Rotex 150 sander-sanding planed poplar

[Rick Caviglia]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone could advise me on my use of the Rotex 150. Up until now I've milled all the trim boards from 80 year old fir that I salvaged from the demo. But now I've bought some lumber and I'm sanding 1x7 poplar baseboards that have been planed. These then get painted with a coat of oil based primer and a latex finish. I didn't want to get too aggressive so I've been starting with 100 grit and ending with 120. It's been taking quite a while to get all the "planing lines" out and I'm wondering what others out there do. Should I be starting at 80? It seems that the fir was sanding faster, but maybe I'm just getting tired. It's taking me 30-45 minutes per 10' board
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Rick
BTW-I bought the new Festool sanding blocks set and they're really comfortable to use. Best I've ever had.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I usually do this with 60 or 80 grit crystal.

 

[tbellemare]

Rick:

It really depends on how smooth your planed pieces are.

Let's assume it calls for starting with 60, like Alex suggests. I'd:

• use gear driven mode (mode switch to the left) with 60 until it looks "fuzzy" instead of seeing the planer marks,
• switch to RO mode (mode switch to the right) with same paper and give a once over,
• use gear driven mode (mode switch to the left) with 80 until it looks "fuzzy" instead of seeing the marks from the rougher grit,
• switch to RO mode (mode switch to the right) with same paper and give a once over.

At grits 100 and up, I'd stick to RO mode until about 500 or 1000 (polishing). Then I'd go back to strictly gear driven mode.

I realize your not going that high but if you were...

I don't think you save time by skipping grits or steps. It's too easy to change from step to step or grit to grit with this system.

 

[RonMiller]

What Alex said.

 

[Rick Caviglia]

Thanks Tom,
I never thought of going all the way down to 60 grit (thought it would be too rough). I have some 50 grit, I guess I'll test that on the backside of a board.
Thanks again,
Rick