First dip in Festool pool was, well, less that refreshing

[topfrog237]

I wanted so hard to love the experience but for me, the jury is still out.
I started my search for dust control, and a giant upgrade to my sanders for a big facelift in my own home. All the woodwork is painted and it's a horrific paint job. Thick orange peel finish, ugly color and it all needs to be sanded, primed and repainted. 52 doors and jambs, 24 windows, miles of baseboard, and quite a bit of wood wainscotting.

I went with the ETS 125 EQ for quick work on the vertical surfaces due to weight advantage over the RO 125 and the LS 130 due to the availability to custom mold a pad for some of the trim nooks and crannies, and figuring the square pad would get me close to all the corners. Also the CT 26 for dust extraction.

While the ETS 125 worked great for everything I planned on using it on, it found me wanting the edge protector far more than I had expected. Particularly when I am sanding the baseboards on the hardwood floor. Controlling the sander against small trim work is also cumbersome. It will work great for the doors but they will all be sanded on a workbench so in hindsight the weight of the RO 125 won't be an issue anyway. I should have gone with my gut on this sander instead of the sales pitch of the weight savings from the brushless motor. Sadly, this one will be returned and exchanged for the RO 125. On the plus side, I have enough sandpaper  ;D

The LS 130 is even more disappointing. Either this is intended for bare wood only or it is defective. The major malfunction of this sander is that it is completely impossible to control. The intended purpose of sanding the jambs, and tight corners, along with the custom profile I intended to try should have been perfect. I have tried slow speed, low vac, middle speed low vac, light pressure, low vac, moderate pressure, higher speed, higher vac, any possible combination of speed, pressure, vacuum setting, no vacuum, doesn't matter. It is impossible to control. As far as the DIY pad goes, it's also been disappointing in the detail it will cut.
Surely I'm not the only one with this kind of experience. It's flat out awful. I will return this thing and get the RTS 400 in hopes that the random motion of the pad will be more manageable. And again, I have plenty of sandpaper.

On the plus side, the dust extraction and tool combination is outstanding. It is exactly what I was looking for, just wish the experience was more positive. I will also see if the custom DIY pad for the LS130 can be married to one of the sanding blocks and still be used with the CT26. If so it won't be a total loss. Maybe someone can chime in.

At any rate, there is my experience. I'm open to any ideas to make my task more manageable.

 

[tjbnwi]

RO when ever stripping and bare wood sanding is the job at hand. The ETS 125 is not designed to be a heavy duty sander, it is a finish sander.

RO-90 is a great for restoration work on trim.

Tom

 

[DzordanoBruno]

Hard work RO150+90
Finish  ETS

 

[AlexThePalex]

ETS125 and LS130, yep, those are not the sanders you want when you have to remove lots of paint. They are to weak for such a job, especially as big as yours.

I would do this with the RAS 115, Rotex 150 and the DTS400 for the places those other two can't reach.

I'd prefer the RO150 over the RO125 because it works quite a bit faster, and I'd also prefer the DTS400 over the RTS400 just because it is a much nicer and better balanced sander and has a tip that can go into corners. I paint a lot and the DTS is my most used sander, followed by the RO150.

 

[jbasen]

Remember you can take advantage of the Festool 30 day money back guarantee to return the sanders you bought and get one,or two, of the sanders sugeested in the earlier posts that should do a much better job for your specific situation

 

[Birdhunter]

I use the LS sander on profiles. Never tried stripping paint with it. I view it as a fine finish sander for very special applications.

I find Festool products seem to be optimized within somewhat narrow niches. Within those niches, the tools are outstanding.

 

[topfrog237]

Thanks for the input. At least it I'm not crazy. Just wish the guys at Woodcraft were as tuned in to all the nuances.

I'm still within the 30 day window, so I'll be making a trip to town this week to make a couple exchanges.

 

[semenza]

Hi,

  Welcome to the forum.

      I agree the ETS125 is not a good choice for stripping.

    LS130 definitely requires the right touch for control. The custom pad works well but it can not do really small details. The bend in the abrasive alone makes it difficult. I found that it worked well for stripping using 60gr Cristal (discontinued) current best choice is probably Granat 60gr. But those have too thick a backing to fold into tight grooves or bends. The thinnest abrasive is Brilliant, that will do the best at getting to fine details.

    Here is a review with info and tips that might help out.

  http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tool-reviews/ls130-ls-130-eq-review-duplex/

 

 

[Kev]

The LS130 may be suitable for stripping paint with the blade attachment, but in no other way.

 

[Holmz]

Remember you can take advantage of the Festool 30 day money back guarantee to return the sanders you bought and get one,or two, of the sanders sugeested in the earlier posts that should do a much better job for your specific situation

^^

And maybe a paint striper and some scrapers to get the bulk off.

 

[Timtool]

Yup, you can't really blame this on the tools, it was the worst choice you could possibly make.
But then it's somewhat Festool's fault for not ever obviously marketing the ETS125 as a delicate finish sander, countless people (including me) started with that one solely based on pad size and were greatly disappointed. It's not an all round sander, and certainly not a paint remover.
For the most part it's best not to ask salesmen for practical advice, there are a few great ones on here though but in general they aren't even from the trade and know less then you about the matter.

Personally i'd suggest the RO90 for detail and corner work, and an ETS150/5 for panel work. With very rough paper it's just as fast as a Rotex if you take into account there will be less re sanding afterward to get the RO scratches out.

 

[anthonyz]

Thanks for the input. At least it I'm not crazy. Just wish the guys at Woodcraft were as tuned in to all the nuances.

I'm still within the 30 day window, so I'll be making a trip to town this week to make a couple exchanges.

I have found the guys at my local Woodcraft, though nice, are not super knowledgeable on the festool line, as some of the other local suppliers. Granted each store will be different. My local Woodcraft has a number of discontinued tools as their display models and they always seem to walk by all festool items, as if they don't exist in the store when showing the power tools to patrons. They tend to be the last place I would go for knowledge on the line. But granted, I am sure there are some stores which will be more knowledgeable. My go to is a woodworking store which carries a large number of higher end lines of woodworking tools if available, as they deal with seasoned professionals and contractors and large shops. I like Woodcraft, but they seem geared toward turning and small artisans works for the most part.

 

[Cookannapurna]

I echo everything everyone else has posted and add the following:

One of the things I love about the Festool line of sanders outside of the dust collection is the ability to choose the best sander for the job I'm doing as opposed to using (insert your favorite brand here)'s idea of a 5" RO "finish" sander for everything. I also recognize that I do this for a living so I can justify owing a fair number of sanders.

All that being said I would sand as little of that old paint as possible.  Have you considered removing as much casing and baseboard as you can, labeling as you remove, and either pay to have it chemically stripped at a business that specializes in that (they are surprisingly reasonable), or better yet build your own dunk tank outside with a tarp and scrap lumber, and use one of the widely available biodegradable srtippers.  Paint tends to "glaze" the best of abrasives, and I would always be concerned about led even with Festools superior dust collection and a respirator.