ETS125 EQ questions from a new Festool Owner!!!

[designsbyorion]

Hey everyone... Just purchased my first Festool this past weekend!  Finally... an ETS 125 EQ, and I used it today for the first time.  Great tool, I'm very pleased with it so far.  I have not used it with a CT...YET.  I will tomorrow. 
I noticed that the 125 is a lot more ergonomic than any other sander I have used in the past.  The abrasives will take some getting used to I gather after my debut today.  The 60 grit that came with the sander,  I believe it was Cristal... didn't seem to cut as much material as my 60 grit for a Rigid sander I own.  I don't know if combining the CT will affect this at all,  I will try tomorrow with some Brilliant2 150 with the CT for my finishing on two maple mantels I am finishing.
My other concern is that I am borrowing a CT from a colleague and I was wondering if the 27mm hose will be the correct diameter for the 125?  Also on a separate note... does the Hose Garage support the 27mm x 5M hose or the 27mm x 3.5? Also what about the 36mm hoses...7M? And finally, what is the 50mm hoses for?

Great forum and I am looking forward to expanding my Festool lineup and will look here to further expand my knowledge of how to utilize them.

 

[Brice Burrell]

First, [welcome] to the FOG.

The hose that comes with the CT vacs (D27 X 3.5 m) fits all of the Festool sanders and is optimal. I believe the ETS comes with an assortment of abrasives but I'm not sure if a sample of the Cristal abrasive is included, it's whitish pink in color. I know Rubin is, it's the red colored abrasive. Cristal is much more aggressive abrasive than Rubin. I'm guessing you might have been using the Rubin. You have to be careful using Cristal because it's so aggressive. It will leave a deep scratch pattern behind that you'll need to thoroughly sand to remove. Also the ETS 125 is a finish sander so it's not well suited for aggressive sanding.

The hose garage is meant for the D27 X 3.5 m hose but you can squeeze the D36 in there. I'm not sure about the D27 x 5 m. The D50 can be used with the larger floor sweeping accessories and the boom arm come with a short section of D50 as an extension. 

 

[AlexThePalex]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

The 60 grit that came with the sander,  I believe it was Cristal... didn't seem to cut as much material as my 60 grit for a Rigid sander I own.

The cutting power of grits can differ a lot per brand and type of paper. It is hard to compare them to one single standard. It can also be that the ETS is less powerful than your Ridgid sander. You should also keep in mind that there is a work in period for the ETS sander where the coal brushes have to settle to the anchor of the motor. The first 8 to 10 hours the sander will not reach it's full capacity. In fact, when it's fresh out of the box, it is possible it delivers only half of it's full potential. This is completely normal and designed this way to get optimal performance once it is through it's work in period.

I don't know if combining the CT will affect this at all,  

Adding a vac will have no effect.

My other concern is that I am borrowing a CT from a colleague and I was wondering if the 27mm hose will be the correct diameter for the 125?  

The 27 mm hose is the correct one indeed. The 27 mm hose is the hose that comes standard with every Festool vac and it will fit every tool made by Festool, as far as I know.

Also on a separate note... does the Hose Garage support the 27mm x 5M hose or the 27mm x 3.5? Also what about the 36mm hoses...7M?

I think the hose garage on the CT22 will fit the 27mm x 5M hose and also the 36mm x 3.5M hose but not bigger.

And finally, what is the 50mm hoses for?

The 50mm hose is for big clean up jobs. Say you're cleaning the floor of your garage or workshop, you sprayed it with water, and now you want to suck up all water with various types of debris in it.  

 

[danrush]

I agree with most everything Brice and Alex suggested above except that I believe that adding a vac WILL prolong sandpaper life and promote better finished results in the end.

The vac removes not only the debris from the material being sanded, but also the grit that escapes the paper itself, resulting in  longer life for the paper ( less clogging)  and a better finish ( less damage caused by loose abrasive )

I think you picked a great sander to start with, The 125 is my go-to for most finish stuff.  It's a fun little sander.

Dan

 

[AlexThePalex]

I agree with most everything Brice and Alex suggested above except that I believe that adding a vac WILL prolong sandpaper life and promote better finished results in the end.

Oh, well, I interpreted that as a question about how aggressive it cuts and not about how much surface you can cover. Perhaps my interpretation is  wrong. I agree of course adding a vac will prolong sandpaper life, but that would be equal then for both the Festool and Ridgid sandpaper the OP used.

 

[mouppe]

I have a CT22 with a hose garage and I can get the 36 x 3.5m hose in it if I place it carefully and fill all the corners. I also keep a plug-it cord attached to the hose with velcro straps in there, and the 27 hose with another plug-it-cord for use with the ROTEX and the Domino in the cleaning set systainer. The larger diameter hose does not fit the Domino, not sure about the ETS.

I could not imagine getting a longer 36 hose in the garage to be honest.

Richard.

 

[designsbyorion]

Thanks everyone for the great tips and info on my 125.  The bit about the anchoring of the brushes was especially insightful.  I used the sander the next day as planned with the CT33 and all performed fantastic! Can't wait to see it settle in and come to full potential!  I kept having to remind myself that this was a "finish sander" and not really going to "hog" off any great amount of material... I'll get a 150/5 for that later.  The 125 left a glass surface on the Maple mantles I was working on.  Absolute fun to sand with this setup!  It did take me a minute to get down the "less is more" principle while using the 125.  I mean the less I applied pressure the more smooth the result.  Awesome!

I am looking forward to picking up a TS55 in July! 

Thanks again to all for the great info and support.  I'll be posting more in the future.

 

[jvsteenb]

and not really going to "hog" off any great amount of material... I'll get a 150/5 for that later.

Get yourself a Rotex for that. The 150/5 is still a finish sander.

Regards,

Job

 

[designsbyorion]

nice input... in a perfect world I'll go ahead and get a 150/3 and a 150/5 and both RO's as well... 

 

[jvsteenb]

nice input... in a perfect world I'll go ahead and get a 150/3 and a 150/5 and both RO's as well... 

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough - my apologies.
What I meant was: if you need a sander to "hog away" great amounts of material, then the RO150/5 may not be the perfect choice.
A Rotex sander is far more capable of fast material removal. I think any of the two Rotexes will be a far greater compliment to your ETS then a RO150/5 will be.
A RO150/5 will just be a bigger sander, essentially performing the same task your ETS does.
With a Rotex and your ETS 125, you'll basically have everything covered from decent material removal to very fine finishing.

I certainly wasn't trying to persuade you to buy yet another sander - once you're on the slippery slope, you won't need help with that [wink]

Regards,

Job

Regards