RO90 for Stripping Paint and General Woodworking

[jturner421]

I have three exterior projects that require stripping of paint/stain and sanding that I need to do.  I already own an RO150, but it is too big for most of this work. The first is stripping off paint—at least that's what I think it is—from the railing in the front of my house.  See attached picture.  The railing is 3 1/2" wide with spindles.  The second project is to refinish my deck. I'm thinking that after power washing and brightening, I will sand the deck. The RO150 will work great here for the most part but is too large for the railing.  The third project is to strip a Rainbow playset. Again the combination of large and small boards makes the the RO150 too big.  The previous owner painted it and it needs to be refinished.  All three projects involve the stripping and sanding of cedar. The house is about 8 years old so the amount of material buildup on the wood is not excessive.  I'd prefer to stay away from chemical strippers, but will use them if needed.

My thought is that the RO90 would be a perfect compliment to the RO150 for these projects. The RO150 handles the 1X6 boards and the RO90 the smaller ones and spindles. I'm thinking that I would use the RO90 afterwards for general woodworking projects.  It seems like the perfect sander for cabinet face frames.

So my questions are:

1) Does this sound like a reasonable approach based on the projects listed?
2) Is Granat the proper paper to use here?
3) If so, what does the grit schedule look like?  I thought I'd start with 40 & 60 in Rotex mode and then switch to 80 & 120 in random orbit mode. I don't think I need to go higher than that

Thanks is advance for your advice.

--Joel

 

[duburban]

I wouldn't worry about starting with a predetermined grit size. Sometimes you can create a lot MORE work for yourself by just throwing the 40g/60g on there. I find its often more efficient to start with say 100 and see how much lower you absolutely have to go to get the results your looking for. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up going 80/100/150 and done.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The RO90 would be a fine compliment to the RO150. The 90 does come in handy for this kind of work like railings. That's said, when I look at that railing I think I could do a large part of it with the 150 anyway.

Granat is perfect paper for paint stripping. I prefer to avoid anything below 60 unless it is really necessary. The paint on your railing looks really thin and like it almost drops off by itself, so I'd start with 80 and then finish with 120. No other grits necessary for paint grade work.

 

[semenza]

Round spindles or square balusters ?

How much space in between them?

The RO90 would probably be good. I concur with starting at 80gr Granat.

Seth

 

[jturner421]

They are square with about 4 1/2 inches between them.

Appreciate the advice on grit schedule.  Looks like I'll go 80 to 120 and stop there.

 

[semenza]

They are square with about 4 1/2 inches between them.

Appreciate the advice on grit schedule.  Looks like I'll go 80 to 120 and stop there.

  The RO90 is 5 1/8" so you will be using the delta pad or more likely I think you will want the extended delta pad to give yourself a bit more knuckle space.

Seth

 

[ear3]

It will also help to have the interface pad so you can handle the curves, though with the sander set to Rotex mode.  I generally start with a lower grit when using interface pad for stripping projects (80 Granat is my baseline) since the interface cushion "cushions" some of the stripping power.

 

[Brent Taylor]

The RO 90 is the most used sander that I have,  I also have had good luck with  Brilliant 2. The delta attachments have worked well for me on spindle work, but that being said you may want to look at the LS 130,  I find it to work great on round elements and trim.