Festool ets 125 req. new user dust help!!!

[Ebake]

Hi there, I am working on furniture - chest of drawers etc, and have just got the ets 125. I have been hand sanding until now. I am just using the little dust collection bag which comes with this model.
I tried it today for the first time and was really disappointed by the amount of dust, barely any collected. And because of that a lot clogged in the holes of the sanding pad. I was using 180 grit granat to remove the last of wood stain on the side of a drawer. It didn’t have a nasty thick topcoat or anything was just a stain. I am just after any thoughts on what I’ve done wrong-wrong grit? Or am I expecting too much for the dust collection bag? I’ve seen videos where they’re tipping out a full collection!
I don’t mind the dust too much but I don’t think it should be clogging the sander, surely can’t be good?
I also felt it was doing pretty slow work of removing the stain. A little underwhelmed
I wasn’t pushing down at all, just holding it in balance and letting it do the work on about 3/4 speed setting. Any thoughts greatly appreciated

 

[jeffinsgf]

Most important question...what grit are you using?

Next most important question...do you have the holes in the paper lined up correctly with the holes in the pad?

And one more...do you have any sort of shop vac you can use? Festool sanders and abrasives perform their best when used with a vac. It doesn't have to be fancy. You probably will want to buy a Festool hose, but the vacuum side of their hose is almost completely universal. You would have a hard time finding a vac that the hose won't fit. The inverse is not the same. the tool side fitting of just about every hose out there (that doesn't say Festool on the side) won't fit your sander.

If the answer to #1 is anything finer than 100 grit, that is the start of your problems. Removing any sort of finish requires a fairly aggressive sand paper.

 

[Ebake]

Thanks so much for your reply. I used 180 grit.
I don’t have a shop vac as I hope the bag would do some work.
Would the dust have been worse because I used the wrong grit?
I lined the holes up perfectly. I just don’t want to clog it again as I’m sure it doesn’t perform well like that

 

[usernumber1]

180 is for removal of marks or fine finishing not for removing existing finishes

that little bag not going to collect much if you can't even remove it.

you seem to have two issues: sandpaper clogging and low dust extraction

 

[squall_line]

You were polishing and likely even somewhat melting the old finish with the 180 grit. Once melted, it will cool quickly, coagulate, and clog.

Clean everything out, and drop under 100 grit to remove the old finish, as Jeff mentioned.  You may still have issues with clogging the ports with finishes compared to collecting wood dust.

 

[Ebake]

Thank you all.

Sorry I’m not too sure about the comment that I won’t collect much dust if I can’t remove it?

It was definitely dust clogged, if that makes sense, very fine.

Ok so I’m going to drop the grit. And would this help the little bag suck more of the dust in? I’m not expecting it to be like a shop vac, but it barely had any dust in it.
Thanks again. Appreciate I am asking some very obvious questions but new to this

 

[Ebake]

And as an aside I was very concerned when festool (uk) told me I should have bought the ro 90!! Rather late

 

[usernumber1]

wood dust vs dust vs melted finish in the sandpaper

rotex would remove finishes faster for sure

the bag doesn't suck up anything it's blown in from the motor spinning. connecting a vacuum would do you wonders

test your new tool on some raw wood with different grits to learn before starting a project

 

[Ebake]

I will do that

And would you expect to get much collection blown in from the motor when using the correct grit?

 

[jeffinsgf]

I will do that

And would you expect to get much collection blown in from the motor when using the correct grit?

Better than most others, but still nothing like you would get with a vac. I'm going to guess your paper was clogged up in a minute or two and that's why you don't have anything in your bag.

 

[Ebake]

And that’s because it was the wrong grit?

 

[jeffinsgf]

Yep. Too fine a grit for finish removal.

 

[Ebake]

Really grateful for the replies thank you. Back to it with other grit and hopefully dust in the bag. Lol

 

[Cheese]

Remove the 180 paper, vacuum the sander pad to remove any extra "stuff" & place the new 80 grit paper on the sander pad.

Now for a reality check, continue sanding with the 80 grit paper but remove the bag from the sander and you'll quickly see how much material is indeed going into the bag.  [smile]

 

[Ebake]

Thank you! And good idea re removal of the bag. I’m excited to go again!

And the granat was correct to use I assume

 

[Crazyraceguy]

And as an aside I was very concerned when festool (uk) told me I should have bought the ro 90!! Rather late

Did you tell them that you were stripping stain/finish? or was this intended for all of the sanding on this project?
The ETS is a finish sander with a tiny 2mm stroke, probably the worst type of sander for this specific task, though it is great for the rest of the job.
The RO series of sanders would be the best for the stripping part, though if you can purchased a 90, this post would have been more like "How do I control this thing? It jumps all over the place?" There is a bit of a learning curve with Rotex mode, with the bigger ones generally easier to control.

As the others have said, lower grit is best. The idea is to cut it off quickly and have a vac to pull it out of the way. You don't want to "re-grind" the dust. This leads to glazing, which kills the paper, and smears that swarf back into the surface.
How low you go depends on the project (and what you are stripping). You can go as low as 40 grit, on larger areas of hardwood, especially if it is coated with a film finish, but that is way too aggressive for veneer. You will go right through it and have a much bigger problem. The main thing about very low grit sanding is that it takes more care as you go to higher grits, to be sure the deeper scratches are gone.

 

[Ebake]

Yes I did explain what I was doing. The first time I spoke with them they suggested the 150, far too big, so I haven’t had amazing experience with them to be honest. So I went to an independent supplier for advice. I will mostly use stripper rather than sanding off finish but I’d like to be able to get the remnants off etc or be able to take some finish off a solid wood piece

 

[Ebake]

The ro 150 was suggested first time