Pads and Polishing, accessories for Rotex

[bhendrix]

I continue to enjoy my Rotex 150 as a fabulous sander in both coarse sanding and fine sanding modes.  I want to learn more of its talents in polishing modes.  I would love to see some "official" instructions, as well as user stories, on how best to use the various pads and polishing accessories.

Under Rotex 150, five different pads are offered:

1.  Sanding pad, supersoft
2.  Sanding pad, soft
3.  Sanding pad, hard
4.  Interface pad for superfine abrasives
5.  Polishing pad

Under Polishing Accessories, six different items are offered:

1.  Soft felt
2.  Hard felt
3.  Sheepskin
4.  Fine sponge
5.  Coarse sponge
6.  Fine sponge, honeycombed

Shane, can you offer us the official Festool guidelines for application and use of these products?  Where, how, speed settings, and with what compounds, polishes, waxes, etc??

For all others, please share where and how you have used these items along with what other compounds, polishes, waxes, etc, you have found useful.

Thanks to all.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I second this question. I would like to get the hang of polishing with all the Festool products and my Rotex, but right now, there's a plethora of different pads and polishing compounds and I don't have a clue about how to use them properly. I wish there was a proper guide on how to use them.

 

[zapdafish]

oo, I'll fourth this.

I just finished reading car polishing thread and feel so badly over how I have treated my car, hehe.

 

[fdengel]

Semi-related side question:

Does anyone do polishing on wood, and if so, why would this be done and what effect would it have?

I've polished plastic (I'm doing some pen turning as a bit of a hobby, making some as gifts and such), and I know many people polish metal (cars and such), but I'm curious as to how this would be used in conjunction with woodworking.

 

[grobin]

I polish out water based poly finish to get a high gloss.  I use Abrolon on a soft interface pad with my old DeWalt sander.  I have used wax on a buffing pad but it doesn't do much.

 

[John Langevin]

Under Rotex 150, five different pads are offered:
Here is how I have used the various pads:
1.  Sanding pad, supersoft - When I am trying adapt to a varied surface contour or with very fine grits when I want an extremely high gloss
2.  Sanding pad, soft - Same as #1 but on flat surfaces
3.  Sanding pad, hard - When it is more important to get a surface flat (coarser grits earlier in the process)
4.  Interface pad for superfine abrasives - I almost always use this with all grits 400 and up (generally Platin and Brilliant)
5.  Polishing pad - I am not sure which one you are referring to here can someone give me part number?

Under Polishing Accessories, six different items are offered:

1.  Soft felt - Haven't used
2.  Hard felt - Haven't used
3.  Sheepskin - For removing wax
4.  Fine sponge - With finer polishing compounds
5.  Coarse sponge - With coarser polishing compounds
6.  Fine sponge, honeycombed - Applying wax

As for "Polishing Wood" I haven't tried it per se. There is a nice demonstration on John Lucas'(R.I.P.) website woodshopdemos.com
What I and others here have done is apply modified Tung Oil with worn-out 400 or 500 grit sponge abrasive which works well, again see the link above

Regards,
             John

 

[BigHonu]

If you are looking for polishing in the context of automobile care then you can probably google "polishing with the porter cable"  and get some good discussion on pads, polish, technique, and expected results.

 

[madera]

I'll fifth this.....

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Sorry, guys. Somehow I overlooked this thread until just now.

I would like very much to offer some advice, but to be completely honest this is not an area of expertise for me.

Generally, I believe that sponges would be used for automotive purposes. The reason is that they tend to hold more compound because of their open cells. The felt pads would be better for wood applications.  Usually, you would go with a slower speed (1-3) for polishing application in Rotex (gear-driven rotary) mode.

If that doesn't offer enough information to point you in the right direction, please let me know and I'll consult with some of my colleagues to get more details from someone with knowledge about such applications.

Again, sorry for not noticing this thread and being asked by name for more info.

Edit: Reference the documents below for some additional info:

http://www.festool.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Catalog/Kat_2005/portal_multimedia_download/gb/p2010_awb504_gb.pdf

http://www.festool.co.uk/Service/Downloads/Documents/Automotive-catalogue-PDF/automotive2009_10_2_polishing.pdf (there is a page with sponge info)

Shane

 

[mouppe]

I came across a company that makes high quality felt polishing pads, and mentions Festool's 5" and 6" sanders specifically as compatible. Check out the HR9 series 6 1/2" pads for example, made specifically for Festool sanders.

http://www.surbuf.com/Surbuf-HR9-Series-Cleaning-And-Vacuuming-Pads.asp

For a polishing guide using the pads, click on the following.

http://www.surbuf.com/Surbuf-Product-Woodworking-Applications.asp?CID=35

You can maybe use this info to help guide you through the various Festool polishing accessories. I have always used a sheepskin to buff out the wax, but now I am going to switch to one of these felt pads.

