NEW ETSC 2-125 & 150-18V battery powered

[Imemiter]

I wonder if they’ll be updating the ETS EC with a light etc.

More lights on all the tools!

 

[Christo-67]

Hello FOG!

I'll have plasterboard to lay soon and I'm planning to do the plasters with the strips too!

I'm thinking of buying this machine when it comes out: ETSC 2 150 : 577723 with a CTM 36 E AC ( Or to big ? )

What do you think? Or is a planex better? Mikra Deros? [embarassed]

Is it possible to connect the ETSC2 to a cable via an adapter 220V ?

Ps: I have a TS 60 and also a Fermacell floor to do + vacuumed the whole site after the demolition we did.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Hello FOG!

I'll have plasterboard to lay soon and I'm planning to do the plasters with the strips too!

I'm thinking of buying this machine when it comes out: ETSC 2 150 : 577723 with a CTM 36 E AC ( Or to big ? )

What do you think? Or is a planex better? Mikra Deros? [embarassed]

Is it possible to connect the ETSC2 to a cable via an adapter 220V ?

Ps: I have a TS 60 and also a Fermacell floor to do + vacuumed the whole site after the demolition we did.

"Right tool for the job" for plasterboard/drywall is the Planex. That's what it was designed for. You can certainly use one of the 150mm sanders to do small spots, but it's not going to be fun for whole rooms of walls and ceilings.

 

[smorgasbord]

I wonder if they’ll be updating the ETS EC with a light etc.

I bought an aftermarket LED light for my ETS EC 150 from Dutton Tools. It clips around the sander and has a little low voltage socket for a plug that can come from the supplied wall wart with long enough cable, or from a largish battery pack - I got the cable version.

OK, so I snapped the light on (easy), put an electrical Y adapter on my Makita dust extractor, and plugged in both the low voltage wart and Festool plug-it cable, then plugged the light in. Use zip ties (a few supplied but I tripled the number) to tie the low voltage cable to the plug-it. For my setup, the light stays on all the time, even when the tool isn't running. I've seen things like this before, with LEDs drawing so little current that analog power systems leak enough. That's not a bad thing here, as turning the sander on and off works and turns the Makita on appropriately.

So, it's not a raking light. It illuminates the front half of the sander (more than 180º), but the light is necessarily up highish, and the light thrown is a bit away from the sander itself:

With my shop lights on:
[attachimg=1]

With just ambient light through the windows:
[attachimg=2]

In use, I didn't find it useful for sanding narrow pieces - I apparently sand side to side mostly. On large panels, it'll probably help somewhat. I'll have to see if the low voltage cable gets in the way when using other Festool tools or not. I have some largish projects coming up and will give it a shot with them.

 

[mdfireman]

Does anyone know if the edge guide for the ETS EC 125 works with the ETSC 2 125mm? I recall reading that it does when they were announced, but can’t find reference to it in the now published manuals, or the accessory section of the Festool UK website

 

[onocoffee]

I bought an aftermarket LED light for my ETS EC 150 from Dutton Tools. It clips around the sander and has a little low voltage socket for a plug that can come from the supplied wall wart with long enough cable, or from a largish battery pack - I got the cable version.

OK, so I snapped the light on (easy), put an electrical Y adapter on my Makita dust extractor, and plugged in both the low voltage wart and Festool plug-it cable, then plugged the light in. Use zip ties (a few supplied but I tripled the number) to tie the low voltage cable to the plug-it. For my setup, the light stays on all the time, even when the tool isn't running. I've seen things like this before, with LEDs drawing so little current that analog power systems leak enough. That's not a bad thing here, as turning the sander on and off works and turns the Makita on appropriately.

So, it's not a raking light. It illuminates the front half of the sander (more than 180º), but the light is necessarily up highish, and the light thrown is a bit away from the sander itself:

With my shop lights on:
[attachimg=1]

With just ambient light through the windows:
[attachimg=2]

In use, I didn't find it useful for sanding narrow pieces - I apparently sand side to side mostly. On large panels, it'll probably help somewhat. I'll have to see if the low voltage cable gets in the way when using other Festool tools or not. I have some largish projects coming up and will give it a shot with them.

Smorgasbord - wondering how you're liking the Dutton light?

 

[smorgasbord]

Smorgasbord - wondering how you're liking the Dutton light?

I don't have much to add over my previous post here. I've zip-tied the little power cord to my PlugIt cord, so I plug both in at the sander when using it. When using other Festool tools, I just let it dangle and it doesn't get in the way. Having zip-ties, however, makes handling the power cord nasty on my hands. I suppose the fix would be to clip the cords to my dust collection hose, but not all of my tools are Festool. Dutton suggested running the light's (thin) power cord inside the dust collection sock, so I might try that next.

Overall, my shop is pretty well lit but it does sometimes help having some additional light near where you're sanding. But, as I said above, it's not a raking light (Dutton said his Universal model actually installs lower and is more raking, hmm), and the light it casts is far out enough from the sander that you end up sanding in places just to be able to have the light be cast in the place you want to see. So, I'm mixed on its true utility. Again, maybe for people doing lots of wide panels it's more useful. I'll see when I finally get to sanding my big desk top.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I don’t see the utility of a sander mounted light. Even on the drywall sander. As you say, the sander is sanding while you’re looking for the high spots. Especially on drywall, isn’t it making a divot while projecting the light?

I’d like a separate low angle light that has a built in suction pump so it can stick to the wall away from where the sander is working.

But even with a handheld light all you need is a soft lead pencil to mark the high spots. Then put the light down and sand away those pencil marks.

 

[smorgasbord]

For me, what happened with my Murphy Bed wasn't that I was having high spots, it was that I was missing spots through the grits, and that became apparent only when I applied the first coat of finish. Luckily, the finish I use is easily repairable and blends super-well, so it wasn't a big issue. A raking light would help, but on the big surfaces that's hard to do and requires moving the light around a lot. My workbench is in the middle of my shop, so no walls to stick it to. I could have gotten some kind of repositional arm I guess, but that's getting pretty involved to.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I have developed a very comprehensive sanding pattern over the years. Even so the critical first step is marking the whole surface with a soft pencil (6B or 4B) keep the lines 3 to 4 inches apart. Although I’ve trained myself to sand by pattern I still depend on the pencil marks to avoid impatiently moving on too soon.

Here is an observation seldom seen mentioned. Pertinent on larger projects, when replacing the abrasive with a fresh version the same grit change the sanding pattern to move quickly over the whole surface (that has yet to be sanded at that grit) since the abrasive will cut significantly more aggressively for the first few minutes. When it seems to be cutting normally continue the quick overall pattern to mellow the surface that was just sanded by the fresh abrasive then go back to the regular pattern.

 

[smorgasbord]

I'm too lazy to add pencil marks over large surfaces before each and every grit, though.