Sanders for Fiberglass/Composite Expedition Camper on a Unimog RAS/Rotex/Ceros

[s2dm]

Hey All,

Looking for a little advice on my next purchase. I am in the midst of building a custom composite fiberglass expedition camper on a unimog. Lots of fiberglass sanding, tough work. I also have a full service hobby shop and would like to move into furniture making, wood refinishing in the future as well. We are taking the truck on a 2 year trip through central america doing free health care work.

I have the TS55 and a CT26 vac that we have used to cut the panels. Been working in a fiberglass shop with pretty ho hum tools and plan to bring the box home, so I'd like to get something versatile that can cover the tools we had there. We have a ton of sanding left to do on our composite/fiberglass box, but Id like to buy a set of sanders that will move over into furniture building/general sanding once we get back.

Right now our needs are rough sanding of the initial fiberglass bond then finish sanding, as well as rough and finish sanding of a bunch of teak panels.

I'd like to buy 2-3 sanders that cover the gamut from tear an old finish off with extreme prejudice to fine finish work.

So..Combos I am considering

RAS115, Rotex150, ETS150/3
RAS115 and Ceros6" or the Deros 6"
RAS, Rotex and Ceros

I'm really torn on the Ceros, whether a CEROS and a RAS would cover all the ground of a rotex and an ets. Seems like the Ceros is closer to an ETS.

Any suggestions? Again, right now, its heavy fiberglass initial sanding and then feathering, but then later in the project it will be finishing teak doors etc. I love all of my festool gear to date but cant ignore the positive reviews on the ceros/deros. For my needs, Ive been having a hard time figuring out what covers the broadest range without being redundant. That said, sanding fiberglass kinda well, sucks, so I want to get the best tool for each stage to get through it quickly.

Thanks!

-S

Camper in its original state with the steel ambulance box



Current state of our finberglass box. Its going to have a raising roof assembly lifted by linear actuators.

 

[wow]

First, [welcome] to the FOG.

Second, I don't have any experience to help you with your sander choice, but I sure would love to learn more about that UniMog and your project?

Got any more pictures you can share?

 

[s2dm]

Thanks for the tips! Its good to know it can be done with the Ceros. Still debating deros/ceros, plus minus the rotex. I build surfboards as well and the polishing pads and ability to polish on the rotex look nice. It seems like the Rotex might have the ability to be a little more aggressive than the ceros as well, but I may just start with the ceros and see how it goes. Anything will be a step up from what we've been using

Here are a few more pics of our rig. Its an 87 unimog. I just took a long sabbatical from hospital work, Heather and I are outfitting it as an extended off the grid camper. Ample solar, 125 gallons of water, ability to pull water from creeks and streams etc. We are going to post up in some of the more remote spots of central america, surf and provide free health care.



Cross section showing the lifting roof

I'm building a boat and use a Ceros with Fein Turbo II. I regularly use 80 grit Abranet for most sanding on epoxied fiberglass. For areas with thickened epoxy with wood flour or cabisol, I find I have to use 40, 60 or 80 grit heavy duty discs made by Mirka. The key to fiberglass and epoxy work is working as cleanly as possible when wetting out fiberglass, tipping it off on subsequent epoxy weave fills. Making clean fillets and more all make the process that much better. You can't sand into the corners well, regardless of tool, so doing it well from the start helps.

The Ceros can chew through wood, epoxy with little effort and still be gentle with higher grits. The Ceros is my main sander for almost everything, cabinets, boat work, table tops, etc. Occasionally I use a 1/4, 1/3 or 1/2 sheet sheet sanders if they fit the situation.

 

[Mismarked]

I built an epoxy/fiberglass boat a couple of years ago, which required sanding down large flat or large curved areas on the hull.  It looks like your project will have a lot of those large flat areas.  The best recommendation I got at the time specifically for those areas was to buy an air powered straight sander from an automotive shop, which was less than $100.  It had a very long sole; kind of the same concept as a jointer plane.  The smaller round sanders made it much more difficult to get a smooth surface over a large area without high and low spots that would have been really noticeable once the hull was painted.  For all other areas of the boat, I would have been a lot better off if I had bought a Rotex instead of using a finishing sander, as the epoxy was extremely difficult to sand.  Hope this helps.

 

[s2dm]

I think you are talking about something like this?

Yes, we have used those quite a bit in the other shop, invaluable for certain chores. heck on your arms Do they make that in an electric for those, or are you basically looking at a belt sander?

A few updates. I chose to go with the 6" Ceros 5mm orbit and the Rotex 90. I don't love the transformer on the ceros, but it sounds like it will do everything from finishing to pretty rough work, and I have to think over time, the weight savings will be nice. And then the RO 90 because most of the really aggressive stuff we have to do is over relatively small areas, beveling glass edges etc. We'd been doing it with a 1" wide roloc 3m disc on a die grinder, which seemed to be a tool of choice for the task in the few glass shops Ive been in. And the corner detail ability seemed liked it would be useful. I love amazon prime, arriving tomorrow. Will let you know my thoughts. I kinda see a rotex 150 and an ras 115 in my future as well, but for now, this is all the sander purchasing my significant other will authorize

 

[s2dm]

I wasn't a fan of the Ceros transformer either at first, but it has never been an issue at all. I have a double length Mirka hose as well as an extension to the Ceros power cable all wrapped in that woven cable wrap stuff you can buy in any length and varying diameters plus it's a little stretchy. Now I have 24 ft of cable and hose, the transformer hangs on the backside of the Fein Turbo II. While all that hose can be cumbersome to transport around, in the shop it's fantastic. I never move the vac and the wrap lets the cable/hose glide over edges.

Mind posting a pic or link to that wrap you mentioned. Sounds like exactly what I need. I was going to mount my tranformer on my CT vac like the guy from Flair did, and I ordered the ceros specific hose, which seems to be a little more agile. Wanted to wrap the cord and hose together like you are suggesting as well. Sounds like a great combo.

 

[Mismarked]

I was referring to something like that.  For me, the benefit of that versus the belt sander was the length of the flat sole against the surface.  The vibration was kind of hard on the hands, which would continue to tingle for a while after finishing a long sanding session.

 

[wow]

Those air sanders are indeed hard on the hands. You might want to consider pickug up a pair of anti-vibration gloves to go with them.

My wife suffers from problems with her hands, and we got her the gloves from Impacto (www.impacto.ca) and they made all the difference in the world for her when using a battery-powered string trimmer. We got her the 'Air Glove' BG 408 - just add an S - M - L - XL to the end to indicate size.