Richard.

 

[ADKMedic]

Hello!

I was looking through one of Shane's links and I saw an interesting accessory/adapter.  There appears to be an adapter for a 80mm polishing pad for a drill. 

Shane, can you shed any light on if this will be available in North America?  By the looks of the picture, it seems to be a centrotec adapter.  It is on page 4 of the first linked file in your previous post.

Thanks!

Andy

 

[jonny round boy]

ADK,

[welcome]

The item you are asking about is part number 483944, AD-D10/M14 Adaptor

It isn't a Centrotec adaptor, it's simply a 10mm diameter shaft, so will fit any drill.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Andy, welcome to the forum and thanks for the question.  Currently, we don't offer any of the 80mm accessories.  However, I expect that will change with the introduction of the RO 90 next year. I can check with our Product Management team and see if there are any intentions on offering this product.

 

[zapdafish]

I was looking over the RO150 video again where they polish a piece of wood and think I found what I might be missing.

These are the steps I saw on the video.

1) sand it, looks like they used rubin, not sure if they switched to brilliant 2 and not sure how high of a grit they took it too
2) switch to hard pad and buff it with a felt pad
3) use the fluffy buffer

I tried the same steps except I didn't use a hard pad, I have the multi-stream version on order
1) sand it, I used each grit that comes in the sample pack so took it to 320. Smooth as a babies but when I was done.
2) used the felt pad for abit, gave it a really almost imperceptible dull shine.
3) didn't see a point in using the fluffy buffer but I did, and didn't see any difference.

first video on left
After watching the video again, around 2:06 - 2:12 I noticed a light purplish stuff on the felt pad and bottle with light purple cap. Is that a wax or a buffing/polishing compound for wood?

 

[tbellemare]

The classic Rotex demo is to take a rough piece of wood, like mahogany, and take it to a shine.

The way I do it is to start with:

• Rubin P 24 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 36 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 50 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 80 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 100 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• go through Rubin P 120, P 150, and P 180 in RO,
• go through Brilliant 2 P 220, P 240, P 320, and P 400 in RO,
• go through Platin 2 S 500 in RO,
• go through Platin 2 S 1000, S 2000, and S 4000 in gear driven mode.

You will have a polished/burnished finish.

You could skip some grits but I don't think you save time when you have a StickFix (hook & loop) pad.

Tom

 

[jonny round boy]

The classic Rotex demo is to take a rough piece of wood, like mahogany, and take it to a shine.

The way I do it is to start with:

• Rubin P 24 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 36 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 50 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 80 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• Rubin P 100 in gear-driven mode, switch to RO,
• go through Rubin P 120, P 150, and P 180 in RO,
• go through Brilliant 2 P 220, P 240, P 320, and P 400 in RO,
• go through Platin 2 S 500 in RO,
• go through Platin 2 S 1000, S 2000, and S 4000 in gear driven mode.

You will have a polished/burnished finish.

You could skip some grits but I don't think you save time when you have a StickFix (hook & loop) pad.

Tom

Tom,

I've never tried this demo myself, but is it really necessary to switch to RO mode between the grits (except on the last grit used in geared mode)?

Seems a little unnecessary to me. Surely the next abrasive in geared mode would remove any swirl marks from the previous grit?

After watching the video again, around 2:06 - 2:12 I noticed a light purplish stuff on the felt pad and bottle with light purple cap. Is that a wax or a buffing/polishing compound for wood?

Zapdafish,

I don't know if anyone makes a polishing compound specifically for wood. That's probably some kind of wax. Using the fluffy buffer would be pretty pointless without any wax on there I would imagine. I've used the rotex with compound for polishing solid surface to high gloss, but never timber.

 

[tbellemare]

Jonny:

I don't know if it's really necessary, but it seems to go faster. With really rough grits in gear driven mode, one can get some pretty good gouges and switching to RO, briefly, smooths it out a bit.

I've never actually timed it but my impression is that it works quicker. When I finish with my "Fall project" (a massive landscaping redo at our house), I'll have some time to experiment. I'll try to remember to test the theory.

Tom

 

[zapdafish]

Thanks for the info.

Watching that  video while I was in the store waiting for the clerk to get my TS55 outa the back room is what got me hooked onto the Rotex. Been trying to figure out how to do it since.