Festool sanders and joint compound??

[Toolpig]

Do any of the Festool sanders work well for sanding joint compound and collecting the fine dust associated with it?

TP

 

[Les]

Pig,

From the main menu, FESTOOL TOOLS & ACCESSORIES, enter "drywall dust" in the search box.

 

[Mike_Chrest]

Toolpig,
  I have used the RS 400 (rectangular orbital)with great success. It is small light and can get in corners well. The dust pick up is near perfect. I don't use my CT22 vacuum for drywall anymore however. The dust is so fine it goes through the bags. The pleated filters do eventually stop it, but I prefer to use my ShopVac with a special three-ply $7.00, 16 gallon drywall dust bag from Lowe's in the drum and a Gortex Hepa filter. The bag stops the filter from clogging in the first ten seconds of sanding.
  There is also a bucket with water prefilter you can hook up to the sander but I usually don't bother with that.
  I have also used my Rotex on butt seams to fair out the compound but it is on the heavy side. I wish I was a better taper and I wouldn't have to sand so much :'(.
  Check out the Festool site as mentioned. It tells you about other sanders and mud.
Happy sanding,
Mike

 

[Jim Becker]

Hopefully, you will not have to do a lot of heavy sanding of drywall compound...if it's applied correctly, you can whack down the high spots using your mud knife as a scraper after a coat dries, apply the next coat, repeat. After three...there should be little sanding to do and usually it can be done with a small amount of sandpaper in your hand. If you do choose to power sand, take care as the paper is thin and consider using a wet collection bucket in-line with the vac to capture most of the (abrasive) compound dust. You can get that at most of the 'borg stores. Personally, I wouldn't use a Festool sander for this purpose...just a choice of my own.

 

[Lou Miller]

I've seen plenty of power sanders ruined because they were used on drywall. Not saying that the Festool would be, but I wouldn't chance it. That's just me though. I sand all of my drywall with a sanding pole. Fortunatley, I've got lots of practice with taping, so there isn't much sanding that needs to be done.

 

[James Metcalf]

Sheetrock dust is also bad on the Extractor. Another alternative is a damp stiff sponge  with a pail of water to rinse it in.

Best Regards
James Mecalf

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I have been very pleased with use of one of those drywall sanding screen holders that connects to your shop vacuum.  I am using my Fein Turbo II with filter bags for this purpose.  Very little dust, great for the homeowner/amateur.  I think the item I purchased came as a kit (made by Hyde tools) from Aubuchon hardware who are locate in NE USA for about $15 complete with a 5 ft length of hose, two differently sized hose couplers and a few sanding screens.  The screen holder has a rotatable sleeve to adjust the level of vacuum because full suction may make it hard to move the sanding screen over your work.  Fein warns against using their cloth filter bag with drywall and cement dust, which may permanently seal up the bag!  Aubuchon and many other sites have tips on application of drywall compound and tape.  If you have a lot to do, consider saving your time, back and dust by hiring a pro. 

 

[Toolpig]

Hopefully, you will not have to do a lot of heavy sanding of drywall compound...if it's applied correctly, you can whack down the high spots using your mud knife as a scraper after a coat dries, apply the next coat, repeat. After three...there should be little sanding to do and usually it can be done with a small amount of sandpaper in your hand. If you do choose to power sand, take care as the paper is thin and consider using a wet collection bucket in-line with the vac to capture most of the (abrasive) compound dust. You can get that at most of the 'borg stores. Personally, I wouldn't use a Festool sander for this purpose...just a choice of my own.

Actually, what made me think of this was after I'd done a crappy job of patching some very large holes in veneer plaster walls.  I had patched using blueboard and new veneer plaster.  As this was my first attempt, I'd done a sloppy job and needed an aggressive sander to knock down some of the high spots.  Anybody whose ever had to sand or cut through veneer plaster knows how hard it is -- sandpaper and blades don't last long.  The dust generated is about the same as joint compound (which I'm using to touch up a few spots).  In addition, I was thinking I needed better dust collection.  I was using a 6" ROS sander (RIDGID-made by Metabo) and my 14-gallon RIDGID shop-vac.  It did a decent job with the dust collection, but the sander was NOT up to the task of knocking down the plaster, even with 60-grit paper.  I think I would have been better off with a ROTEX and coarser grit sandpaper.

TP

 

[VictorL]

Hi,

There is good answer for your question on the Festool USA web site:
http://www.festoolusa.com/faq/afmviewfaq.asp?faqid=129
Good luck!

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Toolpig,

I am quite satisfied with use of my RO 125 with 36 grit followed by 50 grit for carving out plaster cracks.  If the wall/ceiling is painted, especially with latex paint, slow down the Rotex so the paper doesn't gum up as fast from the considerable heat that is generated during sanding.  For patching I cheated and used the chemically setting type of drywall compound instead of plaster patching compound.  For sanding the patched areas, I do that mostly by hand using Hyde's sanding screen holder that attaches to a shop vacuum.  I used my Fein Turbo II with disposable paper bags.  So far, no problems with my approach - it has been through only one full winter cycle in NE Ohio, USA.  I have the ceiling [16 X 20] of one more room to do.  For that I intend to use my Rotex with 24 grit Saphir for carving out the old cracks, and will try the Oneida Dust Deputy I recently ordered between the Rotex and the vacuum.

Scraping the peaks off your first [and second] mud coats is definitely the way to go to save much time and effort.

Dave R.