"Collecting" sanders ... let's get real

Kev

Kev

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Nov 7, 2011
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Here's the rub ... every time I trial a Festool sander it performs really well ... so I instantly "need" it.

Let's park the personality disorder - but what we don't have here for newbies is a "sanders you should have for doing job X".

(there's a chance this goes even further, encompassing an entire project)

I don't know what the benchmark projects should be, because I'm of insufficient experience ... but what are the thoughts? ... for a pencil case you need x,y,z - for a bookcase you need a,b,c,d ??

The context of this thread could easily spread into everything up to thicknessing, but we tent to focus on joining and finnish, so I've posed the question accordingly.

Does anyone have some thoughts?
 
The Mirka Ceros and RO 90 sanders do 90% for me (aside from hand scrapers).  Occasionally I'll grab the RO 150 for heavier work.

I haven't built any large surface flat tables, etc. but I suppose the RS 2 orbital sander may be the better choice there.
 
My "collection" includes the 150/3, RO150, RO90, DTS400.
Being a hobbiest, I like to keep it simple as having money and space for all different types and sizes of sandpaper becomes an issue.
I could easily live with just the 150/3 and the RO90 to cover everything I need to do. Actually my RO150 very rarely sees the light of day as I can duplicate the aggresive sanding by using coarser grits on the 150/3 although it is slower but far easier to control. I have always wanted the RS2 as it gets so many recommendations but so far my 150/3 handles the task quite well.

One can easily spend more than the cost of the sander for the appropriate selection of sandpaper for it. If you pick the 125mm sander series and add a 150mm, you end up greatly adding to your consumable material costs as you duplicate the sandpaper grits. I recommend to people to start with the 150/3 and add a sander with a delta pad of some sort - RO90, Deltex, DTS - for corners and hard to access areas. From there the sky is the limit! A professional remodeler will have very different needs than I and will most likely have a variety of sanders for speed - efficiency.

I keep looking at the RAS, the Deltex and the LS sanders but for my usage just can't justify the cost for such rare usage. Every one has different needs and the appropriate sander for the job varies with the task at hand.
 
Interesting! For many many years I've used nothing but an old Rotex and a square piece of sanding paper to use manually. If the Rotex couldn't reach I would deal with it by hand. Obviously a couple more machines would have made me faster and work easier but the quality of the work never suffered from lack of machines. Just to say I feel one can probably have too many machines.

My initial thought is you need at least one machine for flat surfaces, which probably is big, maybe a smaller one for edges. I actually use my 150/3 for just about all of my sanding, edges get a quick plane and sand by hand, less change of sanding out of square. I'm considering the 150/5 or the big Mafell to get a quicker workflow but that is another story.

So all in all I think I'm saying you need only one. :)
 
A belt and suspenders person would take the only truly safe position, own all of them and have all of the abrasives...

Tom
 
Tom Bellemare said:
A belt and suspenders person would take the only truly safe position, own all of them and have all of the abrasives...

Tom
Click to expand...
Always good to get an impartial input with no vested interests ...  [wink] ... in all honesty I'm almost there, just thinking about the new bloods and steering them down appropriate paths.
 
I have had all the available Festool sanders at one time.

I sold them all off(many of them here) except for the R0 150 and the 150/3, that with my PC 390 handle everything. The other sanders were nice, but I used them so little I found that I did not "need" them. I used the money for other things I needed for truly daily use.

Now if I had the money I would have kept all those sanders as a time comes up every once in awhile I wish I had them, but I can do without them and the task just takes a bit longer.

I will get a Ceros and who knows maybe my 150/3 will go?

On the other hand a lot of my friends have hobbies like model airplanes or trains and others go out shooting pool and drinking 3 times a week. I don't think "collecting" sanders is any different than those hobbies, so again if you have the money why not get all the sanders you could need for a project. I personally would rather have a row of sanders on a shelf I used once a month than the bad liver and nothing at all some of my friends get blowing their money at the bar.  :)
 
Dovetail65, don't you have something like an RO90 for smaller awkward areas? I ask because I am trying to choose my first sander and am considering the RO90, RO150 and ETS150/3 (I know I'll get more so the first one doesn't have to do everything)
 
Nope. I may get one some day, but currently I don't have the need. Most of all my work is flat, fairly large and open at the ends.

