gear-driven orbital and generally slow down the speed.

Tom

 

[ccarrolladams]

Despite all the advances in sander technology and improved abrasive media, sanding is still as much an art as a science.

It is a matter of Practice, Practice, Practice!

Different woods usually require different methods.

I have been sanding all kinds of wood since about 1937. Until early 1946 I only sanded by hand, sometimes with a piece of wood as my sanding block.

Still I find it necessary to practice and experiment on scrap off-cuts prior to sanding a type of wood I have not used recently.

 

[tbellemare]

Well put, Carroll...

Tom

 

[tbellemare]

It occurs to me that I have done quite a bit of sanding of cedar, specifically, reclaimed fence pickets that had weathered.

Using the Rotex 150 in gear-driven orbital mode with P 50 Rubin, things move fast - real fast. Even with a CT 22 on full, it makes strands of cedar fibers that can't get through the holes in the pad so they stay on the work. It's not a big deal because they aren't going in ones nose...

Using the same technique of altering sander modes I described above, it cleans up the surface pretty quickly and prepares it for the next finer grit.

Tom

 

[Sam Murdoch]

Despite all the advances in sander technology and improved abrasive media, sanding is still as much an art as a science.

It is a matter of Practice, Practice, Practice!

Different woods usually require different methods.

I have been sanding all kinds of wood since about 1937. Until early 1946 I only sanded by hand, sometimes with a piece of wood as my sanding block.

Still I find it necessary to practice and experiment on scrap off-cuts prior to sanding a type of wood I have not used recently.

Well yes indeed, but in this case "it's the technology". I've been sanding wood only since the 70s & actually have used smoothing planes & hand scrapers in the yacht interior work, that was my first real trade, more than sanders. It was an easy transition to the Porter cable finish sanders & then to the Dynabrade DAs, for finish work in all kinds of wood to all manner of finish requirements - stains to oils to spray lacquers, hand applied shellac or varnish. Using the RO 125 has required the longest learning curve. The rotary orbit mode - which I think of as the aggressive mode  (please correct me if I'm wrong) seems to be the easiest to control on the wood surface but it is definitely aggressive & can sure track up your surface. The other RO mode which is random orbit seems more forgiving & so is my preferred finish mode. I do know to ease off on the vacuum suction & to allow the RO to float as it works. I generally like using it very much. Have decided that any sanding below 150 grit on bare wood can be done well with Rubin, but beyond that, Brilliant is my choice. If I finished with 150 Rubin I start with 150 Brilliant & go up from there.  I am relearning how to approach pine. From my thickness planer with sharp knives I am thinking that anything coarser than 150 Brilliant will be of no use. I still have the concern about how fine a grit to use on pine prior to applying a stain. And so the practice - after 30+ years - continues...

Sorry to have run away with your thread cvandermey. I'm just asking too.

 

[JSands]

assuming you will finish the wood, what is a reason you would sand wood past say 220 or 320?   

In my experience, its the finish you feel, not the wood.

Could the exception be if you put a very fine coat of drying oil on the wood, then you feel the benefits of higher than 220 grit?