RS2E Quite Possibly my new Favorite Festool

[MrToolJunkie]

No clip for mine either.  So far I do not see the need for one either as my hose fits very tightly to the port.

Scot

 

[TomGadwa1]

[sad]No clip.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Mine came with this clippy:

[attachimg=1]

[eek]

 

[Ken Nagrod]

OOO! Clippy's back!  [scared]

 

[leakyroof]

Mine came with this clippy:

[attachimg=1]

[eek]

  On...the....floor......    [jawdrop] [jawdrop] [jawdrop]  Mine didn't come with that either.... [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]

 

[ear3]

Just reviving this thread to add some additional praise for the RS2.  I actually got mine secondhand through the FOG, but the sander looked barely used when I pulled it out of the systainer.  When I first started using it, I had a lot of control issues with the sander skipping around.  It was so frustrating in fact that I put the sander back in the systainer and didn't touch it again for a few months, preferring to stick with the ETS-EC 150/5.

But in the past year, I've been using the sander more and more, particularly because I've done a number of table projects that required keeping the tops as level as possible.  I've finally gotten a handle on the control issues -- found a sweet spot combination of speed setting at 5 and suction at 3/4 full power that helps the sander glide over the material.  It might just be my imagination, but I also swear that that the sander has gotten smoother on its own regardless of the speed adjustments.  People used to talk about a "break-in" period for the Rotex, to the point where there's actually a thread on the FOG about running the sander for three hours suspended in the air to get through the break-in period.  I have no idea if that's true for the Rotex (mine worked fine out of the box), but if you told me the same applied to the RS2, I would totally believe you, as the difference from my first use of the tool to now is night and day.

At first glance there doesn't seem to be a difference between surfaces done with the RS2 vs. an RO150 or ETS (EC) 150 -- they both feel smooth to the touch and look even when looking at them overhead.  But bring your eye to the level of the sanded surface and look down the edge, and you will be able to see just how much of a difference the RS2 makes.  Even when you're careful, a large flat surface done with a circular ROS will have dishing at various points down the edge.  When you work with an RS2, though, that edge line is completely straight.  It does take more patience working with the RS2 -- the first grit you use can take a long time to establish the flat surface, and it requires some self-control not to dig or press after sanding over and over on a dished spot trying to achieve flatness.  But once that first grit is done, the rest of them go much more quickly.  Not as quickly certainly as with an ETS-EC 150, but when you need to ace a large flat surface, the RS2 is the boss.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Agree...I find it can be faster as the surface area is bigger and you cover more ground. A must have sander for fine furniture making I  my opinion.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I often use it upside-down in the bench vise to sand small parts. Really fast and easy.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

I often use it upside-down in the bench vise to sand small parts. Really fast and easy.

I like this technique for various Festool sanders. I have used it with the STS, RAS and Rotex sanders too. A wooden hand screw clamp secures the router and you can clamp that to an MFT or bench as well.

 

[junk731]

Its one sander I haven't tried but I also have never had the issue of dishing you mention. On larger surfaces like table tops my pieces are typically all planed to within a couple of thousands of an inch then run through a wide belt using 100P before glue up. I then domino the pieces for alignment. The final sanding is then done with an ETS 150 EC with the hard blue pad on 6 with low suction. Final touch is hand sanding with the grain direction. Using the regular pad and an improper method will compromise a flat surface.

 

[Cheese]

At first glance there doesn't seem to be a difference between surfaces done with the RS2 vs. an RO150 or ETS (EC) 150 -- they both feel smooth to the touch and look even when looking at them overhead.  But bring your eye to the level of the sanded surface and look down the edge, and you will be able to see just how much of a difference the RS2 makes. 

Just curious Edward, how the swirl patterns compare to each other. Can you see an actual difference in surface quality?

The nice thing is the RS2 has a 33% greater pad area than a 150 mm ETS EC sander and there's only a .5 mm difference in stroke between them.

I use my RS2 to do the yearly refinishing of a teak table outside.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Its one sander I haven't tried but I also have never had the issue of dishing you mention. On larger surfaces like table tops my pieces are typically all planed to within a couple of thousands of an inch then run through a wide belt using 100P before glue up. I then domino the pieces for alignment. The final sanding is then done with an ETS 150 EC with the hard blue pad on 6 with low suction. Final touch is hand sanding with the grain direction. Using the regular pad and an improper method will compromise a flat surface.

Eliminating 90 percent of the opportunity to mess up the surface with small powered sanders running coarse grits is a good process.

 

[ear3]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] I've never gone and looked with a microscope, but surface quality appears to be the same in my opinion.  I only go up to 220 grit on the RS2, so I'm not sure if you would realize any advantages at higher grits.  I've never been dissatisfied though with how the 150/3 performs above 220.  The only advantage you might get with the RS2 is on swirls produced by tears to the abrasive.  Occasionally the ROS will catch a corner or an edge and fray the edges of the paper or nick one of the holes, which will then show up on the material surface.  That's a lot harder to do with the 2mm orbital stroke of the RS2.

At first glance there doesn't seem to be a difference between surfaces done with the RS2 vs. an RO150 or ETS (EC) 150 -- they both feel smooth to the touch and look even when looking at them overhead.  But bring your eye to the level of the sanded surface and look down the edge, and you will be able to see just how much of a difference the RS2 makes. 

Just curious Edward, how the swirl patterns compare to each other. Can you see an actual difference in surface quality?

The nice thing is the RS2 has a 33% greater pad area than a 150 mm ETS EC sander and there's only a .5 mm difference in stroke between them.

I use my RS2 to do the yearly refinishing of a teak table outside.