GPowers
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- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
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ETS 150/5 EQ Random Orbital Sander (product #571738)
When I first started get exposed to Festool powers tools. It was all about the sexy tools like the TS55 track saw and the Domino jointer. They are the tools that are exciting and different. The Track Saw and the Domino do something that is innovative way. So a sander was not even on my radar. After all what is so exciting about a sander. I had a quarter sheet Makita sander and a Sears Craftsman disk sander.
These two old sander did not get much use as they were difficult to get sandpaper loaded onto. The Makita had the spring clips front and back and the Sears used a sticky pad disk, that did not work that great. So the Sears sander got used may be once or twice. The spring clips on the Makita were a whole story to them self?s. Talk about a tough sander to load. But once loaded it worked. So the Makita was the sander of choices, if you could get the sand paper to stay on.
That was my exposure to sanders. Not the greatest.
Then the sales person at the local Rockler showed me the Festool sanders. He showed me the difference between the ETS 150/3 and EST 150/5 by putting a dot on the sanding disk, with a felt pen, and it demonstrating the length of the orbit. The demo make it very clear why the sander are marked on top with a 3 or a 5. It is the designation of the length of the orbit
He then had me hold the sander and I was surprised how it felt in your hands. The sander did not vibrate the heck out of your hand. It felt solid and smooth. The construction and materials were far superior to the sander I have.
Then he showed me how easy it was to use hook and loop abrasive disks. Wow, changing a sanding disk was as easy as pulling it off and slapping on a new one on . That was just too easy. Plus the sanding disk stayed in place. It did not wiggle around and start to tear like my quarter sheet sander did. Festool calls the pad and disk system Stickfix. That's their name for hook and loop.
Then there is the dust extraction. The what extraction? With my other sander you just stick a little fabric bag over a hole in the back of the sander and it collects some of the dust. But with the Festool sanders you attach them to a Vacuum, but it is call a Dust Extractor. The dust extractor has an adjustable suction rate that allows you to control the down force of the sander. Making it easier to sand.
Plus the vacuum moves the sanding dust across the sanding pad and out to the extractor. This improves the life of your sanding pads, and does a better job of extracting the dust then the little bag I was use to. Dust moved from the center to the outside holes. Festool calls this Jetstream technology. The ETS 150 in the photo has the original Jetstream technology pad. Festool announced new pad in 2010 calling it Multi-Jetstream, it has two set of holes for faster removal of dust. The older pad can be replace with the newer pads to upgrade existing sander to the new Multi-Jetstream technology.
The pad is easily removed with the on-board Allen wrench. All you need to do is remove the single bolt in the center of the pad. There are several pads available for different task. Soft, medium and hard sanding pads and polishing pad are available.
To my surprise this sander is on one my most used Festool tools I own. It actually makes sanding fun. I will be expanding my collection of sanders in the near feature.
When I first started get exposed to Festool powers tools. It was all about the sexy tools like the TS55 track saw and the Domino jointer. They are the tools that are exciting and different. The Track Saw and the Domino do something that is innovative way. So a sander was not even on my radar. After all what is so exciting about a sander. I had a quarter sheet Makita sander and a Sears Craftsman disk sander.
These two old sander did not get much use as they were difficult to get sandpaper loaded onto. The Makita had the spring clips front and back and the Sears used a sticky pad disk, that did not work that great. So the Sears sander got used may be once or twice. The spring clips on the Makita were a whole story to them self?s. Talk about a tough sander to load. But once loaded it worked. So the Makita was the sander of choices, if you could get the sand paper to stay on.
That was my exposure to sanders. Not the greatest.
Then the sales person at the local Rockler showed me the Festool sanders. He showed me the difference between the ETS 150/3 and EST 150/5 by putting a dot on the sanding disk, with a felt pen, and it demonstrating the length of the orbit. The demo make it very clear why the sander are marked on top with a 3 or a 5. It is the designation of the length of the orbit
He then had me hold the sander and I was surprised how it felt in your hands. The sander did not vibrate the heck out of your hand. It felt solid and smooth. The construction and materials were far superior to the sander I have.
Then he showed me how easy it was to use hook and loop abrasive disks. Wow, changing a sanding disk was as easy as pulling it off and slapping on a new one on . That was just too easy. Plus the sanding disk stayed in place. It did not wiggle around and start to tear like my quarter sheet sander did. Festool calls the pad and disk system Stickfix. That's their name for hook and loop.
Then there is the dust extraction. The what extraction? With my other sander you just stick a little fabric bag over a hole in the back of the sander and it collects some of the dust. But with the Festool sanders you attach them to a Vacuum, but it is call a Dust Extractor. The dust extractor has an adjustable suction rate that allows you to control the down force of the sander. Making it easier to sand.
Plus the vacuum moves the sanding dust across the sanding pad and out to the extractor. This improves the life of your sanding pads, and does a better job of extracting the dust then the little bag I was use to. Dust moved from the center to the outside holes. Festool calls this Jetstream technology. The ETS 150 in the photo has the original Jetstream technology pad. Festool announced new pad in 2010 calling it Multi-Jetstream, it has two set of holes for faster removal of dust. The older pad can be replace with the newer pads to upgrade existing sander to the new Multi-Jetstream technology.
The pad is easily removed with the on-board Allen wrench. All you need to do is remove the single bolt in the center of the pad. There are several pads available for different task. Soft, medium and hard sanding pads and polishing pad are available.
To my surprise this sander is on one my most used Festool tools I own. It actually makes sanding fun. I will be expanding my collection of sanders in the near feature.
