Festool Abrasives Details

[USNavyChiefRet]

Thanks Garry, I'll have to check with him. I enjoyed my career in the Navy having sailed all over the western pacific. Now I just enjoy staying in one place. I'm kind of midway between the Pacific and Atlantic (I wanted to get as far from the oceans as I could LOL! Minnesota). I enjoy my 3 granddaughters an awful lot having not been around much when my 3 girls were growing up. It seemed I was always away. I do appreciate your "thanks" it means an awful lot to a retired sailor.

 

[PC]

Looking for advice on the best Festool abrasive for one particular use of my ETS 150/3EQ sander.  In my pre-Festool days I had good success with 3M finishing film discs (P600) while preparing an enamel surface for a high gloss finish.  Clogging is my main obstacle because I work in a marine environment where temperature and humidity often do not allow undercoats to cure sufficiently.  Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Looking for advice on the best Festool abrasive for one particular use of my ETS 150/3EQ sander.  In my pre-Festool days I had good success with 3M finishing film discs (P600) while preparing an enamel surface for a high gloss finish.  Clogging is my main obstacle because I work in a marine environment where temperature and humidity often do not allow undercoats to cure sufficiently.  Any help would be much appreciated.

I would thing Granat is the best choice here.   

 

[imaginarynumber]

Looking for advice on the best Festool abrasive for one particular use of my ETS 150/3EQ sander.  In my pre-Festool days I had good success with 3M finishing film discs (P600) while preparing an enamel surface for a high gloss finish.  Clogging is my main obstacle because I work in a marine environment where temperature and humidity often do not allow undercoats to cure sufficiently.  Any help would be much appreciated.

I would thing Granat is the best choice here.   

Granat is amazing, clogging however may be reduced by using an interface pad

 

[Gabeloooooo]

My personnal findings using the RO150FEQ on wood only:

• 
  For wood, nothing beats rubin, but they don't last all that long, so buy plenty.
• 
  I find Rubin to remove a bit faster than Rubin 2 on bare wood, but maybe that's because I'm changing Rubin's often whereas I keep the Rubin2's longer on the pad.
• 
  Brilliant2 all the way for last (before finish) passes, with a softer pad it leaves no pig tails, very forgiving finisher!
• 
  Granat nowhere near as good as rubin for bare wood, but then it is not meant for bare wood, so that's ok
• 
  I find that even in disc mode on the rotex, Cristal is not as hardcore as I'd like it to be, I find I often fall back to rubin for aggresive removal.
• 
  The pads make a WORLD of difference depending on the application: buy them all. Now.
  

Keep in my I'm pretty noob, so these comments might be worth less than nothing

 

[Stone Message]

When I bought my Rotex 90 there was a small pack of sanding disks in the box. There were a number of Granat from 80-220 grit which I have found to be marvellous (can't say 'brilliant' in this context) for wood. Granat lasts for ever and leaves an excellent finish. I suspect that the pdf sheet about abrasives is probably out of date or (horror) they are stopping Granat.

I am hoping to get some Rubin 2 soon. I have Brilliant 2 and the original Rubin and will probably get some more Granat and Saphir. When I have everything together I will do a video and try to give some opinion of the different options for woodworkers. I have been lucky enough to pick up some tips on sanding at one of the shows from the Festool UK chief trainer - he was very helpful.

Peter

 

[Alan m]

i love my ro 150 and 90.
i have rubin (and a few rubin 2), brilliant, and granat.
granate is great. its only just out a few months . i find it out lasts and out performs rubin and brillliant on everything i have used it on.
as my stocks of rubin and brilliant are used up i am replacing with granate

 

[Scott B.]

I love Granat on everything 60g and up, all the way up. Below 60 for super hard core removal on gnarly surfaces the backing isn't quite as beefy as it is on the red flavor. Granat mileage and performance overall is remarkable on both raw and finished material.

 

[Gabeloooooo]

There were a number of Granat from 80-220 grit which I have found to be marvellous (can't say 'brilliant' in this context) for wood. Granat lasts for ever and leaves an excellent finish.

Guess I'll have to give Granat another chance, I never liked it on wood under 120. I usually do 80-rubin, 120-rubin/or/granta, then finish with Brilliant on desired grit.

 

[Paul G]

Is there some place I can find a chart of every paper and polishing pad that is available for the RO90? I've been looking around and just can't find it. The FestoolUSA website is incomplete in what is available for the RO90, I know this because I already own stuff not listed like Granat 1500 which is not listed in the abrasives list of the RO90. A concise and complete reference list in chart format of every consumable product available for any tool would be most helpful.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Is there some place I can find a chart of every paper and polishing pad that is available for the RO90? I've been looking around and just can't find it. The FestoolUSA website is incomplete in what is available for the RO90, I know this because I already own stuff not listed like Granat 1500 which is not listed in the abrasives list of the RO90. A concise and complete reference list in chart format of every consumable product available for any tool would be most helpful.

