Festool abrasives & dust extractor floor tools questions for the UK

[Weetbix]

Hi

I'm loving my sanders and dust extractor.  Just done a large hall and stairs with shocking doors, all looking lovely.  But I went through a lot of Brilliant 2 40s and 80s on my RS400 (LOTS) to get 8 doors and the skirtings done, which surprised me.  And that's expensive.

So, if you're in the UK, I'm in West Sussex, where would you recommend to buy the most cost effective abrasives and what would those abrasive types be.

Also, I love the dust extractor and want floor tools for it to use as a clean up tool after jobs.  Any ideas where to get them from or can I use a set of tools from a Henry et al?

Many thanks
Weetbix.

 

[woodguy7]

The tradesman cleaning set is very good.  It comes in a systainer with metal poles, 36mm hose & all the attachments you would need.  This set is approx 150 GBP + vat but there are cheaper sets without the extra hose.  Any Festool dealer should be able to get you any of the cleaning sets.

Woodguy.

 

[jgag]

we're doing our floors with a combination of Granat 80 on a rotex and brilliant 180 on an RS400; only used a few so far.

I am less happy with the granat for getting of old paint from walls though.

the tools from our domestic Sebo fit the Midi unaltered.

I get very good service from our local Festool dealer, Healy's Tools - South Herts (who are also heavily on ebay)

PS this is not necessarily good news as both the RS400 and Midi now go missing,

 

[AlexThePalex]

I'm loving my sanders and dust extractor.  Just done a large hall and stairs with shocking doors, all looking lovely.  But I went through a lot of Brilliant 2 40s and 80s on my RS400 (LOTS) to get 8 doors and the skirtings done, which surprised me.  And that's expensive.

So, if you're in the UK, I'm in West Sussex, where would you recommend to buy the most cost effective abrasives and what would those abrasive types be.

I haven't seen any other manufacturers that made 80x133 paper with the specific Festool hole pattern. I'm in Holland and not the UK, so maybe somebody in the UK does manufacture/sell it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Your only alternative would be to use the standard 80x133 paper with 4 or 5 holes along both sides of the paper, but then you would loose a lot of suction since most holes of the Festool pad will be blocked.  

I'm sorry to say, but the only real cost effective solution for you would have been to tackle this, might I say, rather large job with a 150mm RO sander instead of the RS400. Sandpaper wise, this would have been a lot cheaper for you.

Also, I love the dust extractor and want floor tools for it to use as a clean up tool after jobs.  Any ideas where to get them from or can I use a set of tools from a Henry et al?

Festool has a couple of cleaning sets available. You can find them on the UK Festool site by selecting a model of vacuum and then select the accessories tab. The cheapest set called "Standard cleaning set D 27 / D 36 S-RS" order number 492389 will do just fine for most basic needs, but for real good clean up you might want to look into getting a more expensive set with the 36 mm hose included, like the set recommended above.

 

[Peter Fish]

Weetbix if you or any friends are going over to the US get them to bring back some sandpaper, a friend recently brought back a ?150 selection of paper from US. Guess what the UK price would have been ? ?350 !!!

 

[Brice Burrell]

The tradesman cleaning set is very good.  It comes in a systainer with metal poles, 36mm hose & all the attachments you would need.  This set is approx 150 GBP + vat but there are cheaper sets without the extra hose.  Any Festool dealer should be able to get you any of the cleaning sets.

Woodguy.

I'm a big fan of the Tradesman (now called tradesperson) set too. I did a short review on my website, Installer (tradesperson) cleaning set