High gloss/polished finish with ROTEX or ETS sanders.

[Jesus Aleman]

I have been recently researching the topic of polishing using sanders with applicator and buffing pads.  Can someone tell me if there is a significant difference (time or quality of finish) between using a rotary sander (ROTEX) versus a random orbit sander (ETS).  It appears that there are plenty of non-Festool polishing pads for random orbit sanders, but Festool has essentially limited their polishing accessories to the ROTEX product line.

Cheers,

JGA.

 

[John Langevin]

You can use the 6" accessories with either the Rotex or the ETS/3 or /5. I use the Rotex in random orbit mode for polishing to reduce swirl marks.

 

[tbellemare]

What are you trying to polish?

 

[Jesus Aleman]

Tom, walnut panel finished with shellac and varnish.  I have both the ROTEX 125 and a Bosch ROS.  I will be using the ROTEX.  However, I simply want to know what is the trade-off by between a rotary and a Random orbit machine for polishing (time/finish).

 

[tbellemare]

I can get a nice polished finish using the Rotex in gear driven mode on slow speed. I use Platin S1000, then S2000, then S4000. I've done that using oil at S4000, like tung oil. I think it would work just as well with varnish but I haven't tried it.