Rubin 2 or Granat that is the question

[NowTellMe]

As a new user please can I seek some advice.  I have just ordered an RO 150 FEQ PLUS as I have the following jobs to tackle and hope this will be the right tool for the job(s):

1. Refinishing an old jarrah church pew – removing the old varnish and restoring it.
2. Restoring a lacquered hardwood coffee table that has been damaged by chemical and heat staining and refinishing.
3. Making a jarrah bookcase that has been partially filled with resin to take out the holes and knots.  Needs to be sanded from relatively rough wood to a fine smooth finish (both wood and resin).
4. Making a resin river table from a slab of camphor that I will sand, fill and coat with resin then sand and polish to as clear a finish as possible.

My question is please, what would be a good selection of abrasives, polishing heads and Vlies to do the above.  Should I go with Rubin 2 or Granat? Vlies?  The foam pads?  Do the foam pads need a mounting plate not included with the kit? 

I have found bits of information to help me with the above but nothing that really answers my questions.  Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[bertv]

Hi Steve, you may want to check out the "Abrasives Selector" that can be found under "Additional Websites" on this very site.

 

[NowTellMe]

Thank you Bert I did go there first but .... the information there is basic product descriptions not user experience and by the look of things both Granat and Rubin could work.... but there must be more to it than that otherwise there would not be the two products.  So I am wondering what others would use... I don't really want to buy a buch of disks and have them sitting in the workshop unused..... [eek]

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Honestly, I pretty much only use the Rubin for woodworking applications.

 

[NowTellMe]

Thanks Jim, have you stripped finishes as well as worked with raw woods with the Rubin with success?

 

[Cheese]

Rubin 2 is made for working raw wood, not sure how well it will do striping old finishes and sanding epoxy resin. There might be an issue with the paper loading up especially on a Rotex. I typically use Granat for everything. I've used it on epoxy and it works well.

For that slab table with epoxy, you'll probably have to go up to 4000-5000 paper to get the transparency you're looking for, then you'll still have to buff with some polishes.

 

[NowTellMe]

Looks like I have found some useful information here:
https://blog.ustoolandfastener.com/choosing-the-right-festool-abrasives-by-grit-and-materials

 

[afish]

Another vote for Granat, its more versatile. Rubin is more for raw wood as others have mentioned.  For general sanding Granat is typically all you need and can handle raw to finished wood.  Now if you are trying to polish a finish then thats a different story and you will need some specialty paper but that doesnt sound like the case.

As good as Granat is if you want the best try some 3m cubitron.  In my opinion it beats the Granat in staying sharper longer, resists loading better and the film back is much more durable.  The only place it falls short is I feel the dust collection is slightly better with the festool paper. Some may disagree but based on my experience I feel the festool paper slightly edges out the 3m in dust collection but performance wise the3m is unmatched imho. 

There is also the mesh style but I dont have much experience with it. Some finishes will gum up no matter what and can be a PITA. if thats the case a good scraper to remove a majority of the finish might be a good first step. especially if we are talking large surfaces without a lot of details or ornate carvings.  Sometimes its just trial and error. If you start sanding and its coming off like powder then great consider yourself lucky if its gumming up your paper every 30 seconds then try a scraper first. 

 

[daedalus]

Hi all, I have to prepare some iron plates for painting (after welding).
Can I use my ETS EC 125 to sand this surface (and material) ?
I have to remove the dust extractor before use?

 

[afish]

No, While yes you might be able to its far from ideal. However, there are some details missing such as plate size, plate condition (rusty, weld splatter etc), weld quality, are you trying to smooth/blend the weld, debur the edges/corners?  either way the the ets is not the best tool for the job.  I would probably start with a flap disc on a grinder first Thats usually a good place to start for most steel projects.

 

[AlexThePalex]

You can use the ETS EC 125 just fine on metal, but as afish said above, first do the rough work with an angle grinder. The sander can not remove any metal that's in places it shouldn't be, that's what the grinder is for.

 

[afish]

Agreed the ETS can sand metal but should be the last step as alex said. 95%+ of the metal prep should be done with grinder. Sandblasting if there is rust.  I would prep best I could with grinder, then spread a very thin coat of bondo just to fill in any deep scratches or divots made by the grinder. (if its going to be a finished piece.  Then start work with the sander at this point the dust collector can be used working up from 80 grit then a few coats of some good 2 part epoxy primer.  From there it really depends on the project, what it is and how perfect it needs to be. 

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Thanks Jim, have you stripped finishes as well as worked with raw woods with the Rubin with success?

As others have mentioned, Rubin is specifically designed for raw wood. I don't do much "stripping" via abrasion, but 60 grit Rubin is "nicely aggressive" for shaping and finish removal. I did actually use it recently for that as I needed to refinish a large, heavy teak dining table top prior to our move. The original finish had degraded/failed over the years and I wanted it fresh for the new property. Rubin did the job, but it can "load up" a little, requiring multiple discs to fully strip the 54" diameter by 2.5" thick round top. Something like Granit with the searates would likely load up less, but because the manufacturer of the waterborne finishes I usually use suggests not using abrasives with searates, I don't buy the Granit since it would see little use in my shop.

 

[ElectricFeet]

Re your points 2 and 4, Sedge from festoolusa just did a great video on polishing:


Edit: my link seems not to be showing, don’t know why. If it doesn’t show up, just go to youtube and search for festoolusa polishing 101

(Spoiler: he uses granat)

 

[GoingMyWay]

You need to use the full URL (youtube.com) and not the shortened URL (youtu.be) in order for the video to embed properly.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Hi all, I have to prepare some iron plates for painting (after welding).
Can I use my ETS EC 125 to sand this surface (and material) ?
I have to remove the dust extractor before use?

This is more like RAS115 territory, as long as it is only minimal metal removal. It's not a grinder, at least with the hook & loop pad, but it could be fitted with a flap wheel.

As far as abrasives, I'm in the Granat camp in the Festool branded stuff. I do use other brands too, depending on application.  We use Mirka Abranet in some finer grits, for solid surface material and other acrylics. We also use Klingspor Fusion foam for the really fine grit, like 3500 and above.

 

[Cheese]

I have to prepare some iron plates for painting (after welding).
Can I use my ETS EC 125 to sand this surface (and material) ?

As others have mentioned, for weld spatter or weld blending I'd start with a RA grinder and grinding wheels for spatter or flap disc wheels for blending. The next LESS powerful option would be a RAS 115 with Saphir paper. 3rd on the list would be a Rotex with Saphir paper and the least powerful of the bunch would be the ETS EC with Saphir or Granat.

The ETS EC when used on steel is really just to prepare the surface of the steel for priming & paint. Any other surface prep that's needed should be done by one of the other options.

 

[ElectricFeet]

You need to use the full URL (youtube.com) and not the shortened URL (youtu.be) in order for the video to embed properly.

Thanks [member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] !

 

[SilviaS7]

I use both.  Granat for removing the first layer if it has paint, finish or anything else on top of the wood, then Rubin for sanding raw wood.  Granat is formulated for stripping materials like paint with minimal gunk buildup and works fantastically well at it.  Granat is also a fantastic all around use paper so you could just use Granat on the bare wood, I have done this and it also works very well.

 

[JonathanJung]

In 3 years I've not found an instance where the Rubin / Rubin 2 work better than Granat. It doesn't last as long, clogs easily, and is absolutely rubbish with any sort of solid surface - paint, resin, finishes, glues.

Granat and Mirka Abranet Ace are the ones I've settled on.