New RO90 DX, Wow!

[tliebel]

Just unpacked my new RO90 DX yesterday and took it for a trial run. Wow. It can be an aggressive little sucker. I tried it out on a face frame on rotex mode. Took me a little time to get used to it. When hooked up to my CT36 it's dustless. Beautiful.

I'd appreciate any advice on the best technique for handling it.

 

[Sean7a]

Just unpacked my new RO90 DX yesterday and took it for a trial run. Wow. It can be an aggressive little sucker. I tried it out on a face frame on rotex mode. Took me a little time to get used to it. When hooked up to my CT36 it's dustless. Beautiful.

I'd appreciate any advice on the best technique for handling it.

Light, light, light.  Cup the front of the sander with your left hand.  Not much pressure up there, really just holding onto the head so you can control where the sander is going.  Left, right, circles, etc.  With you right hand, hold onto the hose and plug it cord, almost not touching the sander at all.  All the way in the back.  Use this hand to angle the unit up and down to ensure the head stays flat on the surface.  Try this when you are not in rotary mode at first.  It'll let ya really get the hang of it.  Then when you switch over, you'll have a much better handle on things.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I'd appreciate any advice on the best technique for handling it.

Great, great sander. Here's a good article on technique.

http://blog.festoolusa.com/post/2011/02/18/Why-Technique-Matters.aspx

 

[fritter63]

Glad to see this topic, was about to ask myself.

I found myself unconsciously pressing so hard the pad almost stopped moving. Hard to beat 25 years of bad RO habits....

 

[Total_Construction]

I got the 125 last year and I love it. Sean's said everything you need to know.....

 

[tliebel]

Thanks for all the great advice and information. My biggest challenge was in keeping the RO90 level. I'm also using the hard pad as recommended in an earlier post. What a terrific forum.

 

[fatroman]

I've found a good technique for me is to hold the sander similarly to Sean's description.

Then, following a balancing tip I got ages ago from a hockey friend, keep your upper body as still as possible. Flex your knees slightly and use your legs to drive you forward and backward. I find that helps me keep everything in plane better and results in less tipping.