Sand Paper Suggestions

[Wraith]

Greetings,

I intend to purchase a CT15 dust extractor and an RO90 sander. I think this sander will be a good start. Later I'll likely purchase the RO125.

I use sanders for some rough sawn wood, dimensional wood, paint and stain removal, general finishing and some epoxy/wood finishing.

Can you provide suggestions regarding the different sandpaper and grits to start with? It seems that there are several choices in paper and many grits.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Birdhunter]

I use every grit from 60 to 320. Most used grits are 100 to 180. I can’t really differentiate  between the various paper designations. They all seem to work well.

I have the RO90 and find it is a special use sander. I greatly prefer the 5” sanders. They are much more a general purpose sander. I believe the RO 125 (5”) sander is an excellent first sander. It can be a bit rambunctious at times and requires a careful hand especially with the coarser grits.

 

[leakyroof]

As you already know, the RO 90 pad is pretty small, so if your work surface area is large enough to work with a 5 or 6" sander, grab one as soon as you can so you're not stuck in the slow lane with working a 90mm pad.
As for Abrasives, Raw Wood will work with Rubin 2, or Granat. your choice.  Most commercial shops have switched to solely Granat for stocking purposes since it handles raw wood, painted surfaces, film finish surfaces, etc. They only need 1 type of paper for all their sanders , for the most part.
This way they don't run into the issue of clogging  Rubin paper with a finish since it's not made to handle finishes of really any kind.

 

[Wraith]

Thanks for the replies. I am watching Festoolrecon.com for the 5" sander.

 

[Cheese]

Sounds like you're new to the Festool sander game... [smile]

My suggestion would be to purchase the ETS EC 125 sander. It's the only Festool sander that will also take a 150 mm sanding pad. The pad change is simple with only one bolt/screw.

The other Festool 5" sanders, ETS 125 & ETSC 125 (cordless) are finish sanders with a smaller orbit and are not ideal if you're sanding rough sawn wood, removing paint or sanding epoxy.

Along with that, the ETS EC 125 is smoother and is a joy to use for long sanding sessions.

The only down side is that the ETS EC 125 must be used with a vac because it has no internal impeller for dust evacuation if using just an attached bag.

 

[BarneyD]

I'll second what [member=44099]Cheese[/member] said. I mostly sand raw wood and the ETS EC 125 is my "go-to" sander 90% of the time. And I mostly use Granat paper. I also have the RO 125, DTS400, and RTS400 and the ETS 125.  But the ETS EC 125 is by far my favorite. It's a joy to use. I haven't tried the 150 pad yet simply because I haven't had the need. But it's nice to know it's an option.

Cheers,
Barney