The RO 90 would be just to dang small for me. Normally I use the 6" sanders 90% of the time, the 5" the rest and smaller than that for the work I personally currently do I just don't have a need.
 
Ive got the RO150, which will really do some hogging if need be and is just so versatile, it's a keeper.

The RO90 is a keeper for the same reasons on a different scale and for different type projects. 

I like having my ETS 150 around as its so well balanced and easy to handle - it's a joy to use for a general finish sander and though not super aggresive, it's also no slouch.

I bought the little rectangle pad orbital 400 (older model when they were clearing them out for $160..) and use that primarily for all the drywall corners that I cannot reach with my PC drywall sander, but also use it for a small general purpose sander when a round disc wouldn't be the best bet.

I have the R2S sander and it's just such a Cadilac to use, you appreciate what it does.

The RAS rocks for scribing and super hogging and for some tile edge work - though ditch the crappy velcro and use the backup pad with standard fiber discs.

I have the LS130 but will be selling it soon as I'm not really using it and it seems a bit too specialty to me...

Julian
 
Yeah that LS130 I got rid of.  I do see certain people could get a lot of use of it, just not me.

I loved my RS2, but I started getting so good with the R0150, ETS150/3 combo I just rarely ever pulled it out. So I sold it as well.
 
Dovetail65 said:
Yeah that LS130 I got rid of.  I do see certain people could get a lot of use of it, just not me.

I loved my RS2, but I started getting so good with the R0150, ETS150/3 combo I just rarely ever pulled it out. So I sold it as well.
Click to expand...

Dovetail, could you explain a bit more what the differences are between the RS2 and your present combo? I too sand plenty flat and large surfaces and am thinking about getting either the RS2 or the Mafell UVA 115 E as I read nothing but good stuff on both of those machines.
 
Interesting thread.

For me I think that the Rotex 150, RS2E and DTS400 are the primary three for furniture making.  I also have a 150/3 that I use and the RO90 and RAS115 for specialty work.  While the RO90 has the delta pad to get into corners, I find the DTS better at the task and it is nice being able to sand right up to an edge without it bouncing all around.  I got the RAS and RO90 for sculpting work and if I was not going to be doing that these would not be as useful.  Although I did use the RO90 extensively on a hall table I just built and it worked well sanding the legs.  I pull the RS2E out on pretty much every project as I want to ensure flat surfaces...it is great and one of my favorite sanders.  While I love the 150/3 and enjoy how smooth it is, I could get by without it and rely on the Rotex instead.  Each person is different and there really is not one right answer. 

Scot
 
I don't own the almost standard Rotex150mm sander, but I own one of just about every other sander that Festools sells here in the US- Brian S. of Festool cracked up about that when I took a class earlier this year at the Headquarters in Ind. [embarassed]
I don't see it as tool xyz Kev, for a project, or projects. Instead, sometimes the material dictates something new in either an approach that you want to try, or a different result at the end that you're to achieve.
Out of all my sanders, I use the LS130 the least, but work with just enough mouldings to keep it around.
The 6 inch/150mm Rotex tires out my hands too much for my liking, so I don't own one, but do own a RO90 and love it other than the tail end gets hot with heavy usage, and that's with wearing anti-vibration gloves.
I also own a Shinex, so I don't need a Large Rotex to polish with.
If you do lots of flat panels, you'd probably love an RS2 sander.
I love my DTS400 and resisted buying one for years, things change.
I have the 150/5 sander- I like the extra orbit over the 3mm model, and don't run into a problem with finishing marks from this sander being more aggressive than the 3mm version.
So, ETS or Rotex for large surfaces, or the RS2 for finer sanding, and several other smaller sanders to choose from for smaller areas.  Your choice
 
Bob Gerritsen said:
Dovetail65 said:
Yeah that LS130 I got rid of.  I do see certain people could get a lot of use of it, just not me.

I loved my RS2, but I started getting so good with the R0150, ETS150/3 combo I just rarely ever pulled it out. So I sold it as well.
Click to expand...