Sorry, but there is not such a comprehensive list. Festool did make a very nice brochure about sandpaper, but it's a bit outdated by now, missing al new types and there's no new version as of yet.

Problem with a lot of Festool websites is that they are incomplete and sometimes organised a little bit chaotically. I'm sorry to say, but the USA website is one of the worst in this matter.

English speakers can always check the UK website to see what's available, but even the UK site is not as comprehensive as the German and Dutch sites. If you really want to know everything Festool sells, you have to check www.festool.de or www.festool.nl.

But even those websites have a lot of hidden content. With hidden I mean that you can't find it through the menu, but only by using the search function. There is a lot of content in there you won't find any other way.

Anyway, here is the UK page for the RO 90 and it's accessories. It lists more than the USA site, but on the other hand, you can't be sure that all that's offered in the UK is also offered in the USA.

 

[Paul G]

Is there some place I can find a chart of every paper and polishing pad that is available for the RO90? I've been looking around and just can't find it. The FestoolUSA website is incomplete in what is available for the RO90, I know this because I already own stuff not listed like Granat 1500 which is not listed in the abrasives list of the RO90. A concise and complete reference list in chart format of every consumable product available for any tool would be most helpful.

Sorry, but there is not such a comprehensive list. Festool did make a very nice brochure about sandpaper, but it's a bit outdated by now, missing al new types and there's no new version as of yet.

Problem with a lot of Festool websites is that they are incomplete and sometimes organised a little bit chaotically. I'm sorry to say, but the USA website is one of the worst in this matter.

English speakers can always check the UK website to see what's available, but even the UK site is not as comprehensive as the German and Dutch sites. If you really want to know everything Festool sells, you have to check www.festool.de or www.festool.nl.

But even those websites have a lot of hidden content. With hidden I mean that you can't find it through the menu, but only by using the search function. There is a lot of content in there you won't find any other way.

Anyway, here is the UK page for the RO 90 and it's accessories. It lists more than the USA site, but on the other hand, you can't be sure that all that's offered in the UK is also offered in the USA.

Thanks Alex. Hopefully the good folks at Festool see this and add a comprehensive list of available products to the website. I was buying some additional abrasives today at my local dealer and they had a charted list in a catalog, seems like that data could be easily republished to the website as a PDF.

 

[JCLP]

Hello everyone. New to this forum. live in the Greater Toronto Area and I find that Festool resellers do not carry enough stock on their products. For example, as a cabinet maker I'm always buying 220, 320, 400 and higher grit sandpaper. None of Festool's resellers in this area stock it and everyone says 2-3 weeks. Some have told me that there is a minimum $ value that they must order and that I will have to wait till they place an order for their store. I don't know if anyone else has had this issue, but I would think that I'm not alone. I find this extremely frustrating. Could anyone please advise me on where I can purchase consumables, blades, sandpaper etc. and get them within a couple of days and not weeks. Thank you.

 

[Stone Message]

Hello everyone. New to this forum. live in the Greater Toronto Area and I find that Festool resellers do not carry enough stock on their products. For example, as a cabinet maker I'm always buying 220, 320, 400 and higher grit sandpaper. None of Festool's resellers in this area stock it and everyone says 2-3 weeks. Some have told me that there is a minimum $ value that they must order and that I will have to wait till they place an order for their store. I don't know if anyone else has had this issue, but I would think that I'm not alone. I find this extremely frustrating. Could anyone please advise me on where I can purchase consumables, blades, sandpaper etc. and get them within a couple of days and not weeks. Thank you.

If you can order from the US then try Bob Marino.

Peter

 

[peter halle]

I might be wrong, but I don't think that Bob can ship to Canada.  Have you tried Lee Valley?  I am not trying to put one dealer over another, but I would imagine that their mail order or stores would have a wide assortment.

Peter

 

[Stone Message]

I mentioned Bob because he has recently put some effort into producing small packs of abrasives.

Peter

 

[JCLP]

Thanks for the response Peter. Unfortunately Festool dealers are not allowed to ship out of country. If they could it would be too expensive as we have duties, taxes and shipping cost to deal with. As for Lee Valley, I do shop there quite a bit but they stock some stuff in there warehouse in Ottawa and it takes 7 to 10 working days, 2 weeks minimum, to get it out of there warehouse and into one of there stores for me to pick up.