alltracman78
Member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2022
- Messages
- 220
My four year old nephew is big. And he loves tools. My sister bought him a tool set for Christmas and she wanted me to make him a work bench.
So I grabbed some pine 2 x 4s from my local box store I love to hate and cut them up to make a long grain butcher block top for the bench.
I had to do some sanding tonight and this was in the back of my head so I thought I would do a little unscientific comparison between the Granat and the Cubitron II.
For the record, this is regular Granat, not Granat net.
The top is 17 inches by 30 inches. 12 Boards straight across and glued. Already sanded with 40 grit.
I put a straight out of the box Granat 80 grit disc on my RO150 and a slightly used Cubitron II 80 grit disc on my ETS 125 REQ.
RO is a 6 inch pad. 5mm stroke.
ETS is a 5 inch pad. 2mm stroke.
Both had a Festool hard sanding pad.
Both had the Festool thin interface pad.
Same DC (CT48), hose (and small adapter), and wire.
Same suction (halfway).
I divided the top in half. Marked both halves with the side of the same pencil (squiggles to know where I'd sanded and when I was done).
I sanded in an S shape, covering 3 "rows" to the end, then up, back 3 rows, ect.
I let the sanders sand under their own weight, I just guided them along, supporting the hose in the rear.
I moved fast, so it would take more passes to completely sand, hoping this would help separate any differences.
I counted the number of complete passes it took for each sander to cover the entire half.
I had already sanded the legs, first with 40 grit Granat on my RO, then with 80 grit Cubitron on my ETS 125. I noticed the Cubitron sanded significantly faster, but I chalked that up to the Granat having to deal with the rough original texture of the 2 x 4 while the Cubitron only had to deal with the scratches from the 40 grit.
Also, I ended up using up one Granat disc on the initial sanding. Started out of the box. That disc had to deal with the top and bottom of the slightly unevenly milled bench, plus some dry Titebond. Basically 2 sides of about 10 feet of 2 x 4 (the top). Plus all 4 sides of about 11 feet of 2 x 4 (legs, cross braces, ect). Starting from rough to a basically smooth 40 grit surface.
I then took my ETS 125 and put a new 80 grit Cubitron II disc on it. Sanded just the legs and backing, so all 4 sides of about 11 feet of 2 x 4 (legs, cross braces, ect). This is the disc I used in the comparison to sand the top.
I figured with the deck stacked against the Cubitron they would come out about even.
It wasn't even close.
The Granat took 10 passes.
The Cubitron II took 5.
That's with the Cubitron having 1 inch less diameter.
3mm smaller stroke.
Lighter sander.
Used disc vs new
Definitely very eye opening for me. I knew the Cubitron was supposed to be better. I just didn't realize how much.
I don't know how much difference it would be on hardwoods, maybe more pronounced?
I think I'll get some discs of Granat net and see how that compares. That's probably more of a fair test.
[attachimg=1]
So I grabbed some pine 2 x 4s from my local box store I love to hate and cut them up to make a long grain butcher block top for the bench.
I had to do some sanding tonight and this was in the back of my head so I thought I would do a little unscientific comparison between the Granat and the Cubitron II.
For the record, this is regular Granat, not Granat net.
The top is 17 inches by 30 inches. 12 Boards straight across and glued. Already sanded with 40 grit.
I put a straight out of the box Granat 80 grit disc on my RO150 and a slightly used Cubitron II 80 grit disc on my ETS 125 REQ.
RO is a 6 inch pad. 5mm stroke.
ETS is a 5 inch pad. 2mm stroke.
Both had a Festool hard sanding pad.
Both had the Festool thin interface pad.
Same DC (CT48), hose (and small adapter), and wire.
Same suction (halfway).
I divided the top in half. Marked both halves with the side of the same pencil (squiggles to know where I'd sanded and when I was done).
I sanded in an S shape, covering 3 "rows" to the end, then up, back 3 rows, ect.
I let the sanders sand under their own weight, I just guided them along, supporting the hose in the rear.
I moved fast, so it would take more passes to completely sand, hoping this would help separate any differences.
I counted the number of complete passes it took for each sander to cover the entire half.
I had already sanded the legs, first with 40 grit Granat on my RO, then with 80 grit Cubitron on my ETS 125. I noticed the Cubitron sanded significantly faster, but I chalked that up to the Granat having to deal with the rough original texture of the 2 x 4 while the Cubitron only had to deal with the scratches from the 40 grit.
Also, I ended up using up one Granat disc on the initial sanding. Started out of the box. That disc had to deal with the top and bottom of the slightly unevenly milled bench, plus some dry Titebond. Basically 2 sides of about 10 feet of 2 x 4 (the top). Plus all 4 sides of about 11 feet of 2 x 4 (legs, cross braces, ect). Starting from rough to a basically smooth 40 grit surface.
I then took my ETS 125 and put a new 80 grit Cubitron II disc on it. Sanded just the legs and backing, so all 4 sides of about 11 feet of 2 x 4 (legs, cross braces, ect). This is the disc I used in the comparison to sand the top.
I figured with the deck stacked against the Cubitron they would come out about even.
It wasn't even close.
The Granat took 10 passes.
The Cubitron II took 5.
That's with the Cubitron having 1 inch less diameter.
3mm smaller stroke.
Lighter sander.
Used disc vs new
Definitely very eye opening for me. I knew the Cubitron was supposed to be better. I just didn't realize how much.
I don't know how much difference it would be on hardwoods, maybe more pronounced?
I think I'll get some discs of Granat net and see how that compares. That's probably more of a fair test.
[attachimg=1]