Dovetail, could you explain a bit more what the differences are between the RS2 and your present combo? I too sand plenty flat and large surfaces and am thinking about getting either the RS2 or the Mafell UVA 115 E as I read nothing but good stuff on both of those machines.
Click to expand...

I simply have become good at flattening panels and table tops with the Rotex. I had he RS2 and I could get the Rotex using a "hard" pad to flatten large surfaces just as well as the RS2, but faster , a lot faster. Then after the panel is flat and I hit 120 to 150 grits I go to the ETS 150/3. I never sand above 220.

This works for me.

I don't see how anyone really can flatten a panel with the Rotex unless they use the hard pad, maybe some can and maybe others say the RS2 is better at flattening large panels simply because they never tried the hard pad on the Rotex. Possibly the stuff I have to flatten is in far worse shape as well because an RS2 could never flatten the things I work with , let alone do it quickly. Or maybe it's just the work I do or how I do it, but for me I was leaving that RS2 in the cabinet,  flattening with the Rotex and following up with the ETS 150/3. The panels, in my case disks, come out perfect.
 
Dovetail65 said:
Bob Gerritsen said:
Dovetail65 said:
Yeah that LS130 I got rid of.  I do see certain people could get a lot of use of it, just not me.

I loved my RS2, but I started getting so good with the R0150, ETS150/3 combo I just rarely ever pulled it out. So I sold it as well.
Click to expand...

Dovetail, could you explain a bit more what the differences are between the RS2 and your present combo? I too sand plenty flat and large surfaces and am thinking about getting either the RS2 or the Mafell UVA 115 E as I read nothing but good stuff on both of those machines.
Click to expand...

I simply have become good at flattening panels and table tops with the Rotex. I had he RS2 and I could get the Rotex using a "hard" pad to flatten large surfaces just as well as the RS2, but faster , a lot faster. Then after the panel is flat and I hit 120 to 150 grits I go to the ETS 150/3. I never sand above 220.

This works for me.

I don't see how anyone really can flatten a panel with the Rotex unless they use the hard pad, maybe some can and maybe others say the RS2 is better at flattening large panels simply because they never tried the hard pad on the Rotex. Possibly the stuff I have to flatten is in far worse shape as well because an RS2 could never flatten the things I work with , let alone do it quickly. Or maybe it's just the work I do or how I do it, but for me I was leaving that RS2 in the cabinet,  flattening with the Rotex and following up with the ETS 150/3. The panels, in my case disks, come out perfect.
Click to expand...

Right, can imagine the Rotex is faster at taking away material. I never sand to flatten but can see how that works for you.

Between the rs2 and the 150/3, how do these compare as medium/fine sanders?
 
I own the ETS 150/3, ETS 125, DTS 400, RO 90, RO 125, RO 150, RAS 115, and the LS130.

Some of the sanders I use for specific work like the RAS for coping and my DTS 400 I use for drywall work (small projects). I am wrapping up a blanket chest project where my primary sanders were the RO 90, RO 150, and ETS 150/3. I used the RO 150 for roughly flatening out hte panels, removing glue, rough sanding up to 180. I then used the ETS 150/3 for finish sanding. The RO 90 was the workhorse for the project. The chest consisted of curved (for the lack of a better term) armrests and I need to blend with mating panels/pieces.

_MG_8419.jpg


_MG_8416.jpg


I roughed these out with a rasp and then smoothed them out with the RO 90. The pad is soft enough and small enough to get into concave curved surfaces. This is something I didn't really think about until I tried it. I also used the delta head quit a bit for getting into the corners and cleaning up any glue squeeze out that I missed.

I would think that those three sanders are a great combination for most furniture projects.
 
Wow - very nicely designed and built!  Can't wait to see that finished...

I've got a bunch of old walnut a client gave me and though I've never cared for it much, your chest is inspiring.

Julian

 
Makita 9403 - 100mm Belt Sander
Mirka Ceros 650 CV - 6" dia - 5mm orbit
Festool DTS 400

I mostly use the Mirka which is permanently connected up to a CTL 22

Steve
 
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