How well does the edge sanding guide work with the DTS 400 REQ?

[Josh2]

How well does the edge sanding guide work with the DTS 400 REQ? I know that it fits. I also know that it is not the recommended sander for the edge sanding guide. However, I am not sure whether it is pretty much unusable or just not optimal. I read about two reasons:
1. With the DTS 400, you only use a small part of the sandpaper so it wastes sandpaper. I think I could live with that unless it’s really bad.
2. It is less effective. But by how much? Is it still usable?

I only have a 150 and the DTS400. The edge sanding guide would be really useful but I don’t want to get another sander for it particularly because I would also need to stock different sandpaper. I am not using it professional so I am wondering whether I will be okay with the edge guide on the DTS400.

 

[Dr. P. Venkman]

I can’t speak to the quality of the edge you’ll get, but in addition to only using part of the paper, you could also end up with uneven wear on the pad.

I have no idea how much use it would take to start to create a problem, but Sedge mentioned the pad wear as an issue when he did a Festool Live on the edge guide.

 

[tdibiasio]

Hey Josh

I was in the exact same boat - ETS150 + DTS400 REQ and needed a good solution for edge sanding a recent entry door build, soft maple rails and styles.  I took the risk and got the edge sander attachment.  I also am just a hobbyist and thought for the amount of times I would use it, it was worth the chance to see how it worked with the DTS.  In the end it worked pretty well for my needs.  The sander fit perfectly and sanded the edges very well.  The only thing I noticed was that due to the linear nature of the DTS400, when using 80 and 120 grit the surface was left with horizontal lines on the edges.  They were not so bad that they would not sanded out with higher grits, but I could see that with the ETS125 with its orbital stroke this would not be the case.  So my personal conclusion is that although not perfect, for $99 it is a good compromise and I’m happy I took the chance.

TomD

 

[Alanbach]

So I have used it on both my ETS 125 and on my DTS 400. IMO in cases where you are just cleaning up an edge that starts out in decent shape and does not need a lot the DTS will work just fine. You may go through paper a bit fast because of how little of it you will affect and if you use it much you are going to wear a dent in the pad but is works just fine.

For me I found that when my edge is a mess and needs a more aggressive touch OR when I need to remove substantial wood while I add a chamfer or take a full 45 degrees off an edge than I am going to want the ETS.

In other words the DTS works better for fine (simple) work when being too aggressive will easily cause you problems and the ETS works better with more aggressive stock removal with this edge guide. Just one guys experience. If you only had the DTS you could make it work but if you are going to take off a decent amount of stock you are going to notice and it might try your patience a bit.

 

[CeeJay]

So with DTS perhaps use jointer first (assuming you have one) and finish with DTS and edge guide?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Josh2]

Thanks everyone! Very useful. I will get one and try it out.

 

[Cheese]

I've also used both the ETSC and the DTSC with the Positioning Aid. For small quantities the DTSC works fine. Here's a shot of how much of the pad/paper gets used on a DTSC.

[attachimg=1]